Giancarlo Pacenti knows his land well and is a skillful farmer, especially with regards to navigating a challenging vintage like this. The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Vecchie Vigne boasts a beautifully saturated ruby color that appears healthy and bright. The aromas are presented with precision and balance. A wine like this offers irrefutable evidence that old vines are the best remedy in a hot and dry vintage. The wine's various elements are intact and focused. Dark cherry, candied plum, exotic spice, tar and licorice form a united front. I prefer this vintage to 2011.

The color of the 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Vecchie Vigne is stunning, a vibrant translucent ruby that shows no signs of maturity. Its aromatics are to die for, lifted and fresh yet sweetly spiced, boasting notes of crushed strawberry, clove, minty herbs, cigar box and flinty stone. This coasts silky textures across a core of motivating acidity, streamlined yet refined, as tart red fruits and nuances of sour citrus pucker the cheeks. The 2012 tapers off with tension and spice, leaving an orange rind bitterness and black currants to linger. This zesty Brunello is remarkably vibrant, despite the warm vintage conditions, and it’s drinking beautifully. It’s a testament to the Pacenti style, having spent 24 months in 70-80% new oak, which has integrated perfectly over the last ten years. My only recommendation is to decant at this stage, as the best glass was the last glass, enjoyed over 24 hours after pulling the cork.

Dark red with an amber tinge. Ripe red cherry, sweet spices, grilled beef and blood orange, plus hints of cedar and new oak. Enters sweet and broad, then tighter and structured, but with refined tannins providing support to the sweetly spicy red fruit flavors. The finish is long and very pure. There’s a depth to this wine that the classico bottling does not have, a dpeth of flavor that derives from the old vines; spent 24 montsh in 70-80% new oak.

Tasted blind. Lustrous mid ruby. Rich but still a little reductive. The palate is in the grip of this, too, for the moment, but underneath there is truly compact, rich, tangy cherry with lots of demanding tannins and a wonderful, subtle oak note. (WS)