Deep ruby-red. Toasty oak and vanilla complicate red cherry and underbrush aromas and flavors. Then rich, dense and concentrated, but lovely violet lift provides clarity and cut to the suave flavors of red cherry, red currant, flint and vanilla. Much deeper and richer than the 2013 Brunello from Valdicava, this beautiful wine finishes very long and ultra-smooth. It is the best wine I have ever had from this estate.

The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano remains youthfully shy in the glass, with hints of cedar spice box, crushed dried flowers and smoky spice forming its bouquet. It’s wonderfully elegant and round in feel, soothing the palate with a mix of balanced acids and ripe red and black fruits tinged with salted licorice. This tapers off incredibly long and structured through the finale, yet nicely balanced as well, with an echo of blue- and purple-toned inner florals that linger.

The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano is a dark and thickly extracted expression. It is one of the blackest Brunellos you will find in this report. This rich red wine takes a little longer to open because those primary aromas are buried deep under all that bulk and power. Indeed, this wine is almost too much of a good thing. It moves with slow-motion laziness, and the bouquet is in absolutely no rush to show what it has in store. At its leisure, it will deliver dried blackberry, cassis, bitter chocolate, spice, campfire ash and sticky tar. There is some tannic astringency that will (hopefully) integrate with time. This is a hearty and satisfying wine to drink in the heart of winter with gentle snowflakes fluttering outside your window. It is a romantic wine in heart and soul.

Mid ruby with bricky rim. Not much of a nose. Intense dark-fruit palate with a candied edge but with plenty of energy. Great balance and bags of chewy tannins that are effortlessly absorbed by the fruit. (WS)