Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino Italy 2018 (14.50% ABV) – 94.3
BB | Garnet to tawny. Complex, spicy, cedar-wood, sweet-tobacco, dried-prune nose, yet clean and inviting. Full-bodied, with a classically structured palate; ample but fine tannins and a long, tobacco, cedar-wood finish. A muscular wine for the cellar. 93
MP | Elegant, delicate, and complex nose, with strawberry, hawthorn, tinned raspberry, redcurrant, licorice, cinnamon, incense, tomato leaf, and stewed plum. This is a powerful, oaky, and broad-shouldered Brunello, but there is sufficient fruit here to accept the challenge laid down by the oak. Structurally, this has ample tannins and acidity, but there is also a hefty contribution from the concentrated Sangiovese magic. 96
AJ | Very light and transparent in color. A warm and ripe, though in some ways rather tentative aroma, without much evidence of fresh fruit at this stage. Serene and well-ordered, already some way down the aging trajectory. Fine wraiths, but you almost have to go hunting for them. Time in the glass may pay dividends, though; what is here has exemplary purity. (And indeed the emptied glass, later, continues to charm and entice.) This wine is very impressive on the palate. There is almost more aromatic finesse here than on the nose itself, as the fruits glow and then sunder in a series of quiet, fragrant explosions. The tannins are splendid, and there is a poise and articulacy and subtlety to the fruit that few other wines in this tasting show. Commanding, refined, long, with a beautiful drinking balance. The aromatic mill is still quietly grinding after you swallow. 94