Biondi Santi Brunello di Montalcino Tuscany Italy 2018 (13.5% ABV) — 92.3
BB | Garnet to tawny. Open, clean, citrus, red fruits, inviting, mineral nose. Clean, balanced, with refined, elegant, wild strawberries palate, long and salty.Drink Dates: 2025 - 2030. 93
AJ | 2018 VINTAGE Translucent red-black; much paler than the `19s, but bright and glowing. Fine, lifted, elegant, graceful: you need to reset your parameters for this wine. Subtle and understated, in that there isn't the fundamental fruit woof and thrum that lies underneath most of the 2019s; it is of necessity slighter. But pristine, delicate, choice and finally beckoning: a sense of ease, grace and architectural fitness is amply engraved here. Slender by comparison with the '19s, with much lighter contours, but the notes for the aromas sum up the wine: it's is an exercise in grace and delicacy. Note the inner glow, though, beneath the fleshy restraint; it will hold well, and charm and divert as it does so. Supremely digestible, too: a wine so subtle and melting that it will send you waltzing off to bed. Very excited to see the `19 from this source in due course.Drink Dates: 2026 - 2032. 92
MP | Gorgeous nose with ripe red fruit including red cherry, red plum, strawberry laced with blackberry and cedar. This has refreshing acidity, fine tannins and some length but it lacks power and complexity. Inevitably one wonders if this will develop further but the evidence suggests that this now at the peak of its powers.Drink Dates: 2024 - 2030. 92