Nicolas Belfrage: Medium depth, bright. A delightful floral note on the nose, with damson fruit. A wine of charm and friendliness on the palate, beginning deceptively insubstantial but finishing on a sweet, flowery cherry-fruit palate, with beguiling fruitacid balance and considerable length. For drinking now but should last well. 89

Stephen Brook: Deep red, with less density of color than most. Lean sour-cherry nose, quite intense, and it has a pure Sangiovese character. Mediumbodied, very ripe, quite tannic and concentrated, with a stronger red-fruits character than many other Riservas. Nicely balanced but it lacks some complexity, depth, and flair. It would be interesting to know how this differs from their regular Brunello, because it doesn’t seem to deliver an extra dimension. But it’s a classic style, and while it has some structure, it’s not inaccessible. Good length. 87

Andrew Jefford: Clear, deep garnet red. Plenty of evolution, here; while some of these Riservas seem babesin- arms, this already smells open and warm and enticing. Glowing red fruit provides the core of the appeal, but we are easing away from primary red fruit toward a more generalized, secondary quality. Dark, firm, tight, taut palate of pressed plum fruit with spices and stone notes to finish. Less volume and resonance in the mouth than some of its peers, but very classy, pure, and refined, and beginning to make sense at table, though there is at least a decade of further evolution ahead. 86