Brunello di Montalcino, Giodo 2018

This wine was tasted in a preview capacity as it won't hit the market until the beginning of next year. Tasted at the Giodo winery in one of the most remote and beautiful spots in the appellation surrounded by forests and wide open panoramas, the 2018 Brunello di Montalcino gives us a promising taste of what we can expect from this warm vintage. The wine delivers ripe, but delicate aromas of cassis and dark cherry with shades of lilac, violet and crushed limestone. The tannins are present and well managed. Carlo Ferrini's Brunello promises a long aging trajectory.

Black-cherry, violet, lavender and orange-peel aromas follow through to a medium to full body with ultra-fine tannins that run the length of the wine. Such focus and brightness. Agile and weightless at the end. Not the biggest Giodo, but pretty and precise. Drinkable now, but wait for two or three years. Try after 2024.

Carlo Ferrini's flair for elegant wines is exalted in his Brunello 2018, a light vintage. Aged in oak of different volumes, it is focused on graceful aromas of cherry and strawberry, black pepper, and a floral bouquet. There's great complexity for 2018; the wine flows very silky with ripe, elegant tannins and moderate acidity, a liquorice finish and savoury aftertaste. A delicious Brunello, it was difficult to do better in this vintage.

Powerful and welcoming, with sweet black cherry and blueberry fruits, grilled sandalwood, smoked butterscotch, cut herbs and five spice, adding in sculpted edges of mint and sour cherry as it opens. The tannins are brushed velvet in texture, and this is full of life and punch. A 3ha site, producing 13,000 bottles. Carlo Ferrini winemaker.