Brunello di Montalcino, Giodo 2020

The first look at Giodo's 2020 Brunello Di Montalcino is a showstopper and one of the highlights of the vintage. It pours a jeweled ruby color and is ripe and giving on the nose, with ripe, pure aromas of preserved raspberries, fresh herbs, sweet mossy earth, and a pristine floral profile. Medium-bodied, it fills and expands through the palate, with ripe tannins, broad shoulders, and a clean, mineral finish with a darker profile. It's going to improve as it leans into its more tertiary notes of black truffle and tea leaf and gets darker on the finish. This may be a wine that competes with 2019 for complexity and depth, and it will be worth cellaring to find out. Drink 2027-2050.

A more elegant than powerful Brunello here. Intensity and depth to this wine, with a fresh profile of strawberries, red cherries and peonies. A cinnamon note adds a touch of grace. The attack is graceful as well, with velvety tannins, medium to full body, persistent and refreshing acidity and a long, very flavorful finish. Elegant sample. Drinkable now, but it will last for decades with ease.

Carlo Ferrini and his daughter, Bianca completed harvest within the first 10 days of September with the estate’s brand-new vinification facility ready just in time. This is a laudable follow up to Giodo’s charismatic 2019 – and just as gorgeously expressive. A panoply of strawberry, arbutus berry, cardamom and porcini greets the nose. Precise and succulent, the palate is laden with lush apricot. Polished and intricately knit tannins are harmoniously embedded, giving effortless support, and all those captivating aromas and flavours resonate on the lingering finish.

From vintner Carlo Ferrini, the Giodo 2020 Brunello di Montalcino is a balanced, medium-plus intensity wine that delivers excellent focus and sharpness. You get the generosity and softness of the vintage with Mediterranean tones of lavender and rosemary that frame a pretty core of cherry and blackcurrant. You also get a savory note of something that reminds me of fragrant tea leaf. The tannins are expertly managed, and the wine's texture builds steadily in the mouth. It shows superb phenolic ripeness with no sharp edges. The finish is fleshed out, contemporary and generous. Production is 16,000 bottles.

The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino is a model of purity, opening in the glass with a delicate and pretty bouquet of dusty rose, sage, cedary spice, stone dust and wild strawberries. It's built on elegance, juicy and refined with motivating acidity and depths of ripe wild berry fruits that take on a more tactile feel as they slowly saturate toward the close. This finishes long and spicy, pleasantly chewy, leaving sweet tannins and hints of red plum. The 2020 is quite Burgundian in style. Well done.