2006 Brunello di Montalcino Report

A Benchmark Vintage

2006 may be the best overall vintage of Brunello di Montalcino since 1997, at least in terms of consistency across producers. I had the opportunity to taste more than two dozen wines from this vintage between January and April, and I am blown away by the quality across the board! Overall, this is an elegant vintage, beginning with very beautiful perfumed aromas in many of the wines. On the palate, the wines show balanced acidity, soft tannins and layered flavors that include wild berries, dark cherry, cassis, blueberry, earth, tobacco and dried flowers. In most cases, these wines can be enjoyed immediately, and will develop additional complexity with 5 to 10 years of cellar aging. Beyond that, many of the top wines (such as Podere Brizio and Uccelliera) possess structure for much longer aging.

The 2006 growing season in Montalcino was ideal, with enough rain in the spring to supply water through the summer, and no excess heat in September. Warm days and cool nights allowed for slow ripening, which created wines with finesse and balance, but also with flavor and body. Some producers have already stated that their 2006 bottling is their best ever, including Giancarlo Pacenti of Siro Pacenti. I believe it will also elevate a number of lesser known producers to elite status, including Podere Brizio – trust me when I say you need to introduce yourself to Brizio’s wines!

Besides the obvious quality and consistency of the wines, what makes this vintage unique is its place in history relative to “Brunellogate”. You may recall that Brunello di Montalcino was recently cast in a negative light after questions were raised regarding the alleged improper blending of outside grapes such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon (DOCG regulations stipulate that only Sangiovese may be used to make Brunello). Although full details of the investigations were never disclosed, the scandal called into question the very essence of Brunello. The fact that wines from the 2006 vintage unquestionably (at least in my opinion) deliver beautiful and pure Sangiovese character, makes this vintage even more remarkable. This should (for now) make the scandal a distant memory.

So, what about the wines that we are offering? Out of the dozens of wines that I tasted, the selections listed on the following pages are the wines that I picked for their combination of quality and value. The styles of wines range from elegant and pure (like Enzo Tiezzi and Argiano), to full, generous and structured like the offerings from Uccelliera, Máté and Podere Brizio. On the value side, the offerings from La Colombina and Enzo Tiezzi are must-try, delivering far above their price points. All of the wines are limited, with a few of the noted selections being extremely limited.

I have included some of the very early scores for reference here (at the time of this Report, the full scores from Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate were not yet published), although with a vintage this consistent, I would encourage you to try these wines with confidence regardless of ratings. With that said, the sheer number of 90+ scores so far across the vintage should make these wines disappear from store shelves quickly.

As far as when you should drink these wines, the vintage is very approachable and you should not hesitate to give some of these a taste right away. However, I believe all of these wines will improve over the next 5 to 10 years. If putting these away for a bit isn’t in the cards, I think you will find them fascinating to taste young, and you should try to drink them slowly – they will evolve in the glass nicely, revealing layers of really interesting flavors. Bottom line: I can’t stop drinking these wines already, but am going to make sure to leave some room in my cellar to revisit some of my favorites in 5 years or more.

Enjoy!

Eric Genau
President/Wine Director
City Wine Merchant