Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino 2018

WA94: Released in numbered bottles, the Le Chiuse 2018 Brunello di Montalcino (a certified organic wine with fruit sourced from across six hectares) shows punchy and bright aromas that recall dried grape skins or fermentation aromas. It suggests an open or immediate personality. There is a pleasant rawness or authenticity presented here with black cherry, plum, blue flower, cola and rusty nail. This is a true expression from a warm vintage that delivers mid-weight texture and well-managed tannins. It concludes with a hint of sweet cherry liqueur. I tasted number 192 of 18,300 bottles produced.

VM93: The 2018 Brunello di Montalcino is youthfully coy and a bit reductive at first. Swirling brings about nuances of dusty rose, dried cherries, flowery underbrush and hints of animal musk. It glides across the palate with finesse, impressing more on its purity of fruit, petty inner florals and delicate nature than power. The 2018 finishes with medium length, showing sweet inner herbal tones, a twang of sour citrus and a gentle tug of fine tannin. This is such an understated beauty.

Lorenzo Magnelli's Le Chiuse was born with Tancredi Biondi Santi in 1946. The legendary Brunello vintner sourced fruit from this site for his Riserva. The property would eventually make wine under its own brand when Simonetta Valiani (Lorenzo's mother) inherited the estate in 1992. Farming is organic and biodynamic.

A tiny 6-hectare estate, Le Chiuse was split off from the Biondi-Santi estate in 1993 when it was inherited by Simonetta Valiani, the great-granddaughter of Ferruccio Biondi-Santi. It is now considered among Montalcino’s greatest producers. All farming is certified organic.