"Montalcino... I could get used to... " a Montalcino Travel Page by sgny

Montalcino..... Beautiful landscapes, fresh air, good food and Brunello wine. We spent the day their touring two wineries and enjoying a Tuscan lunch. Loved it.

Brunello, in Tuscan dialect means "brownish" and gets its name from the tint of the grape skin color. This is the grapes defining visual characteristic. Brunello di Montalcino is made from a clone of the Sangiovese grape, more formally known as Sangiovese Grosso. Grosso implies that the individual grapes are larger in size than normal Sangiovese grapes. In the Brunello zone, most people will refer to the grape as Brunello, although there really is no "grape" with any such name. Brunello is the name of the wine, made from Sangiovese Grosso grapes. Montalcino is a town within the Brunello zone, a geographic area, from which the wine gets the latter part of its name. Only wine made in the geographic zone, from Sangiovese Grosso grapes, may be called Brunello. To become Brunello, the wine must age for four years, three of which must be in large oak casks. To become Riserva, it must age for an additional year. These are the old laws, but many producers still adhere to them. Under the new laws, the aging may be reduced so that Brunello can be released after 3 years, 4 years for Riserva. Producers have embraced this new law very enthusiastically, since it allows them to release wines from weaker vintages sooner, thereby "saving" the wine from excessive oaking. Many of the 1991 and 1992 Brunello were dried out and tired upon release after 3 years in oak. Producers could have made much better wine had the laws been relaxed then. 1993 is the first vintage in which producers were allowed to avail themselves of the new laws. Most producers that I have either had first or second hand knowledge from intend on following the old law when the vintage permits. When the vintage is weaker, these producers will more than likely release early.