Fugligni’s Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is a classic interpretation of the time-honored wine, made from pure Sangiovese grapes, grown exclusively from the estate’s oldest vineyards. The vines are close to thirty years old, with excellent exposure and stony tuffaceous soil dating back to the Eocene epoch. The grapes are harvested in early fall, and macerate for about eighteen days in stainless steel, where the wine continues to age for five more months. It then spends thirty-six months in Slavonian oak barrels and six months in bottle before release.
Produced only in vintages with ideal ripeness and substantial acid backbone to guarantee longevity, Fuligni’s Riserva aspires to express the characteristics of a vintage to their fullest. With simmering fragrance, regal structure and inner brightness to illuminate the wine’s profound depths, the 2019 edition definitely succeeds. Intense cherry, orange zest, heady truffle and forest roots take hold on the nose. The fruit is pristine and even sleek and curvaceous but the tannins have a countering bite. Tangy pomegranate rings out from the core of this elegantly weighted gem; everything is neatly in place and unfolding at a tastefully measured gait.
98 Points - Decanter
