2015 Brunello di Montalcino Poggio All’Oro Riserva

The 2015 Poggio all’Oro Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is only produced in exceptional vintages and was aged for 30 months in 70% large French oak casks and 30% in French oak barriques. It reveals smoky aromatics of cedar, dried black cherry, and dark mineral earth and a persistent core of ripe black fruit that is cloaked with ripe, velvety tannins and notes of black tea and clove. A luxurious and contemplative wine from the historic Banfi estate, it will benefit from additional time in the cellar and keep over the next 20 years.

The Castello Banfi 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Poggio all'Oro is the top-shelf wine and shows careful integration and well-managed intensity. It opens to tart berry fruit, cassis and sour cherry. As it reveals itself in the glass, it begins to slowly deliver more spice, smoke and tar. All these various elements come together with balance and harmony, although these 2015 Riservas remain plumper and richer compared to their counterparts from 2016. Wait a few more years before opening this bottle; it needs more time. Some 27,000 bottles were made, and this wine will be released in September 2021.

The 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Poggio all'Oro Riserva takes some time to open up in the glass, as a cloud of white smoke and subtle spice slowly dissipates. A few minutes of coaxing reveals dried black cherries, sweet flowery perfumes and hints of tobacco. There are depths of dark textures here, silky in feel but with a blanket of fine-grained tannins, which slowly dominate the expression. That said, there’s a lovely purity to its fruit, along with tactile minerality and mounting inner florals, giving way to a classically structured finish. The Poggio all'Oro is a cru within the Banfi vineyards, and the wine is aged 30% in barrique and 70% in French oak casks of 60-90 hectoliters for 30 months. It’s really quite beautiful and wonderfully balanced.