2018 Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto Riserva

Showing dried blackberry, balsam herb, vapor rub and a hint of charred chili spice, this wine offers an aromatic profile that is very much in line with a vintage that saw cool spring temperatures and a hot summer. The Casanova di Neri 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto is a wine of depth, dusty tannins and a slightly evolved fruit character. I tasted this 2018 Cerretalto next to the estate's new releases from 2019, and the latter vintage certainly offers more overall clarity and crunch. The Neri family does great work with tannin management, and although there is some chalkiness here, the wine's structure is expertly folded into the fruit concentration. Only 9,700 bottles were made.

The 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto is exotic and perfumed, displaying all of the vibrancy of the vintage through a deep core of dark red fruit, lavender tones and foreign spices. It's lifted and finessed, displaying remarkable balance. Cooling acidity combines with tactile mineral tones and citrus-laced wild berry fruits that swirl throughout. It finishes crunchy and long, leaving crystalline tannins, a blackberry concentration and a tinge of licorice. Despite the conditions of the year, this is a genuinely harmonious Brunello that will excel with cellaring. The 2018 benefitted from an extra week of hang-time leading up to harvest.