2020 Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille

A bright ruby color, the 2020 Brunello Di Montalcino Sugarille was raised in 30- to 60-hectoliter botti for 24 months. It's expressive and layered on opening, with pure aromas of preserved red cherries, anise, delicate oak spice, and red flowers. It takes on more tension through the palate, with a refreshing spine of acidity, fine, angular tannins, and more mineral persistence. It packs in more tension compared to the Renina and has the structure to drink well over the coming 15-20 years if stored properly. While it might not have the same complexity as the 2019, this is going to be worth snapping up.

The south-facing Sugarille vineyard extends over 3.5 hectares from 280 to 300 metres above sea level on schist marl with pockets of limestone. For this bottling, only the more mature 25-year-old plantings are used. Pronounced spiced plum meets sunbaked stone and wild strawberry. It fills the mouth with mineral-inflected fleshy fruit swathed in clayey, clingy tannins which offer textural complexity and bite. Balancing acidity leaves the palate refreshed. And what a rousing concentrated tang on the close! This has the stuffing and structure for a solid 12 to 15 years in the cellar.

The Pieve Santa Restituta 2020 Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille shows sweet tannins and lots of fruit at its core. This wine comes from a single plot of vines on schistic galestro clay soils. Sugarille is well-integrated in terms of its oak and its acidity, and there is enough of both to prop up the fruit and keep the momentum for long cellar aging. There is a succession of purple and blue fruits on the pretty close. Production is 9,000 bottles.