Val di Suga

Beautiful and very balanced red from the three main historic areas of Montalcino, which bring different geo-climatic characteristics due to their different slopes and altitudes - providing a unique balance between freshness and structure, body and elegance.

Ruby red with garnet reflections, opens immediately with a rich, complex nose. Initially dark cherry, chinotto orange and violet. Then it opens to broader, more complex notes of blueberry, vanilla, tobacco, cinnamon and chocolate with a subtle menthol finish. This juicy 2016 Brunello di Montalcino offers plenty of energy and brightness, transmitted through the cherry fruit and wild berry flavours at its core. The primary fruit is surrounded by spice, grilled herbs and floral earth. The natural complexity, purity and depth of the Sangiovese grape comes through particularly well in this dream vintage and especially in this Brunello. SUPERIORE.DE

"Bright, noble ruby red with a radiant core. Open and inviting nose, slightly fleshy, with nuances of ripe sour cherries, pepper and raspberries, reverberating with rose hips. Shows very polished and balanced on the palate, with tight tannin, opens up great during the course, slightly salty finish." Falstaff

"Bricky ruby. Senescent fruit sweetness, lovely ripe cherry and undergrowth. Some apparent oak sweetness on the palate too but even so there is a delicacy here, perhaps because the tannins are so fine and relatively light. Elegant, dry, delicate, long, even juicy." Jancis Robinson

"There's something savory and slightly rustic about the 2016 Brunello di Montalcino that I find quite attractive. Baked black cherries, balsamic spice and hints of animal musk form up to create a beguiling display. The textures are silky-smooth, with cooling acids and salty minerals lifting the expression while giving way to tart red fruits. Tannins mount, slowly drying out the senses yet there's still plenty of pleasure to be found here today, as the 2016 comes across as both youthfully structured but also spicy and fresh. This is a blend of Val di Suga's vineyards throughout Montalcino." Vinous

"Aromas of iron, blood and cherry lead off in this smooth and vibrant red, with a well of dark fruit-black cherry and blackberry-settling in on the palate. Offers a dusting of dark chocolaty tannins on the finish." Wine Spectator

"Dusty notes with crushed gravel and dried tea leaves are a prelude to aromas of fresh button mushrooms and hints of fennel. Savory mushrooms and olives, followed by firm, fine-grained tannins. Structured and full-bodied." James Suckling

As with the Annata, the grapes for this Riserva come from the three main historical areas of Montalcino, which bring different geo-climatic characteristics due to their different slopes and altitudes - and thus provide a unique balance between freshness and structure, body and elegance.

The longer Riserva maturation of about one year enriches this Brunello both in its complexity and depth as well as with a more nuanced bouquet. There is a little more of everything here: more fruit, more minerals, leather, licorice, and on top of that, deep vegetal aromas make this wine more generous, layered, and enchanting. Its body is also fuller and more elegant than in the fresher, racier and more clearly focused 2016 Annata, due in part to the warmer, more opulent 2015 vintage. SUPERIORE.DE

The northern slope of Montalcino was not once covered with vines, but was cultivated with cereals, olives and cherries. In this area, influenced by the Apennines, the seasons are more pronounced, continental and the north wind lowers the temperature significantly in winter. It is therefore the coldest Brunello area at this time of year, but also the wettest. This northern slope is a gentle hill: a characteristic more reminiscent of the Crete Senesi area, right next to it, than of the two stiffer, steeper and warmer southern slopes of Montalcino.

Due to the climate and the origin of the soils, the grapes in this area of Montalcino are harvested last every year. Vigna del Lago is the vineyard that welcomes all visitors arriving from the north of Montalcino. It takes its name from the lake that surrounds it and plays a fundamental role in the microclimate of the area; the soil is a constant alternation between clay and strips of very fine galestro.

Brunello Vigna del Lago is a historic cru from the Val di Suga winery, it is an old school Brunello, from the times before the arrival of barriques and technology. An authentic product that is enjoying increasing demand. Unlike the Poggio al Granchio, which is aged in new French 300-litre barriques, this wine is aged in large 30- and 50-hectolitre Slavonian oak barrels.

It is a wine with a lower alcohol content, bright orange-ruby colour, with very fine and almost imperceptible tannins, with a floral nose of citrus notes, myrtle and fresh cherries. It is a Brunello of great richness and balance, and also has a very pleasant lightness, well-contoured acidity and a salty, mineral finish. SUPERIORE.DE

"Appetising berry-herb nose; juicy in the mouth with plenty of polish and a lovely final on notes of wild berries and balsamic nuances. Makes you want more." Vinum

"Multi-layered aroma with ripe cherries, dried red flowers, violets, iron. Very linear and tightly woven on the palate, but with a super mature, complex tannic structure that embraces the wine fully and energetically, very grippy and vertically oriented with lively acidity and vibrant final." Weinwisser

"Powerful, bright ruby. Very clear and precise nose, fragrant, of ripe dark cherries, cardamom in the background. Very much juicy fruit on the palate, opens with well-integrated, fine-meshed tannin, round and smooth, fine salty components in the final." Falstaff

"Just mid ruby. Perfumed cherry and oak nose with a hint of coffee bean. Elegant and vibrant cherry and raspberry palate, yet with great depth. Fresh, nervy and long with coating tannins adding more depth to the fruit on the finish." Jancis Robinson

"Forest-floor, camphor, wild-berry and toasted nut aromas lead the way. Elegantly structured, the linear palate offers dried cherry, blood orange, star anise and hazelnut framed in close-grained tannins." Wine Enthusiast

"This starts out with pronounced iron and graphite aromas and flavors, wrapped around a beam of black cherry and black currant fruit. Earth, tobacco and wild herb accents get swept up in the dense, dusty tannins on the finish." Wine Spectator

"Crushed gravel and dried earth on the nose with intense layers of mushrooms, dried oysters and potpourri. Dried flowers and grapefruit peel. It's full-bodied with refined tannins and a long, elegant finish. Quite tight. Juicy and savory at the end." James Suckling