2019 Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona "Pianrosso - Santa Caterina d'Oro" Brunello di Montalcino Riserva

Dark, brooding and potent, the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna di Pianrosso Santa Caterina d'Oro Riserva is a force to be reckoned with. It launches from the glass with a burst of crushed blackberries, plums and exotic spices, further complicated by dried orange peels and cedar shavings. Velvety and weighty, this floods the palate with rich and enveloping textures. This retains a core of tantalizing and stabilizing acidity, with ripe red and black fruits that drench the senses. The 2019 tapers off with dramatic length and structure, leaving a framework of sweet tannins and resonance of salted licorice and mocha that lingers on. (EG)

This Riserva is dedicated to Giuseppe Bianchini, who took over the property in 1985 and received the Santa Caterina d'Oro award in 2004, the same year he passed away. It comes exclusively from the estate’s Pianrosso vineyard. The 2019 displays extraordinary richness and concentration. It wafts with warm sand, strawberry fruit, leather and dry Mediterranean scrub. Weighty and caramel-tinged, the palate is ladened with spicy dark fruit. Quite sturdy, there are layers of powdery tannins but all that lavish fruit seems to swallow up the structure. (MM)