WINE ADVOCATE 97 POINTS - "The 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Vigna di Pianrosso Santa Caterina d'Oro is a fine and delicate wine that cleverly delivers the intensity of the vintage but without the heaviness or the ripeness. This wine holds back, just enough, to affirm its poised balance in terms of fruit richness, texture and tannic structure. It shows symmetry throughout. Dark cherry fruit, cassis, plum, lavender and campfire ash set the tone. The mouthfeel is thickly woven and generous... This special Riserva represents a 11,000-bottle production."
Brunello lovers know the Ciacci Piccolomini name well, and its biggest followers will know the Pianrosso vineyard bottling as being an outstanding Brunello each vintage! But the pinnacle of their lineup, the "Santa Caterina d'Oro" Riserva, comes from a special selection from that famous vineyard, aged for an additional year. What puts this squarely into our top spot is that the latest edition comes from the exceptional 2016 vintage, which has delivered some of the most wonderful expressions of Brunello in recent history!
The wines from Ciacci Piccolomini are particularly known for delivering flavor-rich complexity, full-body vinosity, and finely textured tannins, but delivered with elegance intact. They also have a great story behind them! While the noble Ciacci-Piccolomini d'Aragona family set the stage for making great Brunellos, things really took off when the countess Elda Ciacci, having no heirs, left everything to her estate manager, Giuseppe Bianchini. Having farmed the land himself over the years, he knew the Pianrosso vineyard to be exceptional enough for its own bottlings. He was right!
Brunello lovers know the Ciacci Piccolomini name well, and its biggest followers will know the Pianrosso vineyard bottling as being an outstanding Brunello each vintage! But the pinnacle of their lineup, the "Santa Caterina d'Oro" Riserva, comes from a special selection from that famous vineyard, aged for an additional year. What puts this squarely into our top spot is that the latest edition comes from the exceptional 2016 vintage, which has delivered some of the most wonderful expressions of Brunello in recent history!
The wines from Ciacci Piccolomini are particularly known for delivering flavor-rich complexity, full-body vinosity, and finely textured tannins, but delivered with elegance intact. They also have a great story behind them! While the noble Ciacci-Piccolomini d'Aragona family set the stage for making great Brunellos, things really took off when the countess Elda Ciacci, having no heirs, left everything to her estate manager, Giuseppe Bianchini. Having farmed the land himself over the years, he knew the Pianrosso vineyard to be exceptional enough for its own bottlings. He was right!
