TastingsVertical Tasting

Sanlorenzo in Montalcino, a significant vertical

Verticale Sanlorenzo Montalcino

Luciano Ciolfi, owner of the Sanlorenzo winery in Montalcino, organized a vertical tasting of his Brunello. All were very classic wines, the offspring of an approach historically faithful to local tradition.

December, Luciano Ciolfi, owner of the Montalcino winery Sanlorenzo invited me to an interesting vertical tasting of five vintages of his Brunello di Montalcino, peppered with the additional presence of a bottle of Rosso di Montalcino and two of Brunello Riserva.

Luciano Ciolfi and Luciano Lombardi Vignadelmar
Luciano Ciolfi and Luciano Lombardi Vignadelmar

Luciano is a great friend: during my two years of work in Montalcino I often visited his winery and therefore know his wines very well. But attending such an event is always interesting, so I went without delay.

Its vineyards are almost a single body with the house and the new basement. They are located about 500 meters altitude, generalizing we could point them out to you near the road that goes from Montalcino to Grosseto, but just before you get to Passo del Lume Spento and start the long descent to Grosseto, you have to turn right. If you look closely at the map, the vineyards have so many different exposures and so many different subsoils: that is why these wines return so much complexity to the drinker.

A unique and unrepeatable micro universe

We drank the Rosso di Montalcino 2012, the Brunellos 2006, 2010, 2015, 2019 and 2020. Then two vintages of Bramante, the Brunello Riserva: the 2015 and the not-yet-released 2019. All these wines are very classic, children of an approach historically faithful to local tradition. Of course, then geographic location and altitude, make each Ilcinese winery a unique and unrepeatable micro universe, sometimes difficult to pigeonhole into macro areas. Here, keep that in mind: in Montalcino any generalization is arduous because the skill, sensibility and stylistic orientation of each producer overwhelmingly mark the wines, but without ever making them lose that sort of romantic breath that unites them. That is, I find that there are many Brunellos that are different from each other, but when you drink them nevertheless you feel their territorial affiliation.

Diversity among vintages

Sanlorenzo Montalcino vineyard
Sanlorenzo Montalcino vineyard


Fortunately, in Luciano’s wines,
the different vintages are very noticeable.: for example, the 2015, both normal and reserve, reflect the climatically scorching year that generated them. But with a snap of the kidneys, a productive sensibility that fortunately saved them, making them particularly good, pleasant, despite a limited versatility, without sacrificing that touch of typical freshness.

It was also good to try the 2010, a legendary vintage for all of Montalcino, some even say too much (they compare it to 1997). In my opinion, however, no exaggeration was made, and even on this occasion I found a solar fruit, very good, difficult to criticize. Only the years will tell whether it has proved durable over time, as I believe it will.

I was especially happy to find the 2006 as a great vintage, although it is slightly veiled by notes of broth (glutamate) that some tasters like a lot but I like a little less. Let me reveal a conflict of interest: I have had a magnum of it in my cellar for about ten years and so I am quite happy to have found that I have made a very good purchase and can still look forward to it: does that sound like little motivation?

My favorites

Sanlorenzo Montalcino, the bottles of the vertical
Sanlorenzo Montalcino, the bottles of the vertical


Here I finally come to the two wines that impressed me the most: the 2012 Rosso and the 2019 Riserva. You will find the tasting sheets below but I would like to explain that it was not the best wine of the evening, but, tasting it and finding it in that wonderful condition a full 12 years after the vintage, made me jump on my chair. Of the 2019 Reserve
Riccardo Viscardi recently talked about it here.. È sempre bello poter paragonare le reciproche esperienze, anche se eventualmente diverse. Di mio posso dire essere eccezionale, intrigante, davvero di elegantissima e misurata fattura. Vedremo nei prossimi mesi e nei prossimi anni come evolverà. Adesso è giovanissima e non ancora in commercio.

In the end it is always quite difficult to close a piece. This time a little less so because Luciano’s wines are classically very good and respectful of the land, the vintage and of the common feeling of Montalcino. If you have never had them I recommend them: they still have very honest prices.

TO READ THE WINE DESCRIPTIONS, WITH SCORE AND AVERAGE SHELF PRICE, CLICK ON THE TABS BELOW.

TASTINGS

PRODUCER

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