Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Santa Caterina d'Oro 2015

The opulence of fruit and complexity of earth, meat, mushroom and cedar is breathtaking. It’s full-bodied, deep and powerful with so much intensity and depth. Chewy and layered, it goes on for minutes. Give it even more time. Try after 2023.

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, more so than the more linear and focused 2016 Brunello Pianrosso (that I preferred by a tiny margin). This special Riserva represents a 11,000-bottle production.

A selection of bunches from Ciacci Piccolomini’s iron-rich Pianrosso vineyard in Montalcino’s southeast, this sees a long maceration and ageing in variously sized used Slavonian oak barrels. It strikes a fine balance of generous ripeness with freshness and juiciness. Pure strawberry, cherry and raspberry meet lilac, rose and an underlying minerality. It's fluid and almost easy to drink, though long, powdery tannins expand across the palate giving textural complexity. It leaves the mouth clean but wanting more with an appetising blood orange finish.

Fragrant, full bodied and refined, this opens with aromas of new leather vanilla, baked plum and camphor. The palate shows an enviable combination of structure, finesse and length, doling out raspberry jam, ripe black cherry, vanilla and licorice enveloped in firm, refined tannins.

Funkelndes, mitteldichtes Granatrot. Eröffnet mit Noten nach eingelegten Kirschen und schwarzen Nüssen, feine Zwetschke. Baut am Gaumen festen Druck auf, griffiges, herzhaftes Tannin, dazu viel süßer Schmelz, wirkt dann im Finale ein wenig rau und leicht alkoholisch.