Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino 2020

Really delicious fruit with cherry and berry character, as well as a hint of cedar. Creamy tannins and fresh acidity. Grapes from the Cerretalto vineyard are used here this year. Drink or hold.

The Casanova di Neri 2020 Brunello di Montalcino (with the white label) represents a departure from the norm. Because the Cerretalto was not produced, fruit from that vineyard with its reddish mineral-rich soils was directed here instead. For that reason, this wine is especially spicy, lifted and intense. Dark cherry fruit is followed by rusty nail, black pepper and milled spice. The wine is fermented in steel tanks, sees 20 days of skin maceration and ages in botte and tonneaux for over three years. The oak is very well integrated. This is a wine of character (with 98,000 bottles made).

The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino is dreamy, with a confectionary burst of sweet spice and vivid crushed black cherries complemented by rosy florals. It's juicy, opening with a sweet and sour sensation as hints of cranberry and tart citrus give way to a tactile coating of crunchy mineral tones toward the close. This resonates with tension, long and staining with a tinge of bitter blackberry and tangerine that pucker the cheeks as edgy tannins frame the finish. Gorgeous.

A deep red/brick color, the 2020 Brunello Di Montalcino is ripe with notes of black cherries, tea leaves, dark, sappy herbs, and forest floor. Full-bodied, it's ripe and inviting, with a velvety texture and a great warming finish, and while it's a ripe wine, it carries it with a weightless feel and does not feel heavy-handed. It should continue to drink well over the next 10-12 years.