Brunello Revived?

11/29/11 -

Brunello di Montalcino is kind of a mess. For years the zone has been rapidly increasing in size as industrialists, ad men, and other wealthy gentleman farmers buy into the wine dream by establishing themselves in Montalcino. Abetted by ‘star’ winemakers and consultants– not all of them Italians, never mind not Tuscan – the zone has succeeded in producing a flood of very expensive, dull international style wines. The so-called Brunello scandal of a few years back came as no big surprise – winemakers illegally adding Merlot, Cab, Syrah, who knows what else, to their Sangiovese in the hopes of seducing the public (and, of course, He Who Shall Not Be Named) with their very expensive, dull international style wines.

Over the last 10 years we’ve tasted a boatload of Brunello, and it’s seemed almost impossible to find wine of character that spoke to our fond memories of old school wine from the 1970s and 1980s. Yes, there were still some good wines, although even some of the old guard appeared to be floundering. A couple of the most astute professional tasters we know spent, in sum, months in Montalcino, and found very little of interest – a discouraging report and a discouraging situation, and we thought of perhaps giving up on the category altogether. And then, to our delight and surprise, we found two Brunellos that we really like. They make a nicely contrasting pair – one a bit rustic but classic in taste to our palate and an incredible deal, the other very fine, elegant, also true in style – it ain’t cheap but it’s a gorgeous wine. Reinvigorated by these discoveries, we think we’ll find some other good Brunello in the future, but this is an excellent beginning. JW