98 pts from Wine Spectator! Very powerful and rich, with blackberry, licorice and light toasty oak. This has pure fruit. Turns exotic and decadent. Big and full-bodied, with dense, powerful tannins, but velvety and beautiful. Layered and gorgeous. Best from 2011 through 2018. 1,950 cases made. ûJS SEPT 2009 ISSUE 96 pts from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate! The 2004 Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto is deep and powerful in its smoke, tar, spices, scorched earth and plums. The wine has shut down quite a bit since I last tasted it a few months ago, and the refined silky tannins that were present a while back have turned decidedly virile. Still, the wineÆs pedigree is impossible to miss, and the only thing this needs is time, probably lots of it. Pretty scents of soy, smoke and incense inform the long, elegant finish. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2024.

Proprietor Giacomo Neri makes some of the richest, most textured Brunellos readers will come across. The house style favors a lush expression of fruit with a softness that makes the wines very appealing upon release. In recent years the wines have become more elegant, with less of the excessive heaviness that characterized prior vintages. Based on what I tasted from barrel, future vintages hold quite a bit of promise as well. This year, readers û especially those on a budget (who isnÆt on a budget these days?) should focus on the 2005 Brunello di Montalcino (sometimes also known as the æwhite labelÆ), which is an overachiever because it includes fruit from the Cerretalto vineyard, the source of the estateÆs top wine, which was not bottled in 2005. APRIL 2010 ISSUE