Conti Costanti Brunello di Montalcino (375ML half-bottle) 2011
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Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Enjoy with rich, structured dishes, red meat, game, seasoned cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Heady scents of forest floor, ripe berry, fragrant blue flower, grilled herb and a whiff of eucalyptus emerge on this superb wine. The elegantly structured palate offers juicy wild cherry, black raspberry, star anise, mint and baking spice while well-integrated tannins provide the framework. Balanced and already approachable, it also shows good mid-term aging potential. Drink through 2026.
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Wine & Spirits
Notes of oregano and fire-roasted tomato lend savor to this wine's flavors of dried cherry and ripe plum. A hint of molasses deepens the richness, yet the wine finishes dry with lingering notes of herbs and spices. The tannins feel earthy and warm, pliant enough to make this approachable now with a dry aged steak.
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James Suckling
A bright and fresh 2011 with delicate plum, coffee and hints of toffee. Medium to full body, soft tannins and flavorful finish. Wonderful to drink now. Why wait?
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Decanter
Andrea described the growing season as normal until the torrid heat at the end of August. Feeling this compromised the perfection of the grapes, he decided not to make a Riserva. As with 2012 and 2011, this spent one year in French Allier oak (3.5 hl to 6hl) then a further two years in Slovenian casks. Already approachable, it offers crushed herb flowers, sweet tobacco and dark cherry with a rich generous mouthfeel and ripe tannin. Drinking Window 2018 - 2028
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Wine Spectator
Earth, leather, licorice and spice flavors put this red firmly in the savory camp, while a macerated cherry note lurks in the background. Complex, elegant and long on the finish. Best from 2018 through 2027.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Conti Costanti has a proven track record for quality and consistency. The 2011 Brunello di Montalcino opens to a beautiful ruby color and great aromatic integrity. The bouquet presents a quick succession of fresh fruit aromas, cherry cola, licorice, dried ginger and pine nut. All of those elements are delicate and expertly balanced against one another. In the mouth, this Brunello shows a clean and streamlined style with very good length.
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The small town of Montalcino, huddled around its fortressed castle on the Tuscan hillside, is miniature perfection. Montalcino residents are a tightly knit community, with a strong sense of identity and deep love for their territory. Within this community, Andrea Costanti is a well known and highly liked figure. The Costanti family has been part of Montalcino history since 1555, yet Andrea is anything but 'old hat': young, brilliant and amiable, he very much moves with the times. You will find him perfectly at ease in Tuscany as in New York, in Paris or in Tokyo. In 1983, Andrea (at the time, fresh out of Siena University's geology department) took over from his uncle, Count Emilio – the man who first put Costanti on the wine map. A difficult task: yet this inexperienced youth not only coped with his huge new responsibilities, but actually upgraded and enhanced the family's reputation for making great Brunello. He achieved this by relying on his own fine instinct for wine and in-depth knowledge of the terrain's geological components. In time, these natural skills were perfected, so that he eventually styled the range together with Vittorio Fiore. Roughly 25 acres are under vine and vine age ranges from 6 to 25 years old. Soil type is classic Tuscan "galestro" (shale marls from the Cretaceous Era, formed by a mixture of sand and calcareous rock with very little clay).
Among Italy's elite red grape varieties, Sangiovese has the perfect intersection of bright red fruit and savory earthiness and is responsible for the best red wines of Tuscany. While it is best known as the chief component of Chianti, it is also the main grape in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and reaches the height of its power and intensity in the complex, long-lived Brunello di Montalcino. Somm Secret—Sangiovese doubles under the alias, Nielluccio, on the French island of Corsica where it produces distinctly floral and refreshing reds and rosés.
Famous for its bold, layered and long-lived red, Brunello di Montalcino, the town of Montalcino is about 70 miles south of Florence, and has a warmer and drier climate than that of its neighbor, Chianti. The Sangiovese grape is king here, as it is in Chianti, but Montalcino has its own clone called Brunello.
The Brunello vineyards of Montalcino blanket the rolling hills surrounding the village and fan out at various elevations, creating the potential for Brunello wines expressing different styles. From the valleys, where deeper deposits of clay are found, come wines typically bolder, more concentrated and rich in opulent black fruit. The hillside vineyards produce wines more concentrated in red fruits and floral aromas; these sites reach up to over 1,600 feet and have shallow soils of rocks and shale.
Brunello di Montalcino by law must be aged a minimum of four years, including two years in barrel before realease and once released, typically needs more time in bottle for its drinking potential to be fully reached. The good news is that Montalcino makes a “baby brother” version. The wines called Rosso di Montalcino are often made from younger vines, aged for about a year before release, offer extraordinary values and are ready to drink young.