Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino Piaggione 2017
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James
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Robert
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Jeb
Dunnuck
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The wine is slightly darker in color and aroma than Sorgente, with earthy, diesel-y bass notes and wild oregano top notes. This is classical Sangiovese, with silky textures but just the right amount of grip and acidity to keep everything in check.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is complex and refined with mushroom, cedar, fresh herb and black cherries. It’s medium-bodied with a tight and focused finish. From organically grown grapes. Give this time to completely open. Better in a two or three years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Game, camphor and blue flower aromas make their way to the forefront along with crushed fennel seed. The firm, elegantly structured palate offers juicy strawberry, blood orange and star anise alongside baking spice accompanied by taut, polished tannins. Bright acidity keeps it lifted and fresh. Drink 2024–2029.
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Wine Spectator
This supple red is marked by macerated cherry, plum, fruit cake, floral and leather aromas and flavors. Lively and balanced, with a light coating of tannins on the long aftertaste. Best from 2024
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Salicutti 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Piaggione (closed with a black wax capsule) is pure and genuine in character, but it also shows simple lines and not as much depth as we saw in the previous vintage. However, if the goal in 2017 was to avoid overt ripeness or heaviness, those two objectives have been accomplished quite successfully in this wine. Aromas of wild cherry, rose and grilled herb are lifted and pretty, and the wine shows varietal character that is especially pure. Fruit comes from the tiny Piaggione vineyard, which measures just over a hectare and is farmed meticulously by hand.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Ripe, lifted aromas exude from the 2017 Brunello Di Montalcino Piaggione, with a jeweled ruby color and forward notes of licorice, wild raspberry, menthol, and leather. It is medium to full-bodied, with a supple texture and a weightless feel, its perfume lasting long on the palate. Offering ripe tannins with no harsh edges and a silky mouthfeel fleshed out with black cherry, cedar, forest floor, and warming spice on the finish, the wine is balanced and is well detailed for this opulent vintage.
Other Vintages
2018-
Jeb
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Robert
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James
Suckling
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- Decanter
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- Decanter
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Robert
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Robert
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Robert
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The vineyards and olive groves of Salicutti are set in a large natural amphitheater with a spectacular view of the cultivated fields of Tuscany’s Orcia Valley and the nearby woods of Mount Amiata. In the middle of this charming natural setting lies the Salicutti estate, which prides itself on the production of high-quality wines through the use of traditional, environmentally respectful agricultural methods. Winemaking Process
Leanza’s environmentally sound approach to viticulture shuns chemical intervention in favor of a return to the basics: identifying the optimal terroir, sun exposure and vineyard altitude to produce exceptional wines. Leanza fertilizes his vines and treats vineyard pests using only noninvasive measures, such as under-plowing and natural fertilizers.
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.