BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO

2012 Riserva Padelletti

Grapes Sangiovese Grosso
Colour Red
Origin Italy, Tuscany
District Montalcino
Sub-district Brunello di Montalcino
Classification Riserva
ABV 14%

Brunello indeed to look at, with tawny edge and deep dark middle. Complex nose of spice and polished wood, with silky intensity and a power almost hidden by the polish. Powerful and intensely long, leaving a lasting impression. The fruit is developing nicely with some dried plum touches, aniseed, meat juices, balsamic, concentrated and persistent, it will offer fine drinking for a long time to come. L&S (Mar 2020)


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The 2012 Padelletti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is noted by aromas of red plum, celery root, clove, and sunny, dried earth. The palate has a classic structure and flavors of dried raspberry, tomato leaf, and bitter orange. Filled with savory character, this is a lovely traditional wine with lots of charm. Enjoy over the next 15 years. 2021-2036. Drinking range: 2021 - 2036 Rating: 94 Audrey Frick, JebDunnuck.com (Mar 2021)

Padelletti's 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva shows brawn and muscle, yet the wine is never too heavy or dense. In terms of the Padelletti house style, this is definitely one of the most dense and opulent wines I've seen from this family in recent years. The hot summer weather and dry winds in 2012 have contributed to the wine's dark and fruity character. It ends with dried cherry and toasted almond. Drinking range: 2019 - 2035 Rating: 91 Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate (www.robertparker.com) (Jun 2018)

Padelletti's Riserva is crafted from 40-50-year-old vines. It sees a long five week maceration and lengthy ageing in large oak casks. It's a wondrously traditional Brunello from one of the region's pioneers, also demonstrating one of the vintage's most elegant offerings. Precise floral nuances of rose, violet and mint blossom follow through on the palate, with intriguing earth tones appearing. Surprisingly fine yet assertive tannins and invigorating acidity carry the wine. Drinking range: 2019 - 2034 Rating: 96 Decanter Magazine (Feb 2018)

Padelletti

The Padellettis are one of Montalcino's oldest families, and one with an illustrious past, stretching back into the 13th century at least. In 1529, Giovanni Padelletti, an architect, was given charge of a section of wall and two gates for the defence of the city against the Spanish invaders, and his descendants still own them. Under the Medicis they had to lie low, but by 1576 they are again listed as owning land and vineyards.

Over the centuries the quality of the wines of the area was improving. White grapes, commonly vinified with the red to make the wines drinkable younger, were excluded, and the best wines were aged in barrels made of oak imported from elsewhere, which did not make the wines as tannic as the local chestnut. It was over this time that the wine became known as Brunello, from the tawny-edged colour it took on from long oak-ageing.

The family had a rough time of it in the nineteenth century, many dying young, including Guido, a professor of three universities who died at thirty-five while fighting with Garibaldi, and his brother Dino. However, thanks to the stewardship of his great-uncle Domenico, Guido's son Carlo Augusto inherited a large estate in fine condition.

Carlo Augusto was one of those people you'd like to have met. With four doctorates to his name, he was a diplomat, a judge, a physician as well as being a remarkable industrialist. He by-passed the age of steam to bring electrical power to the region, with internal combustion generators powered by waste from forestry. By 1899 he had lit Montalcino with electricity, and this was followed by electric flour and saw mills, an olive press, and a brick kiln. He built a paper and book-binding industry, and eventually a cinema.

All this time Brunello was produced in tiny volumes, and it became clear that it was the alluvial soils at the foot of the Montalcino hill which produced the best wine. The Padellettis always had vines in the Rigaccini estate, a valley on the north side of the city which slopes down the east side of the fortress, with a soil enriched by volcanic debris from Monte Amiata. From this six hectares they select less than a quarter of the grapes for Brunello, a production of 7-8000 bottles. The wine is fermented in cement tanks and aged in large Slavonian oak casks, in the original cellar in central Montalcino, in Via Guido e Dino Padelletti, under the family's historic house.

This wine isn't currently part of a mixed case, but you can always browse our full selection of mixed cases here.
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