BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO
2017 San Polino
This is on on view ready now, but will obviously go on. Cherry on the nose, but round, rich. Ripely mature fruit. Lovely thick but taut tanins. Velvety. Good juicy acidity tautens tannins on finish.L&S (Apr 2022)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
Brunello that shows the ripeness of the vintage. At the same time the rich plum and cherry character is buttressed with bright acidity and dusty tannins. It’s chewy yet polished. Fresh at the end. Drink in 2023 and onwards. From organically grown grapes Rating: 94 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Mar 2022)
The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino boasts an intense bouquet of tart raspberries, savory herbs and spice. It’s supple and fruit-forward on the palate, with ripe cherry and strawberry further motivated by juicy acidity, and leaves a subtle coating of sweet tannin and hints of licorice through the finale. Don’t overthink this fun, vibrant yet balanced expression from the 2017 vintage. While San Polino is located on the southern hill, the Brunello is sourced from a northern location at 300 meters in loamy clay soils. Rating: 90 Eric Guido, www.vinous.com (Mar 2022)
Mid to deep ruby with orange tinges. A concentrated, earthy cherry nose that is almost a little rich with savoury, minerally, meaty notes. Lush cherry fruit with a full aromatic spread on the palate with tons of chewy tannins. Long and with lots of stuffing. Drinking range: 2022 - 2028 Rating: 17+ Walter Speller, www.jancisrobinson.com (Feb 2022)
San Polino
Thirty years ago, Luigi Fabbro and Londoner Katia Nussbaum founded San Polino – Montalcino’s first certified organic estate - with 4 (now 5) hectares of vines and 16 of forest, 9km from the town to the south-east on the way to Castelnuovo. They now have another site on the other side, 5 hectares of vines bordering Fuligni and Padelletti.
Katia, daughter of Romanian-Jewish father and brought up in Putney, had always felt a fish out of water in London, and had met Luigi ('Gigi') from Friuli in Katmandhu in her gap year. Having completed her education at SOAS, she went to join him in Italy. Luigi, a trained chemist and former computer scientist, brought his experiences mapping the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest to this corner of Tuscany, and the couple aim to 'create wines as complete reflections of the biodiversity of the terroir'.
Blessed with an extraordinary range of soil types across their land – from ancient sea beds to volcanic minerals - they are self-proclaimed extremists when it comes to organic farming, using microorganisms in place of sulphur and copper in the vineyard. Their own compost is made from the stalks and skins from the grapes, and grasses and beans are regularly planted to add nutrients to the soil and increase biodiversity. The wines undergo spontaneous fermentation from indigenous yeasts, and see a 45-day maceration on skins, before being pressed and raised in large Slavonian and French oak for three years. 5% of the oak is new, for a hint of spice.
The vineyards have been organic since 1994 and are also certified biodynamic. The philosophy of biodynamics, with its emphasis on harmony and balance, plus obsessive care in the winemaking, lends the wines a phenomenal amount of elegance and purity of fruit, with a finish that seems to go on forever.
ORDERING VIA OUR WEBSITE:
- Click on the 'ORDER' button to add cases to your Wishlist order form. The Wishlist appears in both the sidebar and header (separately from the main basket).
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- Submit your Wishlist order form with your details and please indicate any special requirements in the notes, including whether you would like the wines duty paid.
- We will respond as quickly as possible with confirmation of your order and your invoice.
Please note that certain wines are on very tight allocations and will first be offered to customers who buy across the range. If you have any queries, please email our primeurs team or speak to your usual L&S contact.
ORDERING VIA EMAIL:
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STORAGE OPTIONS:
Wines bought en primeur are scheduled to arrive in the UK over the course of the next eighteen months. If you do not wish to take home delivery, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our primeurs team for more information.
While helpful, we do not require a firm commitment on delivery destination to process your primeur order at this stage. Our team will be in contact with you when your wines arrive in the UK to confirm the necessary delivery details.
2023 LATEST ITALIAN RELEASES OFFER FAQ
OFFER: All wines are offered subject to availability and final confirmation.
PRICING: All prices are quoted IN BOND ex-VAT, by the case size stated. Please double check that the desired case size does match what is being offered as wines are variously listed in threes, sixes, dozens, halves and larger formats.
DELIVERY - TIMING: This is a primeur offer so the wines are not yet physically available for delivery. They will be shipped to the UK over the next eighteen months. Generally wines are shipped to your nominated location once the whole order has landed in our London City Bond account. If you require wines to be delivered by a certain date, please advise us at the time of ordering.
DELIVERY - FEES: In bond delivery to an Elephant Storage account (for more information see 'Storage Options' opposite) is free of charge. Transfer of wines to any third party bond (i.e. not Elephant Storage) will incur an administration charge of £16.50 + VAT for all orders under £500. If you require wines duty paid, please indicate this in your Wishlist order form. A duty & VAT invoice will be raised once all the wines on your order are available for shipment. Once the relevant duty & VAT has been settled, we will ship the wines to your nominated address as per our normal duty paid Delivery Terms.
PAYMENT: All orders will be invoiced for immediate payment by cheque, cash, debit card or cleared funds to our account. We regret that we cannot accept credit cards for primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.