Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino 2018

JD97: Expressive and beautifully pure, the 2018 Brunello Di Montalcino offers a gorgeous, sweet perfume of perfectly ripe raspberry eau de vie, crushed roses, delicate baking spice, and well-integrated cedar spice. It is medium-bodied, though it is generous and round with fruit in a long arch, fine tannins, and a soft, stony, mineral texture. Polished with more ripe raspberry, oolong tea, and fresh thyme, it is approachable now but will certainly improve over the next 15-20 years.

WA94: Released in numbered bottles, the Le Chiuse 2018 Brunello di Montalcino (a certified organic wine with fruit sourced from across six hectares) shows punchy and bright aromas that recall dried grape skins or fermentation aromas. It suggests an open or immediate personality. There is a pleasant rawness or authenticity presented here with black cherry, plum, blue flower, cola and rusty nail. This is a true expression from a warm vintage that delivers mid-weight texture and well-managed tannins. It concludes with a hint of sweet cherry liqueur. I tasted number 192 of 18,300 bottles produced.

Lorenzo Magnelli's Le Chiuse was born with Tancredi Biondi Santi in 1946. The legendary Brunello vintner sourced fruit from this site for his Riserva. The property would eventually make wine under its own brand when Simonetta Valiani (Lorenzo's mother) inherited the estate in 1992. Farming is organic and biodynamic.

A tiny 6-hectare estate, Le Chiuse was split off from the Biondi-Santi estate in 1993 when it was inherited by Simonetta Valiani, the great-granddaughter of Ferruccio Biondi-Santi. It is now considered among Montalcino’s greatest producers. All farming is certified organic.