Livio Sassetti Pertimali Brunello di Montalcino 2015

The Sassetti family has been producing wine for more than a century in northeast Montalcino. The wines are the perfect balance between the fruit-forward wines of southern Montalcino and the dense, mineral wines of the north. This Brunello is really beautiful. It’s full bodied, dense, and polished with velvety tannins. Rich, dark, and structured.

JS98: There’s something ethereal in the nose with flowers, cherries, strawberries and shitake mushrooms. Full body. This grows on the palate with super tannin and fruit structure. So much berry flavor and round, caressing tannins that fill your mouth. Tight at the end. This needs four to five years to show its true greatness. Try after 2023.

VM92: Pertimali's 2015 Brunello di Montalcino is currently understated and youthfully poised, as peppery herbs are joined by young strawberry, with crushed stone minerality and earth tones. On the palate, silky textures usher in a ripe set of red fruits, carried well by juicy acids, and giving way to sweet spice and pretty inner floral notes. The finish is long yet maintains the wine’s fresh and vibrant persona, as hints of fine tannin mingle with wild berries and a pinch of residual acids, making the mouth water. The 2015 may not be a Brunello for the ages, but it sure is very easy to like today. It’s a beautiful wine.