When I first opened the wine I noticed a rather fine purity, but also tons of dry extract and blackcurrant. I let it decant for three hours and when I first tasted it I was already in love.

It's so Tuscan - you can literally smell the rosemary bushes and the atmosphere of the Tuscan spirit.

The wine is covered with extreme mineral backbone. The outer rim of the wine is the minerals and purity shield. Moving towards the center of the wine you have the lovely red fruit and it's like there is a center core with plum, blackcurrant and glycerin which is smiling back to you and it's breathtaking.

The purity is unbelievable. If you listen carefully you will hear angels sing. The taste has at this moment extremely high profiled acidity. The second you sink the wine your front palate snaps together and minerals and acidity is all around the palate. Again; purity and elegancy is what this wine is all about.

If you can find this wine and love Sangiovese with red fruit, purity and elegance. I suggest you buy all you can get.

Dark red with flavour of black cherries, plum and liquorice and sweet wood. Orange overtones and myrrhe. Complex and powerful. In the mouth strong minerality with well-crafted tannins. All flavours are repeated in the after-taste with dominating flavours of sweet vanilla. Excellent!

Wow, this double trophy winner is all class! From its inviting appearance of deep ruby/garnet colour with a black core, to its depth, shine and great clarity, it is in optimal condition. A very dense nose, there is a concentrated dark cherry fruit supported well with a ripe herbal tone and rich chocolate fragrance. These tones also come through on the palate in a firmly structured body. Firm but yielding tannins and fine acidity are balanced against the warm alcohol and sawdust –like oak derived texture. Powewrful, the elegant fruit flavours come thr easily and are seamless throughout. A long satisfying finish. It is clear to see why these few special clones of Sangiovese are so prized in Montalcino. This wine is drinking well now, but will continue to improve for few more years.

Lots of tar, roses and crushed berries. Full-bodied, with big, velvety tannins and a long, lively and fruity aftertaste of blackberry, cherry and vanilla. Gorgeous stuff. New winery, and a great start! Best after 2010.

Very good structure and tannins, wooded, great undercurrent taste of red berries and juniper. Fresh and bright, good fruit, perfect weight and depth.

Good, limpid, fine use of wood, sweet and very pleasing, good fruit.

Good fruit, round and ripe aromas. Balanced in the mouth, with a little bite. Good persistence

Delicate aromas of plum and rosemary follow through to a medium body, with soft tannins and a medium finish. Best after 2008.

Aromas of plum, berry and cigar box follow through to a full body, with velvety tannins and a long, fruity, spicy, vanilla finish. This is a new producer making outstanding wines. Best after 2010.

Here’s a delicate Brunello that allows Sangiovese’s floral nuances to come through. The wine has good intensity, buoyant balsam notes and lighter extraction. Pair it with roasted duck or rabbit.

At the top of our Brunello di Montalcino 2003 tasting is the Helichrysum from San Polino, which has already impressed us with its splendid Brunello Riserva 2001

Once again we are facing a wine of exhalted elegance, harmonious and polished, rich and dense with fruit, with a long, fulfilling softness of flavour, where the altitude of this magnificent farm brings forth vivid aromas of red and black fruit which shift into an uncontaminated balsamic and finely spiced tonality.

A rare wine... which is definitely worth collecting, the result of the hard work that Katia and Luigi have put into this small farm, bought in 91, and always worked to principles of organic agriculture, with an absolute regard for detail, for the most natural development of the grape bunches and their ripening and then in the complexity of the wines in new wood.

The Classic Brunello 2003 is another wine that reveals excellent results, with elegant fresh perfumes and fresh notes of vanilla and rasberry... a silky, long and very satisfying wine.

Luminous, intense ruby and garnet. Fine aromas with notes of ripe raspberries and plums, inviting. Well textured palate, beautiful sweet fruit, strong presence, dense tannins, spreading out well, persistent.

This special selection of Brunello offers more density, extraction and maturity. Immediate aromas include ripe berry, strawberry, spice and leather. The wine has opulence and sophistication and offers very chewy fruit flavors and a velvety texture.

Made in small quantities this boutique Brunello from San Polino is worth tracking down. Made according to organic and biodynamic principles the wine boasts pristine aromas of chocolate, smoke, black cherry and rhubarb. There's a delicate mineral note of white stone at the back and the wine tastes bright and tonic in the mouth.

Dark granate, notes of minerals and incence, earthy, with fruit that is still closed, elegance. In the mouth dense and fresh, intense, the fruit emerges with power and elegance, with slight bitterness on an extended, flavourful and long finish. Excellent tannins.

The classic earthy notes and of liquerice combine with the flowers. A slightly bitter aftertaste. It's not like their 2003, which was a great Brunello, but bodes well for the evolution of the winery.

This is one of those immediate and generous Brunellos that will impress everyone who drinks it. Yet, it is by no means overdone: it delivers harmony and territory-driven aromas of cherry, violets, vanilla and wet earth. The mouthfeel is bright, tonic, and vibrant with loads of cherry on the close.

Soft, plush and modern, this is a superstar Brunello with all the qualities we love in this gorgeous category of wine. Made from organically farmed fruit, it offers amazing intensity and determination with aroma of spice, blackberry and currants. The texture is smooth and silky and the tannins offer a solid backbone.

Soft and rich, with lots of plum and dried fruits and hints of toasted oak. Full and velvety. Made with organic grapes. Drink now.

Medium-deep. Nose a bit oaky,fruit and balsam , spice and herb. Very together palate, with quite a lot happening: layers of flavor, sour cherry fruit, and sufficient but not excessive structure. On the modern side but has length and charm and should age.

Splendid and luminous ruby color. The nose is very fresh and attractive, an interesting mix of fleshy fruit (cherry, plum and black-currant) and floral, mineral, spice notes: a hint of liquorice and mint, aromatic herbs and perhaps rhubarb and dried citrus. The palate is rich, with solid structure, great persistance, and bold but ripe and soft tannins. Well balanced in all the details, with length, richness of savor, and a vibrant, earthy, and mineral finish. A great brunello that you can appreciate now or lay down, because there is great aging potential. Chapeau!

Here’s an immediately seductive Riserva from Montalcino with sweet cherry aromas backed by vanilla, cinnamon and spice. The wine is terrific, from the intensity of its aromas to the smoothness of its mouthfeel. The finish is long, supple and very polished.

Placed in the Cellar Selection of Wine Enthusiast. Selected by Wine Enthusiast as one of the world best hundred wines in 2010.

A small but growing estate, situated near San Polo, on the south-easte slopes of Montalcino. Follows biodynamic techniques and is rigorously organic, certified by the AIAB. What counts most, however, is the passion put into the work and the consequently good wines.

The terrain on which the vineyards are found is rich in skeleton with a clayey-sandy base. Little more than a hectare is designated for the Brunello and so the bottles are few in number. Ageing takes place in wooden vats of medium size and a partly in barrique. The resulting wines are decisively classic and Katia and Luigi make a super selection of grapes for the Brunello called Helichrysum.

It is this wine, from the 2004 harvest, that has impressed us; a complex nose, very particular, with hints of graphite over a light scent of coffee, then blackberry, blackcurrant, and a well-defined black cherry. The elegance of the taste is very interesting, with its beautiful progression due to its excellent tannic resolution and its discreet acidity. The finish in the mouth is consistent with its perfume.

The regular Brunello 2004 is also good with typical and evolved aromas; notes of tobacco, leather and aromatic herbs. A little more rigid in the mouth, vertical, but enormously pleasing.

Brunello d San Polino: The austerity of thoroughbred wines

The Brunello di Montalcino from San Polino has been one of the best surprises of the new millenium. This has now been reconfirmed with two magnificently interpreted vintages.

On this small estate, located in one of the most favoured areas of Montalcino due to its terrain, ventilation and exposition, Luigi Fabbro and his wife leave nothing to chance. They cultivate their vines according to organic principles and make their wine with a rigorous purity and astute use of wood.

Their Brunello Riserva 2004 has great personality; rigorous and elegant, in the style of the estate, with the austerity of a thorough-bred wine which will develop through time.

Their version of the 2005 harvest, product of a more difficult year, is extraordinary; their regular Brunello has a full, fat minerality while their selection, Helichrysum is one of the best examples of this vintage. This is a wine that absolutely must be tasted for its unparalleled aroma of uncontaminated beauty and for its sweet and velvety intensity of creamy fruit on the palate.

A small estate who gives light to the zone of San Polo on the southeasterly slopes of Montalcino.

LIFE: Luigi Fabbro is a charismatic person, surrounded by other equally interesting people, pricipally his wife Katia,, with whom he founded the estate in 1992, between Montalcino and Castenuovo. In this wonderful site the Fabbros are assisted by Alberto Gjilaska and his family. The three of them alone do the work in the vineyard and winery, with enormaous passion and following the rules of organic agriculture.

VINEYARDS: The vineyard is at around 450 slm on sandy and marl soil.. Notwithsytanding the small size of the estate 32 different species of plants and grasses are used to feed the soil. The same care is found during the harvest, where an average of three passages are done, according to ripeness and the type of terrain. A compost is also prepared on the estate.

WINES: Luigi’s humble and generous work continues in the winery, where, together with his colleagues, he looks for the balance between consistency, cleanliness and excellence. A risult that we fine wholly in the Brunello di Montlacino 2004 (1,250 bt; €67) whose soft tannins and vigorous perfumes of fruit predict a long life. The fruit is the connecting thread also for the other wines, such as the Brunello di Montalcino Helichrysum 2005 (4,200 bott €43), subtle and long, produced from its own vineyard, or such as the Brunello 2005 (1,700 bott €27), fruity and soft. The Rosso di Montalcino (7,000 bots; €15) should not be overlooked, a little rigid but rich and succulent.
Fertilizers: biodynamic preparates, compost
PESTICIDES: organic
WEEDING: mechanical
YEASTS: native/wild
GRAPES: 100 0.000000rom the estate