VALDICAVA MADONNA DEL PIANO BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO RISERVA 2006

Valdicava
Madonna del Piano
Brunello di Montalcino
Riserva DOCG 2006

“This beautiful Riserva shows enormous thickness and blackness, like midnight of a new moon. The wine delivers impenetrable density, extraction, black fruit, spice, berry preserves, licorice, asphalt, ground black pepper, cherry liqueur and creme de cassis. There are seemingly no limits to the intensity and complexity here. The mouthfeel is dense, plush, firmly structured and very long. Keep this Brunello safely in your cellar 20 years or more.” – 98/100, #Cellar Selection, Wine Enthusiast

VARIETIES: 100% Sangiovese
REGION: Italy / Central Italy / Toscana / Brunello di Montalcino
AGEING: Minimum aged for 36 months in large Slavonian oak casks, then an additional 12 months in bottle
GUARDING POTENTIAL: Enjoy now or will cellar well up to 25 years
SERVE: Serve at 16 – 18ºC
FITS TO: Risotto ai Fegatini / Ragù di Agnello / Filetto alla Wellington / Parmigiano-Reggiano / Pecorino di Pienza / Fiore Sardo
CRITICS SCORES: 100/JS, 98/WE, 98/WS, 96/RP
VIVINO: Average 4.5 ★★★★✰

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Madonna del Piano | Range | Tenuta Valdicava

Madonna del Piano is a top wine from a top vintage, what more could you want? We are deeply impressed by its energetic tension and complexity, plus a harmony only imagined in the wildest dreams. Focused and racy bouquet of dark cherries, herbs, smoke and mineral hints. Very animating in the drink, the acidity plays around the primary fruit, then the polished tannins set in and glide this beautiful red into its almost endless finish. An extremely characterful and polished wine that is already one of the most beautiful of its appellation.

Since 1987 Vincenzo Abbruzzese has been directing the Valdicava winery in the north of the Montalcino area. Martini Bramante, his maternal grandfather, had acquired the estate in 1953 and started Brunello production in 1968. However, wines under their own label were only put on the market from 1977. Before that, a label of the Brunello Consortium with the family name was stuck on the bottles. The first vines were planted more than 50 years ago. Since 1987 Vincenzo, a great horse lover, has been taking care of the winery with great dedication and care. Since about this time, the experienced oenologist Attilio Pagli has also been a consultant for the company’s wine philosophy. The vineyards were subsequently overhauled and the cellars renovated. The investments have paid off: almost every year in the Tenuta Valdicava a very full-bodied and full-bodied Brunello is created, which convinces by its firm structure and a long finish.

The 19 hectares of vineyards form an almost closed area on the slopes of the Montosoli hill at an altitude of 300 metres. They are exclusively and not too densely stocked with Sangiovese grosso according to classical specifications and were almost completely designated for Brunello. Mass selection is practised during planting, the grape yields are kept very small. Vincenzo, a true quality fanatic, says he spends every day in his vineyards. The agronomist Andrea Paoletti watches over the natural work in the vineyard.

The underground wine cellar, which has been extended in the meantime, is kept in the classic style. It is functionally furnished and does without any fashionable bells and whistles. Equipment, plants and barrels of various sizes and origins are available. The largest barrels are destined for Brunello. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel or concrete tanks and partly in wooden vats. The passion for wine lived in the Tenuta Valdicava and the constant pursuit of plants with an individual character are regularly rewarded by high ratings in the international trade press.

This cru Brunello Riserva is always a knockout, and this is a wine about which reviewer James Suckling has said “Valdicava’s single vineyard Brunello di Montalcino Madonna del Piano is one of the great wines of Tuscany, if not Italy. It is a wine completely based on great soil and climate, not to mention fabulous viticulture from owner Vincenzo Abbruzzese. The wine always shows dark fruits and a fresh porcini character, both young and old. It’s structured and tannic yet polished and reserved. It is an archetypal Brunello di Montalcino for me.”