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The Le Ragnaie 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Casanovina Montosoli has medium-plus concentration and pretty aromas of cherry fruit, redcurrant, crushed mineral, watercolor paint and a generally riper bouquet, certainly when compared to the Passo del Lume Spento. These vines sit at 300 meters in elevation with mixed clay soils (and higher pH) next door to Baricci. It delivers more of a punch, and there is a savory component with leather or mild tobacco that changes with time, eventually transitioning to a point of sweetness. Structurally, this is a very beautiful wine (with 3,800 bottles released).Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPThe 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Casanovina Montosoli tempts the imagination, blending savory herbs with fresh mint, dusty black cherry and camphor. This is pure elegance on the palate, silky-smooth and supple with cool-toned red fruits complicated by saline minerals as clove mingles with orange nuances toward the close. It finishes surprisingly fresh yet youthfully poised. Edgy tannins add a crunchy sensation, leaving subtle traces of rose petals and an air of worn leather. This harmonious beauty will provide decades of pleasurable drink, yet patience will be required.Vinous Media | 97 VMDisplaying a slightly darker ruby color than the Petroso, the 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino Casanovina Montosoli takes on more depth and opens to notes of wild raspberries, fresh roses, orange peel, and anise. Medium-bodied, it also takes on more structure, with elegant concentration, ripe tannins, and seamless acidity. Long on the palate, with notes of gravelly earth and Mirabelle plum on the finish, this gorgeous wine demands another year or two in cellar. Drink 2026-2046.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDFrom a prime, east-facing parcel on Montosoli’s limestone rich, slatey soil, Casanovina was planted in 1999 and acquired by Le Ragnaie in 2014. Innate breeding oozes from the 2019: gracious and becoming, if not overt. Lifted violet and lavender blossom scents slowly emerge before a trace of sweet damp earth lends a grounding character. This expands over the palate with a generosity of fruit hemmed in by powdery tannins. While imposing at first, they yield supplely. Finishes with succulent, stony minerals. Exciting.Decanter | 97 DEC

The Salicutti 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Piaggione shows macerated aromas of cherry skin with a punchy, almost carbonic-adjacent quality that gives vibrancy and energy to the bouquet. Fruit comes from a site with lots of rocks and rich limestone soils. The bouquet starts off with tart pomegranate or rainier cherry, delivered with pinpoint directness, and then opens to embrace softer tones of underbrush, toasted fennel seed and cumin. The oak is almost invisible, although you do feel the enriched texture and the wine’s powdery tannins. The wine ends on a glossy note, but ultimately those tannins do stick around and you feel them for a long while.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPAlso expressive, the 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino Piaggione is ruby with a magenta tinge and offers notes of raspberry liqueur, violets, and polished wood spices. Refined with fine tannins and a very balanced texture, it’s velvety and has a long finish. Drink 2025-2045.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDCamphor, dark culinary spice, fragrant purple flower and a whiff of forest floor greet the nose on the compelling 2019 Salicutti Piaggione. It’s full-bodied and loaded with finesse, delivering flavors of juicy Marasca cherry, licorice, almond liqueur and blood orange before an almost salty finish. Polished tannins keep it smooth. A fantastic wine. Drink 2029–2039. Abv: 14% Kerin O’Keefe | 96 KOThe Piaggione vineyard is characteristic of southeast Montalcino. Rising steeply from 380 to 450 metres, it is bathed in the morning sun and caressed by winds from Monte Amiata. As it tends to give the estate’s most muscular wines, it was typically bottled as a Riserva before the estate changed hands. This 2019 is deceptively easygoing at first, with very lifted lavender and violet aromas that echo on the sweet-fruited palate. With time in the glass, however, its serious side is revealed as balsamic herbs and earthy undertones join the floral top notes. The palate tightens up as brisk acidity accentuates the dense, chewy tannins, and stony minerals build through the dark cherry core.Decanter | 95 DECPeppery roses and lavender slowly give way to crushed wild berries and tangerine as the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Piaggione dazzles the senses. This is a model of purity, with racy acidity and cool-toned minerality setting the stage for its crisp red and blue fruits. A web of fine-grained tannins slowly saturates the palate. The 2019 finishes classically dry and firm while leaving tart raspberry and licorice to linger. There’s an exoticism to the 2019 Piaggione that I find wildly attractive.Vinous Media | 94 VMAl-dente fruit comes through on the nose, with fresh cherries and flowers, following through to a medium body with firm, silky tannins. Tight and focused with spices, stones and berries at the end. A little reductive. Built for aging. From organically grown grapes. Needs three or four years to open and come around. Drink after 2027.James Suckling | 94 JS