Italian Collector Wines

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This wine kisses the sky with fruit from bush-trained vines planted in 2012 at the highest point of the appellation (above 600 meters in elevation). This is a wine to watch in the future, especially as these vines grow older. The Le Ragnaie 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Passo del Lume Spento has a fine and direct bouquet with vibrant red fruit, cranberry, pressed rose and rosemary blossom. Fruit and floral components run very strong, and you don’t get as much of the earthiness that we find in the other wines. Instead, it feels mineral and salty. Crunchy fruit and powdery tannins fuel a very long and polished finish with a contained 13.5% alcohol content. This wine is fluid and more of a shape-shifter. Only 4,400 bottles were made.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RPTo close out the single vineyard wines, the 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino Passo Del Lume Spento takes a youthful red/garnet-tinged color and, as with the rest of the wines of this vintage from Le Ragnaie, has a signature stamp of incredible perfume lifting from the glass out of the gate, with notes fresh Mediterranean herbs, ripe cherries, anise, and crushed rose petals. Ripe citrus-toned fruit fills the palate of this medium-bodied Brunello, which has great mouthwatering acidity that floats through the sides of the palate, angular tannins, and a mineral-toned finish. It’s packed with tension, though, and is deserving of another year or two of cellaring before drinking 2025-2045.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDThe 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Passo del Lume Spento opens with a mentholated freshness, as crushed stone and minty herbs complicate dusty dried strawberries. This is juicy in character and wickedly fresh, showing its minerality up front as a tart wave of wild berries descends upon the palate. It finishes with cheek-puckering tension, potent and primary, along with a coating of fine-grained tannins, all balanced by a bump of residual acidity. This is a spice bomb, yet it has the energy to balance. The Passo del Lume Spento hails from bush-trained vines planted in 2012 at 621 meters.Vinous Media | 94 VMCampinoti’s highest altitude single-vineyard bottling comes from a one-hectare plot planted in 2011 at a lofty 621 metres. The third release as a Brunello, it hits its stride with the 2019 vintage. While still reserved in aromas, this sings with inner mouth perfumes of white blossom and rose against a backdrop of sour red cherry and pomegranate. The mouth-cleansing tannins are linear, and brisk acidity whisks the wine across the palate. Slender but not bony, this has sufficient flesh to harmonise the structure. Really quite thrilling in its sinewy, chiselled personality.Decanter | 94 DEC