Immediately, you know you are before a great Brunello with bright fruit aromas backed by forest floor, balsam notes, bramble, blue flowers, red apple and mint. The presence of wood is all but invisible and the wine sings true to its territory and tradition. The wine’s natural acidity and intensity promise a long and glorious aging future before it.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEThe totally classic and remarkably youthful 2001 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva shows a dark garnet color in the glass with veins of amber and orange throughout. The bouquet is textbook high-elevation Montalcino purity, understated and refined, showing a dusting of autumnal spices and dried black cherries, evolving further with notes of flowery undergrowth and mineral tones. It’s silky and feminine in feel, “ethereal” comes to mind. A gorgeous display of red wild berries, savory herbs and spices coast across a core of bright acidity. There’s a structure here that remains unseen until the finale, as a coating of fine-grained tannin settles in under an air of sweet tobacco and roses that seem to go on and on and on. The 2001 Riserva is still making its slow progression toward its optimal drinking window, which I expect is still five to ten years away. What an unbelievably beautiful wine. Sampled from the winery cellar.Vinous Media | 95 VMBiondi-Santi’s 2001 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva is just as terrific in bottle as it was when I tasted it from cask last year. A dark, translucent red, it reveals superb freshness in its aromatics, with notes of small red fruits, spices, flowers, mint and anise that you could get lost in. It is perhaps less rewarding on the palate today, but its class is amply evident in the purity of its fruit and silkiness of its tannins. This is a wine built for tertiary development that will occur over the following years and decades. Readers who appreciate classically built, age-worthy wines and have the time to wait will find much to admire. In the meantime, this Brunello is all about potential, and there is plenty of that here. It is a great effort. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2041.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPPure and elegant, offering cherry, floral, cedar and sage flavors, showing some heft on the palate, with dense tannins coupled to a silky texture. Focused on the primary Sangiovese fruit, this has not developed the complex bouquet of the older vintages. Tannins still rule the finish, with cherry, tobacco and mineral elements.—Biondi-Santi non-blind retrospective (July 2012). Best from 2025 through 2060. 611 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WS
