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2012 Terralsole Brunello di Montalcino Riserva

Not Currently In Auction

Latest Sale Price

December 10, 2023 - $57

Estimate

RATINGS

95Wine Enthusiast

Smooth, full-bodied and glossy, this opens with aromas of licorice, underbrush, tobacco and ripe plum. The aromas carry over to the juicy enveloping palate along with black raspberry and a hint of coffee. Fine-grained tannins provide polished support.

93Wine Spectator

Enticing balsamic notes of wild herbs, olive and fennel mingle with cherry and leather flavors that draw you in for more. Lively acidity and firm tannins add support as this builds to a long, savory aftertaste.

93James Suckling

...very ripe with plums, hints of prunes and lemon rind. Full body, chewy tannins and a long and flavorful finish. Chewy.

90The Wine Advocate

Dark and brooding in personality...opens to aromas of cedar, campfire ash and crushed mineral. There is thick primary fruit as well that recalls dried cherry, prune and blackberry confit.

17+ Jancis Robinson

Lifted cherry and rose-hip nose with a hint of bacon... Intriguing, exotic cherry and strawberry palate with plenty of coating tannins. Complex finish with real depth of fruit... Persistent length and great balance.

PRODUCER

Terralsole

Terralsole was founded in 1996 by Mario Bollag, a Swiss-born entrepreneur and adventurer who worked as a ski instructor in California, and a pilot in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean before starting his own San Francisco-based tour business. But a stint as an art student in Florence decades earlier left him longing for northern Italy, and in the 1990s he bought a farmhouse and property just outside of Montalcino and started producing Brunello. Wine Enthusiast has called Terralsole’s Brunellos “modern and deeply layered…” and rated them in the mid-90s.

REGION

Italy, Tuscany, Brunello di Montalcino

Brunello di Montalcino is regarded as one of Italy’s best appellations. Located in south central Tuscany below Chianti, the wines of Brunello di Montalcino DOCG are made of a Sangiovese clone called “brunello,” which means “little dark one,” a reference to the brown tones in the skin of the grape. Unlike some Tuscan appellations that allow other grapes to be blended with Sangiovese, Brunello di Montalcino is entirely Sangiovese. Montalcino itself is a picturesque, hill-top town not especially well known for wine production until the mid-19th century, when a local vineyard owner isolated the brunello clone and planted it. Other growers followed suit. Nevertheless it wasn’t until 1970s that wine enthusiasts started paying attention to Brunello di Montalcino, which by then was becoming an outstanding wine. Today there are 120 estates in the DOCG, up from about 25 estates in 1975. Brunellos in general are bigger, darker, more tannic and more powerful wines than Chiantis or most other Sangioveses. By law they must be aged for four years, and two of those years must be in wooden barrels.