On November 28th I attended the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino Benvento Brunello New York City stop of their world tour.

This was to showcase to members of the Restaurant trade and Media, the upcoming release of the current vintage of Brunello. Since according to the DOCG regulations, the regular Brunello have to wait 5 years to be released and 6 years for the Riservas, this was the 2019 vintage for the regular Brunello and 2018 vintage for the Riservas.

The event was held at the Public Hotel on 215 Chrystie Street in the lower east side of Manhattan.

The set up was similar to what they had during Covid era and was a sit-down tasting. You would download an app with the wines that were available, and you would order up to five wines at a time to sample and they would bring the wines to your table.

Since they wines that were served were the new releases, I thought that they were still very young and could have used some more time in the bottle to smooth out the rough edges. On the 2019’s for the most part I was getting a lot of bright red fruit with very crisp acids. The 2018 Riservas were more appreciable with more dark fruit and earth notes.

Some highlights:

2019 Argiano: Clear light brick, smoky tar on the nose with nice red fruit, good balance.

2019 Carpineto: Clear medium red, earthy nose, juicy fruit with tar notes with a nice balance of moderate tannin and acid.

2019 Casisano: Clear light red with a brick rim, tar and barnyard on the nose, juicy red fruit with moderate acids and a dusty finish.

2019 Donatella Cinelli Colombini: Clear light brick, tar and leather on the nose, with firm, dusty red fruit.

2019 La Fornace: Clear light brick, sweet tar on the nose, red fruit with firm acids and earth notes on the finish.

2019 Nardi: Clear medium to dark red, tarry nose, juicy, earthy full red fruit, firm finish.

2019 Pacenti “Rosaldo”: Clear medium red, tar, anise and earth on the nose, chewy black fruit, nice and balanced, drinkable.

2018 Caprilli “AdAlberto” Riserva: Opaque medium red with a brick rim, tar and dark chocolate on the nose, red fruit with gritty tannins, anise notes, nice balance.

2018 Corte Pavone Riserva: Clear medium red with an amber rim with juicy black fruit and slate notes on the firm but balanced finish.

2018 Donatella Cinelli Colombini “Vento” Riserva: Opaque dark red, dusty tar and anise on the nose, chewy fruit with tree bark notes ending with big tannins.

2018 La Serena “Gemini” Riserva: Clear medium brick, sweet perfume of tar and smoke, tarry fruit with firm acids.

Other producers I sampled:

Armilla	Capanna
Banfi	Col D’Orcia
La Fiorita	Ruffino
Val Di Suga	Fanti
Uccelliera	Sanpolo
Talenti	Il Poggione
Cortonesi	Elia Palazzesi