Tenuta le Potazzine le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino 2018 750ml

Le Potazzine farms some of the highest vineyards in the appellation at 420 to 507 meters above sea level. As we know, high elevations are essential today for maintaining acidity and aromatic freshness, especially in the face of climate change. That has never been a problem for this estate, and the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino delivers all the goods. The bouquet opens to dried cranberry, redcurrant, rosemary flower and light spice. The palate is streamlined and elegant, concluding with powdery tannins. This is a 16,000-bottle release. (Monica Larner)

Le Potazzine delivers solid results thanks to the impressive positioning of its vines that straddle the crown of a high-elevation plain. The 2018 Brunello di Montalcino shows bright fruit with cherry and redcurrant, and that makes all the difference. Careful oak aging has enhanced the aromas. I also feel the effects of careful cellar aging in terms of mouthfeel, especially the structure and tannins. The wine is tightly stitched together with a point of sourness on the close. Give it a few more years to soften. Some 15,500 bottles were made.

The 2018 Brunello di Montalcino takes some coaxing to come together in the glass, dusty yet floral, with crushed ashen stones and a core of plum followed by savory herbs and black currant beneath it all. This is elegance personified, casting velvety textural waves of ripe red and blue berries across the palate, all lifted by brisk acidity, and with a flourish of lavender that lights up the senses. A coating of fine tannins lingers, yet the mouth is left watering for more, as nuances of licorice and blackberry slowly fade. The 2018 is a classy rendition of the vintage, elevated by a slightly higher declassification of juice that went into the Rosso di Montalcino. I’d give it another two to three years of cellaring to come fully together.

A lean red, with a mix of earth, Tuscan scrub, cherry, plum and iron flavors aligned to a firm structure, ending with a lightly astringent feel. Best from 2024 through 2035. 1,300 cases made, 320 cases imported. (Bruce Sanderson)