Wine Advisor
Salvioni, Cerbaiola Brunello di Montalcino 2009
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
From Giulio Salvioni’s La Cerbaiola estate, the 2009 Brunello di Montalcino is a fantastic wine with an impressive degree of darkness and broad aromas of Indian spice and ripe fruit. The 2008 Brunello presents a more voluptuous style than is customary with the tradition-minded Salvioni. The wine shows a good degree of baby fat that should serve it well as it ages over the next decade or longer. Drink: 2017-2028. Importer: Vias Imports, www.viaswine.com
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2009 Brunello di Montalcino is one of the most immediate and one-dimensional wines in this tasting. There is good depth and intensity in the glass, but much less of the layered quality and nuance of the very best years. Still, the 2009 remains young, with little in the way of aromatic development. All things considered, the 2009 is an excellent wine for satisfying the Salvioni urge while some of the more important surrounding vintages continue to develop in the cellar.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Giulio and Alessia Salvioni's 2009 Brunello di Montalcino is pliant and expressive on the palate. Sweet, perfumed aromatics wrap around a core of dark red cherries, savory herbs, crushed flowers and anise. The layered, creamy finish is especially appealing. Salvioni fans will want to drink the 2009 while some of the more important vintages age in the cellar. This is a strong effort for what has turned out to be a very challenging vintage in Montalcino.
Reviewed by: Ian d'Agata
Good full red. Complex, scented nose offers pure aromas of redcurrant, truffle, mint, flint and violet. Juicy, silky and sweet, with highly nuanced flavors of aromatic herbs and flowers nicely complementing the crisp, bright red berry flavors. Not hugely dense but wonderfully expressive today, even if its firm tannic spine calls for patience. This is one of the top five wines of the vintage; in fact, I think it's much better, sweeter and more layered than Salvioni's 2008 Brunello.
About the Producer
Surrounded by woodland, the 20 hectares of La Cerbaiola look out over the Val d’Orcia from an altitude of 420 metres, opening up like a gently sloping plateau four kilometres to the southeast of Montalcino. The air is clear, a slight breeze rustles the leaves, and on the hillside opposite the outlines of Pienza, San Quirico and Ripa d’Orcia are clearly visible. There are three small vineyards for a total of 4 hectares, each with its own characteristics: soils that vary from chalky schist to stony marl; and subtle differences of micro-climate that influence the ripening of the grapes. All the work in the vineyard is carried out by hand, with hard pruning to obtain low yields of fruit and careful selection during the manual harvest. Production is deliberately limited, to obtain the very best from a unique terroir: 10,000 bottles a year when only Brunello is made; and 15,000 for the years in which there is also some Rosso di Montalcino.
