Wine Advisor
Salvioni, Cerbaiola Brunello di Montalcino 2012
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino La Cerbaiola is a beautiful expression with delicate berry flavors that wrap over the palate with polished perfection. The house style at Salvioni prizes ethereal elegance in a manner that few others can achieve within the Brunello appellation. These wines present a new facet each time you return to contemplate the fluid and ever-changing bouquet. Spicy tar, clove and toasted nut appear as almost indistinguishable afterthoughts on the long-lasting finish.
Reviewed by: Eric Guido
The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino is a total charmer, understated at first, but worthy of patience, as swirling unlocks depths of cinnamon and clove-tinged cherries, nuances of sweet mint, pine shavings and white smoke. It envelopes the palate with ripe textural fruits, soothing and round, while saline-minerals and fine tannins mingle throughout, adding a balanced tension. Nothing is out of place here, as the 2012 finishes lightly structured, remarkably fresh and perfumed with red inner florals and savory spice. This is a beautiful and graceful interpretation of the vintage that still has many years of positive evolution for collectors to look forward to. Salvioni only made Brunello (no Rosso) in 2012, and production was down at 12,000, usually around 1,8000 to 19000 bottles total, between Rosso and Brunello. This was due to the heat of the vintage and smaller berries.
Reviewed by: Ian d'Agata
Good full red. Expressive aromas of dark cherry, rose petal, violet, fresh herbs and flnty minerals. Juicy, bright and gripping, in a more floral rather than fruity style currently, with substantial building tannins and high, lively acidity giving this a slightly austere quality at present. Finishes bright and long, with a youthful but noteworthy metallic edge and a strong note of violet; will it ever develop the fruit to rank along Salvioni’s many other great wines? One of the most backwards 2012 Brunellos I tasted this year, I’d forget about this in the cellar for another decade or so.
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.
