Wine Advisor
Valdicava, Madonna del Piano Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2012
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: James Suckling
A complex red with rose petals, violets, crushed stones and cherries follows through to a full body and chewy tannins that are poised and polished. Extremely long and intense. A top wine for the vintage. This needs three or four years, maybe more, to come together.
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano is a dark and thickly extracted expression. It is one of the blackest Brunellos you will find in this report. This rich red wine takes a little longer to open because those primary aromas are buried deep under all that bulk and power. Indeed, this wine is almost too much of a good thing. It moves with slow-motion laziness, and the bouquet is in absolutely no rush to show what it has in store. At its leisure, it will deliver dried blackberry, cassis, bitter chocolate, spice, campfire ash and sticky tar. There is some tannic astringency that will (hopefully) integrate with time. This is a hearty and satisfying wine to drink in the heart of winter with gentle snowflakes fluttering outside your window. It is a romantic wine in heart and soul.
Reviewed by: Eric Guido
The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Madonna del Piano remains youthfully shy in the glass, with hints of cedar spice box, crushed dried flowers and smoky spice forming its bouquet. It’s wonderfully elegant and round in feel, soothing the palate with a mix of balanced acids and ripe red and black fruits tinged with salted licorice. This tapers off incredibly long and structured through the finale, yet nicely balanced as well, with an echo of blue- and purple-toned inner florals that linger.
Reviewed by: Ian d'Agata
Deep ruby-red. Toasty oak and vanilla complicate red cherry and underbrush aromas and flavors. Then rich, dense and concentrated, but lovely violet lift provides clarity and cut to the suave flavors of red cherry, red currant, flint and vanilla. Much deeper and richer than the 2013 Brunello from Valdicava, this beautiful wine finishes very long and ultra-smooth. It is the best wine I have ever had from this estate.
About the Producer
Valdicava is located in the town of Montalcino in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is a boutique winery producing top Brunello wines. In 1953, Martini Bramante bought the land on which the Wadi Cava winery now stands, north of the town of Montalcino. At first, he just planted grapes and sold them to Biondi Santi winery. It was not until 1968 that he launched his own wine for the first time. Later, Vincenzo Abbruzzese, Martini's grandson, took over the Wadi Cava winery. Today, the winery has entered a golden age of development under the leadership of Vincenzo. Wadi Kava Winery is located at 43 degrees north latitude, influenced by the surrounding ocean and mountains, the local climate is relatively mild, and the rainfall is moderate throughout the year. In addition, the cool breeze brought by the nearby mountains and forests also properly adjusted the local temperature. The winery occupies a total of 333 acres, including 67 acres of vineyards. The winery's staff take good care of the vineyards, but do not provide too much nutrients and water to the vines. This is to promote the vines to take root deep in the soil, thus making the resulting grapes more flavorful and expressive. local terroir. The vineyard is divided into 9 plots. During the grape ripening season, the grapes from different plots will be mined and harvested, and placed in different oak barrels to be broken and fermented, and then Vincenzo will brew according to the desired wine. The style of the wine is adjusted. The blended wine is then aged in Slovenian oak barrels. Vincenzo combines traditional and modern Brunello winemaking techniques to produce wines that are both Brunello and Wadi Cava's own. The annual output of Vadikawa winery is about 6,000 cases, and only 3 wines are produced, namely Valdicava Rosso di Montalcino, Valdicava Rosso di Montalcino, Valdicava Brunello. (Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino) and Valdicava Brunello Riserva Madonna del Piano. Among them, the Wadi Cava Brunello Reserve dry red wine is only made in excellent years, and the output is usually only 800 cases. Both the 2006 and 2015 vintages received full marks from renowned wine critic James Suckling. The 2001 wine was awarded full marks by both James and Wine Spectator.