Il Poggione Brunello Montalcino 2018/2019

Winemaker Notes
Ruby red in color, with a very intense, persistent nose and with red fruit notes. Warm, balanced flavor with velvet-smooth tannins. Long-lasting aroma.

Drink with red meats, game, and mature cheeses.

Professional Ratings

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate 94 Points
The Il Poggione 2018 Brunello di Montalcino reveals a dark and savory character with more fruit weight and concentration than you might find in many of its peers. This wine shows a dense center of gravity that is padded with dark cherry, blackberry, toasted spice, mahogany smoked meat and tilled earth. Despite the robust aromas, this Sangiovese is actually quite streamlined and polished in texture. The tannins are soft and veering toward accessibility. This is an ambitious production of 200,000 bottles. The estate’s Riserva Vigna Paganelli was not made in 2018, so fruit from that wine went here instead.

James Suckling 94 Points
This is a flavorful, layered Brunello with aromas of fresh and sour cherries, plums, bay leaves, rosemary and olives. Cloves and licorice, too. It’s medium- to full-bodied with firm, fine-grained tannins. Sleek and well-integrated, with a lengthy and deliciously savory finish.

Wine Spectator 94 Points
The dense structure sets the pace for this red, with cherry, raspberry, mint and tar flavors that are appealing and expressive. Reveals rose hip, orange peel and earth details as this winds down on the long, expansive aftertaste. Built for the long term. Best from 2026 through 2046.

Decanter 92 Points
This large and historic property in Montalcino’s southwest draws upon 140 hectares of estate vineyards to deliver a very complete and satisfying Brunello. A smoky introduction leads to leather and tobacco nuances which repeat on the palate. The 2018 is chock full of flavour as cherry and baking spice join in. It feels midweight but there is plenty of stuffing with a vigorous chewiness contributing positively to the gratifying mouthfeel.

About the producer
The story of Tenuta Il Poggione – the estate as we know it today – began at the end of the 19th century. It tells of Lavinio Franceschi, a landowner from Scandicci, on the hills that rise above Florence. Franceschi was so fascinated by the tales told by a shepherd moving his sheep to their summer pasture on the slopes of the Maremma between Montalcino and Sant’Angelo that he went to survey the place, caring nothing for the distance and dangers that commonly beset travellers in those days. He found his visit so interesting and the scenery so majestic that he decided to buy land there.

At the end of the 1800s, the Franceschi family’s name was put on the local roll of honour, along with that of the Tolomei and the Counts of Ciaia. Franceschi’s greatest achievement was to recognize the area’s potential for vine cultivation and winemaking and to see the possibilities of the Sangiovese grapes that had always been grown in the area. His management, modern business approach and enterprise marked the end of what until then had still been almost mediaeval agricultural methods. New Sangiovese clones were selected, better adapted to producing good quality grapes, and new vineyards were planted in the most suitable terroirs, with a view to producing high-class wines. The company also built a new winery, complete with the most up-to-date technology available at the time, but without losing sight of tradition or the characteristics of the local product.

After more than a century, Lavinio Franceschi’s work is still a fundamental point of reference for his successors, Leopoldo and Livia, who continue to develop the business with that same dedication and unflagging passion, combining the ancient skills of winemaking crafts and tradition with the latest, most progressive techniques.