Frescobaldi - Tenuta Luce della Vite : Luce 2018

The 2018 Brunello di Montalcino is generous and open in personality, but like many other wines from this vintage, the alcohol content is just too high at 15.5%. This is a particular problem when it comes to Sangiovese from Montalcino, a denomination that plays its best cards in terms of elegant, age-worthy wines. A vintage like this is better suited to near and medium-term drinking. It shows sweet cherry, dried raspberry, spice and fragrant rose. The wine is presented in a heavy glass bottle that is graphically beautiful despite its less environmentally friendly implications.

Rich and plump, this juicy red features cherry, black currant and Mediterranean scrub flavors, with flashes of graphite backed by a swath of muscular tannins, which exert their presence on the finish. Shows fine balance overall. Best from 2025 through 2042. 3,333 cases made, 250 cases imported.

Raspberries, almonds, caramel and herbal touches. Taut and tense, but where the structure overtakes the fruit and acidity, leaving a broad frame and not many layers. Feels a little brutish, missing some charm and fruit density. At 15% it’s on the heavier side, and it shows on the palate, bringing some harshness in terms of heat and tannic grip with leather, ash, tobacco and graphite.

A finely structured and focused Brunello with a complex array of cherries, blackberries, dried roses, bark, licorice and hints of praline. Iodine and oyster shells, too. Medium-to full-bodied with firm, very fine tannins. Beautiful texture and balance. Remains fresh and fine until the end. Try in 2025.

Opening slowly in the glass, the 2018 Brunello di Montalcino lifts up with a spicy bouquet of cinnamon-spiced cherries and dusty rose. This is pure elegance on the palate, silky and pliant, gaining a lovely tension as mineral-laced dark red fruits slowly saturate. The 2018 finishes with mentholated freshness and structure, with edgy tannins that tug at the cheeks and a hint of sour citrus that maintains a lovely energy.

Inky plum colour; this is full of grip and life, but the alcohol is just a touch intrusive, which shortens the finish, adding crème de mûre to the fresh raspberry fruit, along with soy, tar, leather and slate. 88ha estate, winemaker Alessandro Marini.