Col D'Orcia : Poggio al Vento Riserva 2012

The 2012 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Poggio al Vento is a monumental wine from this storied appellation in southern Tuscany. From a warm vintage, this is a deeply textured, rich and succulent rendition of Sangiovese. You taste the exuberant flavours of sun-drenched fruit. However, you also taste some evolution (remember, we are talking about a wine released seven years after the harvest) with tarry notes of toasted spice, liquorice and Spanish cedar. This wine ages in large oak casks (of various sizes) for four years followed by an additional two years in bottle. We can look forward to more bottle evolution as the wine moves forward in time. Some 20,000 bottles were made.

Baked plum, new leather, sunbaked earth, wild herb and tobacco aromas form the nose along with a balsamic whiff of camphor. The tense, structured palate delivers dried cherry, cinnamon, crushed mint and licorice framed in firm fine-grained tannins. Give it time to fully develop. Drink 2024–2032.

Aromas of bright red cherries and plums sit neat and pure. This has quite dense and neatly polished texture with a wealth of ripe red and black cherries pervading the finish. The tannins roll out seamlessly. Drink or hold.

Deep ruby. Lots of concentrated fruit that is a little singed on the nose. Supple and a little rich. Very long and a little dense and in need of further ageing to shed its puppy fat. (WS)

Powerful, bright ruby. Present, clearly marked nose with fine notes of fresh cherry, some plum, blackberry and fine milk chocolate. Juicy and round in attack and course, grippy, well-integrated tannins, deep and long.