2010 Fanti Brunello di Montalcino 750 ml

The Last of the 2010 Brunellos … Wine Spectator 94 points … Direct from Montalcino

In February, the proprietors of nearly every significant estate in Montalcino traveled to New York for the much-awaited unveiling of the 2010 vintage. We awoke early that frigid morning, hopped the train for Penn Station, grabbed a pair of piping-hot double cappuccinos and sat down on the steps at 1356 Broadway. When the doors opened, we went to work.

Over the years, we’ve grown leery of pre-release vintage hype, particularly when the source of that hype is the agency charged with promoting the wines of the region. So when the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino came out with its perfect 5-star rating for the 2010 vintage, we took it with a grain of salt. But after a half hour in Gotham Hall, tasting and conversing with the Montalcino elite, it became eminently clear that in lumping 2010 in with other “5-star” vintages, the Consorzio had actually underrated the vintage.

Garnered from notes taken from conversations with a half-dozen producers, this quick synopsis of the most extraordinary growing season of the new millennium helps explain why enologist Martino Scheggi and agronomist Elisa Fanti combined to craft the finest wine ever to come off this legendary estate — and one of the most powerful Brunellos of 2010.

Ample rainfall from March to May was accompanied by unseasonably warm weather. Vines got off to a fast start. While yields were fairly small, leaf canopies were healthy, as was the fruit set. The summer continued to be warm, but absent the heat spikes that often wreak havoc in Montalcino. Highs stayed around 90 degrees. There was little rainfall. Filippo Fanti’s 50 hectares of vineyards are meticulously farmed. As a result, both the old vines and the new plantings of low-yielding modern clones shrugged off the drought conditions. As temperatures cooled in mid-September, the Fantis delayed picking, without any concern for over-ripeness or desiccation. Sugars inched up, while acids and tannins remained firm. Sugars continued to climb incrementally throughout the Indian summer as acids remained vibrant and tannins firm. The call to harvest was finally made in October, under perfect conditions.

The 2010 Fanti Brunello di Montalcino was one of the darkest wines at Gotham Hall. Explosive aromatically, featuring a spicy mix of black raspberry preserves, small black fruits, and sweet herbs. Rich, forward, and powerfully structured, with gobs of primary-fruit flash, chewy and almost briery in texture, this is a terrifically muscular 2010 that, while drinking well on release, will greatly benefit from a half-dozen years of cellar slumber.

94 points from Wine Spectator. 94 more from James Suckling. $53 on release. $37 today on WineAccess. Shipping included on 4.