2010 Paradisone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG is sold out.

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2010 Paradisone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 750 ml

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  • Get credited back if a wine fails to impress

A Cold January Day at Gotham Hall

As we learned at the Gotham Hall tasting on that cold day in January, the 2010 Brunelli di Montalcino are among the richest, most age-worthy, and most complex wines of the last 30 years. Here’s why.

Sangiovese, at its best, is Italy’s answer to Grand Cru Burgundy. But unlike Pinot Noir, Tuscany’s noble red is horribly capricious, notorious for uneven ripening. As a result, the great vintages in Montalcino are tied by a common thread. The growing season is long and dry but not terribly hot, enabling the top estates of the appellation to let their fruit hang. That extended hang-time allows sugars to climb incrementally as seeds ripen and brown.

It happened in 1995 and again in 1996. But never in recent Tuscan history has Montalcino been blessed with a vintage like 2010. Spring was wet and pretty cold, delaying flowering and retarding the vegetative cycle. Summer then turned cool, absent the heat spikes of previous growing seasons, and exceedingly dry. Brief but perfectly timed showers in the last week of August refreshed the vines, erasing any vestige of hydric stress. September was warm and dry. The diurnal temperature shift — the difference between daytime highs and nighttime lows — was more like Mendoza than Tuscany.

At Attilio Locati’s Paradisone, the fruit set was irregular. Berry size was unusually small as well, but concentration and natural sugars were high. Most importantly, clusters were beautifully formed and seeds were mature and brown. After nearly a decade of indefatigable entrepreneurial adventure, Signor Locati’s resolve was rewarded like never before.

The 2010 Paradisone Brunello di Montalcino is vivid ruby. Gorgeous aromatically, featuring an exquisite mix of black cherry, raspberry, tobacco, and cedar. Rich, tightly wound, and high-toned, fleshy and seductive on the mid-palate, filled with crushed red fruits and a splash of raspberry liqueur, finishing with great length and persistence. Drink now-2030.

95 points from James Suckling. $80 on release. $50 today — ONLY on WineAccess.