2015 Capanna Brunello di Montalcino Tuscany 750 ml

Officially, the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino’s annual event is called “Benvenuto Brunello.” But the 2020 gathering—which debuted a 2015 vintage that Vinous called “easily one of the top eight or ten Brunello vintages of all time”—went down in Wine Access lore as Brunello Black Friday. And the 96-point Capanna Brunello was our doorbuster.

We made a beeline for the Capanna table that day, and after one sip of the super-seductive 2015 we committed to as many cases as we could. That was a good move, considering how the Capanna lingered on our minds even after we’d tasted our way through the high-dollar tables—and how it’s now racked up a stunning ratings from Wine Access members, making it one of our top-rated Brunellos of the past two years. 

Owned by the Cencioni family since 1957, Capanna was one of the first estates to launch the modern era of Brunello. Still a family-run affair after more than six decades, Capanna also avails itself of the services of consulting enologist Paolo Vagaggini. Known around the world as “Mr. Sangiovese,” Vagaggini counts Fuligni and the iconic Biondi-Santi among his Brunello clients.

Vagaggini has Capanna on a track that’s got the estate “on a real roll of late,” according to Ian d’Agata of Vinous. The wines are fermented on the skins for nearly a month before spending three years in Slavonian oak casks that range from 1000 to 3200 liters. What emerges is the kind of beguiling Brunello that won the day, even in the presence of some of Montalcino’s most revered bottlings. We waited four years (and woke up really early) for this one, and it was well worth it.