2017 Conti Costanti Brunello di Montalcino Tuscany 750 ml

Some vintages in Montalcino make a winemaker’s job easy. 

Others, like 2017, give top Brunello producers like Conti Costanti a chance to show exactly why they’re so widely revered.

The product of impeccable farming and expert blending decisions, Andrea Costanti’s outstanding ‘17 was bested in Brunello authority Kerin O’Keefe’s Wine Enthusiast rankings by only two other bottles available in the US—and they cost two to four times as much! No wonder Vinous‘ Antonio Galloni said Costanti is “at the very top of his game.” 

Decanter called this bottle “one of the stars of the vintage,” and it checks the major boxes: one of Montalcino’s most historic and important producers, and an owner and winemaker maximizing the potential of his terroir. It’s a collectible that can sail effortlessly in the cellar for another 15 years.

Costanti’s 24-acre vineyard is pure gold. At nearly 1,500 feet above sea level, the site regularly produces some of the greatest Sangiovese grown in the region.

The wines Andrea has made since taking over in 1983 are the standard against which many others get judged—and by which the quality of a vintage is often gauged. He achieves this level of ballet-like grace by maintaining a deep respect for the biodiversity of his family’s land, where roughly 30 acres of vines grow alongside parcels of olive trees. 

Costanti’s Brunellos age 18 months in Slavonian oak barrels, 18 months in French tonneaux, and at least 12 months in bottle, gaining depth and polish. Harnessing that remarkable terroir and expressing it through a meticulous winemaking regimen turned out a captivating Brunello in 2017, setting a high bar that vintage for the rest of the region's producers.