Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2013 Tenuta le Potazzine

The 2013 Brunello di Montalcino walks a very fine line between elegance and finesse. Those may seem like two analogous terms, but this wine teaches you that they are not. The bouquet offers tonic and buoyant tones of wild berry, blueberry, dried herb and licorice. Each is elegant in its own right, but together they form a nuanced and finessed whole. Le Potazzine does very nicely in the hot vintages, but it delivers unexpected surprises (like this wine) in the cooler ones.

Aromas of smoky meat, dark berry and dried flowers. Full body, chewy tannins and a tight finish. Reserved. Needs two or three years to soften.

Bright red. Sweet, spicy red cherry, blueberry compote and powdered rocks on the nose are complicated by herbs and ink. Rich, dense and multilayered, but with delightful vibrancy that gives this concentrated beauty’s liqueur-like richness of red and blue fruit flavors a graceful quality. Outstanding sugar-acid-tannin balance contributes to this wine’s many charms on the exhilaratingly long, lively finish. One of the best Brunellos of the 2013 vintage.