Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2017 Caparzo

This is the so-called "green label" Brunello with proprietor Elisabetta Gnudi Angelini's signature on the front of the bottle. Her classic 2017 Brunello di Montalcino is sharp and tonic with wild raspberry, cassis, lilac, earth and garden herb. There is a sweet note of sour cherry on the mid-weight finish. This is an ample 160,000-bottle production made in a traditional approach with two years in casks made with both Slavonian and French oak.

Plenty of sweet cherries and plums with some chocolate on both the nose and palate. It’s medium-to full-bodied with medium to full tannins that are plush and succulent. Fresh citrus to the fruit at the end. Remains cool and layered. Drinkable now, but better after 2024.

Bright fruit flavors mark this harmonious red, offering cherry, strawberry, eucalyptus and sanguine notes. Lightly dusty tannins come to the fore as this winds down on the finish. Best from 2024 through 2042.

The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino is hauntingly dark and floral, pulling you close with an alluring mix of black cherries, sour citrus and mentholated herbs. It impresses further with soft textures and fleshy red fruits that are nicely contrasted by a salty core of minerality. This loses a bit of concentration through the midpalate, but it finishes structured, persistent, yet fresh, with hints of inner violet and licorice tones. The 2017 is a fine effort in a difficult vintage.