You just can't beat the purity of the bouquet here: cherries, red licorice, blue flowers and currants. It's all stunning. Il Marroneto's 2015 Brunello di Montalcino opens to a light garnet color with faint ruby highlights. The wine never veers from its lanes, sticking to an absolutely traditional and fresh expression from the appellation. It offers a lean to medium-weight mouthfeel with radiant fruit flavors—think pure cherry fruit. Fruit is harvested from a five-hectare parcel at 300 meters above sea level with calcareous sand and Galestro soils. These conditions lead to the aromatic intensity of the wine, and that's the main takeaway in this classic vintage. There is a moment of softness that expands quickly over the palate. These results are graceful and gorgeous. Some 23,569 bottles were made. This wine was bottled in June 2019, and it hit the market in January 2020.

Il Marroneto sits just north of the town of Montalcino. Owner Alessandro Mori explains that the soil here is predominantly marine sand with micro-minerals from the coast, giving a floral rather than fruity expression. He uses botti (large oak casks) only for ageing, with some dating back to the 1970s - though it must be said that the cellar here is fanatically clean. The 2015 rings through with purity and clarity and is indeed decidedly mineral and floral-driven. Sweet earth, dried violets and lavender complement an underlying core of cherry and raspberry. The palate is tangy and saline with lots of substance, flavour and depth. Wonderfully textured with grainy tannins that escalate across the palate.