Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino 2019

Poggio Antico is an organic estate high in the hills of Montalcino, in the south of Tuscany's Siena province. Brunello di Montalcino must be made entirely from Sangiovese, and this wine reflects the estate's exacting fruit selection, sorted in the vineyard and again in the cellar. The galestro and clay soils and the elevation of the site give cool nights and a marked diurnal range, slowing ripening so the grapes reach full phenolic maturity while keeping the acidity that lets Brunello age. The wine spends two years in French oak barrels followed by a year in bottle. That long time in wood allows slow oxygen exchange, which knits the firm Sangiovese tannins together and adds a savoury complexity of leather and tobacco alongside the fruit. The colour is garnet. The nose is cherry and plum over leather, tobacco, dried herbs and earth. The palate is full and structured, the tannins firm but ripe, with good acidity driving a long finish. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees and decant an hour or two ahead, or cellar further. It calls for red meat and mature cheese.