Last year the wines from Brunello di Montalcino’s 2015 vintage stole the limelight at JamesSuckling.com, with our tastings of 180 wines producing some of the best bottles we’ve ever encountered. Many winemakers produced their best ever wine, and the top two spots of our Top 100 Wines of 2019 were both occupied by Brunello 2015 wines. A third wine also made it into the top 10.
Read last year's Brunello 2015 report by James Suckling here.
So we approached the tastings of this year’s Brunello 2015 wines enthusiastically, but also curiously: could that elevated quality be continued by other wines this year too?
The quick answer: yes, absolutely. It is clear that the 2015 Brunello vintage is one for the record books, with the kind of structure, mouth-watering fruits and tannin characteristics that suggest these could be some of the most cellarable wines from Italy, or any region, for many years to come.
We now have 219 Brunello 2015 tasting notes in our database, and 11 score a perfect 100 points. As well as our Wine of the Year 2019, the Siro Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino Vecchie Vigne 2015 (100 points), second-placed Renieri Brunello di Montalcino 2015 (100 points), and top 10 placer Eredi Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino 2015 (100 points), producers such as Ciacci Piccolomini, Eredi Fuligni, Giodo, Luce, San Polo, San Filipo, Valdicava and others also managed this climatically exceptional year beautifully. All produced 100-point wines.