2015 Podere le Ripi Amore & Magia Brunello di Montalcino Tuscany 750 ml

We came away from the Benvenuto Brunello event in Montalcino earlier this year convinced that the 2015 Le Ripi Amore & Magia was among the most outstanding and distinctive efforts of the 2015 Brunello season.

That’s saying something, considering some of the region’s producers described 2015 as “a vintage made by God.”

Gifted with a muscular physique, mystical spice notes, and macerated red berries, this new entrée into the Brunello pantheon is spellbinding from start to finish. A bouquet full of sun-kissed rose gardens and dried tobacco leads into an energetic, layered mouthfeel rich with tart cherry and crushed minerals. 

The 2015 Le Ripi Amore & Magia Brunello di Montalcino is a wine of surprises—you’ll find a touch of grapefruit peel and a hint of coconut tucked into the folds of its stately tannic structure. It’s an unforgettable expression of Sangiovese elegance, one that put us on the hunt for an allocation ever since our first encounter.

Calling it “a dramatic Brunello,” Vinous’s Antonio Galloni wrote: “On the palate, the silkiest of textures give way to a stunning mix of vibrant acids, minerals, and tart cherry fruit, as savory spice and tannins that build over time.”

Jancis Robinson described the Amore & Magia as “truly skillfully done” and “very long, focused and dramatic” in the glass, while Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate put a finger on a certain otherworldly magic that sets Le Ripi apart.

“I always feel like I’ve entered a vinous fairyland when I taste the wines made at Podere le Ripi,” wrote the Advocate. “These are highly distinctive expressions that offer flurries of the unreal and unexpected.”

We’ve been in talks with the supplier since February about peeling off a small allocation for our members. At last, we broke through when another buyer missed their deadline. Our first-ever offer from this estate, it’s a stellar Brunello with few equals in exuberant elegance.

We’d expect nothing less from the estate’s imaginative owner, Francesco Illy, a man often described in the wine press as “eccentric.” From the family behind the Illy espresso empire, he acquired the Castelnuovo dell’Abate estate in 1998 and pursued an extreme approach to planting density that succeeded in sending the roots of his Sangiovese vines deep into the substrata in record time.

This newer bottling hails from a ten-acre vineyard on the eastern face of Montalcino, which Illy told us gives the fruit grown here a creamy texture as well as a savory character, while limestone-clay soils foster rich concentration and graceful balance. Fermentation and maceration are long, extending over 50 days in open-top oak barrels, followed by 36 months in larger barrels, eight months in cement, and at least one year in bottle.

The buzz around this vintage has been intense. You could spend a lot of time and money trying to track down a bottle this special and delicious from the 2015 Brunello class, and still end up empty-handed. All the more reason to grab hold of this exceedingly rare offer before it sells out.