2019 Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino 750 ml

Any list of the greatest wines of Italy must include Poggio di Sotto. And their 2019 Brunello di Montalcino justifies every bit of praise they’ve ever earned. Jeb Dunnuck hailed it as “one of the great wines of the vintage”—doubly impressive, in one of the greatest years Brunello has seen—while Wine Advocate declared it “hits all the high notes of Sangiovese.” BOTH critics scored the wine 98+ points. 

Poggio di Sotto doesn’t have the long history of some other estates in Brunello, but they’ve been one of the most important names in the region practically from the moment Piero Palmucci purchased his property overlooking the Orcia River valley in 1989.

At a time when many Tuscan producers were rushing to embrace international varieties, Piero devoted his estate solely to Sangiovese. He worked with researchers at the University of Milan to select the ideal biotypes of the grape for his vineyards, which were planted at three different altitudes to help build complexity and manage vintage variation.

In 2011, Piero sold Poggio di Sotto to Claudio Tipa, who has done nothing but build on the estate’s legacy. The farming is still organic—and as Wine Advocate noted, the attention to detail in the cellar has elevated the wines even further.

The 2019 vintage is emerging as an all-time great year in Montalcino: Vinous called it “the vintage we’ve all been waiting for.” Kerin O’Keefe, who wrote THE book on Brunello, said “I’ve never tasted so many drop-dead-gorgeous young Brunellos from a single vintage.” Our own Master Somm, not one for overstatement, called it “tremendous.” This is perhaps THE highlight of the year.