Col d'Orcia Brunello di Montalcino 2015 (Tuscany) - Wine Review

Tonight's wine review is this excellent organic Brunello di Montalcino that arrived in LCBO VINTAGES on September 19th - with plenty still available. I opened this wine tonight to coincide with an interactive Col d'Orcia Tasting Event via Zoom hosted by Francesco Marone Cinzano - the Count of Montalcino and owner of Col d'Orcia - and moderated by Carolyn Evans Hammond.

The iconic Col d'Orcia is one of Montalcino's oldest established wineries and is very much a part of the history of Brunello. The modern-day lineage of Col d'Orcia can be traced back to at least 1890 when the Franceschi family purchased the property that was then known as Fattoria di Sant'Angelo in Colle. In 1933, the winery presented it's Brunelli at an Italian trade show, decades before Brunello would become a prized, world-class wine. Brothers Leopoldo and Stefano Franceschi inherited the property, with Stefano taking over the farm in 1958 and changing its name to Col d'Orcia (hill above Orcia) after the river that runs through the property. In 1973, Stefano Franceschi sold the property, which only had a few hectares of grapes, to the Cinzano family of Piedmont. Under the leadership of Count Alberto Marone Cinzano, winegrowing activities increased the number of vines to 70 hectares by the early 1980s. In 1992, Alberto's son Francesco took over and expanded the vineyards further to 140 hectares, of which 108 are designated to Brunello, making Col d'Orcia the third largest owner of Brunello vineyards in Montalcino.

Col d'Orcia is located on the southern slope of the Montalcino territory, on a hill overlooking the Orcia River and is an integral part of the Orcia Valley, the Val d'Orcia. On the property, there is evidence of agricultural farming from 400 years ago because of the very old olive trees that are planted in rows and still exist today. The vineyards are protected by the barrier of Mount Amiata (1.750 metres) which prevent floods and hail, and benefits from the mild climate off the Tyrrhenian coast which is 35 km to the west. The soils are favourable to winegrowing with fundamentally loose grounds that are poor in clay and rich in limestone and inert materials.

This interactive tasting of Col d'Orcia wines introduced the exceptional 2015 vintage of the estate's Brunello di Montalcino (reviewed below) as well as a selection of older vintages from the estate. This Brunello has been produced organically for each of the last three vintages. In fact, the whole estate is now farmed organically. The fruit for the 2015 vintage comes from the Sant'Angelo hill overlooking the Orcia River, on South-Southwest facing slopes that are influenced by the sea winds an average of 300 metres above sea level. The grapes were manually harvested and sorted in the vineyard, then undergoing further selection at the winery. Vintage yields were just over half of what is allowable under regulations. It was aged for three years in large old Slavonian and Allier oak barrels, followed by 12 months in bottle for further refinement.

As part of this Tasting Event, there are a number of VINTAGES Special Offers from Col d'Orcia consisting of many wines from different vintages in multiple sizes from half-size bottles up to 5 L Jeroboams. Some of these bottles include rare back vintage Brunellos going as far back as 1990. You'll want to get your order in today as there aren't many bottles available, and this Col d'Orcia VINTAGES Special Offer closes October 29, 2020.

Tasting Note:

COL D'ORCIA BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO 2015 - DOCG, Tuscany, Italy (#306852) (XD) - $55.95
100% Sangiovese, this organic Brunello di Montalcino has lovely, elegant, perfumed and very complex aromas of red cherry, sweet tobacco, earth, and leather with touches of rosemary, herb, dried rose floral, and balsamic wafting out of the glass. It's medium-full bodied on the palate with savoury, earthy, oak, clove, and red cherry flavours. Acids are succulent and juicy while firm tannins are grippy. Savoury, bitter chocolate, and earthy notes linger on the long, persistent, and grippy finish. While enjoyable now, this should improve further with about 3 years in the cellar and drink well into the early 2030s. Score: 92 pts

The wines of Col d'Orcia are represented in Ontario by Dionysus Wines & Spirits Ltd.