Brunello di Montalcino DOCG "Piero" 2018 Talenti

James Suckling
94/100 punten
Pretty hazelnut, dried flower and chocolate undertones to the raspberries and ripe cherries. Medium-bodied, deliciously open and succulent, framed by tight-grained tannins, with excellent drinkability too. Fresh and poised at the finish with tension. Drink or hold.

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
94/100 punten
This is a relatively new addition to the Talenti portfolio. The 2018 Brunello di Montalcino Piero has more—but not much more—textual richness compared to the Brunello annata. That extra intensity is applied to all the right places both in terms of aromas and mouthfeel with extra padding here and aromatic accents there. The bouquet is laced with dark fruit, spice and grilled herb. Like the Brunello annata, this wine shares an accessible, medium-term drinking window in this vintage. Piero is a limited production of 4,000 bottles and fruit comes from a two-hectare site at a cool 400 meters above sea level.

Riccardo Talenti has vines with south and southeast exposures at 250 to 400 meters in elevation. The schistous galestro soils are rich in clay and stones, and there are areas of tuff rock and silt. These soil differences give additional layers to the wines in terms of aromas, tannins and structure.

Jancis Robinson
17.5/20 punten
Deep ruby with bricky rim. Brooding sweet-sour cherry with hints of cinnamon sticks. Lush sour-cherry palate with bags of finely ground, yet firm, tannins. Great balance, substance and length and with subtle oak management. (WS)

Decanter, Michaela Morris 
96/100 punten
This selection hails from a two-hectare vineyard at 410 metres with rocky sandstone at the surface. Riccardo Talenti says that no matter what the conditions, it always gives the estate’s best fruit. Aged in tonneaux, Piero opens with intense coffee melding into wood spice inflections of clove and nutmeg. The mouth-filling palate progresses with a sweet/savoury character as gamey leather infuses dark fleshy red cherry. The tannins are grainy and substantial but ripe, and it's begging for a couple more years to come together.

Fasltaff
97/100 punten 
Bright ruby red with a dark, flint core. Open-hearted and inviting on the nose, blackberry, plum, black cherry, exciting on the palate, strawberry candy, with grippy tannins, plus fine ferrous tones, keeps coming back in the mouth, still needs some time.

Vinous, Eric Guido
96/100 punten
The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Piero is impossible to ignore, slowly blossoming with an enticing blend of spice-dusted blackberries, violet pastille and orange zest. This impresses further with vividly ripe wild berry fruits and juicy acidity. Tactile mineral tones add contrast, and rosy inner florals form towards the close. The 2019 lingers impossibly long, taking on a spicy edge, as the palate is left reverberating with zesty tension, even as fine-grained tannins grip the senses. The Piero is already showing such flamboyancy and balance. It will be a thrilling Brunello to follow over the next two decades.