1994 Altesino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, Tuscany

One bottle available. Thirty-two years old.

Altesino sits in the northeastern corner of Montalcino at Palazzo Altesi, a fifteenth-century palace built by the Tricerchi family whose marble crest is still above the old oak door. Giulio Consonno, a Milanese businessman, bought the estate in 1970 and proceeded to change how Montalcino thought about itself.

Why this estate matters

Altesino bottled Brunello di Montalcino Montosoli from the 1975 harvest, the first single-vineyard Brunello anyone had made. Before that, Brunello was Brunello; the idea that one hillside might be worth naming came from here. Altesino was also the first in the zone to age IGT wines in small French barrels, and the first to sell Brunello as futures, starting with the 1985. The estate has belonged to Elisabetta Gnudi Angelini, who also owns Tenuta Caparzo, since 2002.

Where this bottle came from

We do not buy wine of this age on the open market. Bottles like this reach us through private collectors we know personally, people who bought long ago and cellared properly ever since. Every rare bottle is inspected in person before we take it, and it stays in temperature-controlled storage from the moment it enters our hands. With a thirty-two-year-old Sangiovese, storage is the whole question.

What to expect

Ruby tending to garnet, a bouquet of violets and vanilla, dry and velvety on the palate with fruit, acidity and tannin in balance. That is the producer's own published description, and at this age you should read it with the fruit dialled back and the savoury side forward: dried cherry, leather, tobacco, tea leaf and a resolved, dusty tannin.

We could not find a published critic score for the 1994 Altesino Brunello. Scores you may see for the 1995, the 1997 or for the separate Montosoli bottling belong to different wines and we will not move them over here.

The details

• Producer: Altesino, Montalcino
• Appellation: Brunello di Montalcino DOCG
• Vintage: 1994, rated four stars out of five by the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino
• Grape: 100% Sangiovese, as the DOCG requires
• Ageing: a minimum of two years in oak plus bottle time, and it could not legally be released before January 1999
• Format: 750ml
• Drinking window: now. Fully mature.

Serving and pairing

Stand upright for a day. Decant gently off the sediment thirty to forty-five minutes ahead, no longer, and serve at 60 to 62°F. Bistecca, wild boar ragù, aged pecorino or porcini.

One bottle, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. Browse more rare and limited vintages.