Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2020

Fuligni's Riserva is made only in the estate's finest vintages — a genuinely selective decision, not an automatic annual release — drawing on grapes from the domaine's very oldest vines at Podere Cottimelli, on Montalcino's north-eastern slopes. Where the standard Brunello is aged four years by law, the Riserva is held back a full five, at least three of those in large oak casks in the family's historic 17th-century palazzo cellars, before further time in bottle. The Fuligni family — of ancient Venetian origin, settled in Montalcino since the early 1900s and led for decades by Maria Flora Fuligni — treats the Riserva as the fullest possible expression of a great year, and it shows: critics have repeatedly called it a "Grand Cru" level wine, built with the density and structure to reward decades of patient cellaring rather than years.

Vintage to vintage, expect real depth and complexity: marasca cherry, tobacco, and mint meet dark plum, truffle, leather, and balsamic notes, with earthy chestnut, liquorice, and lilac often emerging alongside crushed limestone and saline minerality. The palate is broad and expansive, with velvety tannins that build into serious structure, lifted by real perfume and citrussy acidity through a long finish — Wine Advocate and James Suckling have both scored recent vintages in the high 90s, with the 2019 in particular singled out as a career-defining release from a vintage universally hailed as exceptional.