2010 Cupano, Brunello di Montalcino

A big, juicy red with dried berry, nut and stone. Hints of fresh herbs. Full-bodied, tannic and very extracted. Dense and chewy. Loads going on. Spicy, smoked meat and hints of cedar. Needs four or five years to come together.

Cupano's 2010 Brunello di Montalcino is one of the richest, deepest wines of the vintage. Plush and concentrated to the core, the 2010 boasts serious intensity in its cherry compote, plum tart, smoke, licorice and spice notes. The flavors are bold and persistent in a seamless Brunello built on pure texture. Once again, Lionel Cousin and Ornella Tondini have crafted one of the most distinctive wines of the vintage.

The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino is a smoky, spicy, fruit-forward effort with gamy aromas of cured meat, soy sauce and smoked bacon at the front. The wine sports a dark color and thick concentration. There are ripe berry tones of blackberry preserves and dried prune, but the savory spice aromas are the driving force of this wine. Its flavors are on the oxidized and evolved side of the spectrum. If you have a bottle, this wine is better for near-term consumption. It ages in new French oak for 30 months.

‘They say even kids could have made wine in this year. These years are revelatory. Generally, it is a beautiful vintage, but if you missed the perfect harvest day it is a much bigger problem than in the past [due to climate change].’ A rainy spring and a warm summer without excessive heat. Harvest began after 10 September. Generous yield. Lustrous deep ruby with narrow orange rim. Deep, pure and concentrated on the nose with the oak completely absorbed in the fruit. Just a hint of cigar box and iron. Strikingly perfect balance on the palate between pure, deep fruit, bags of gravelly, chewy tannins and jewel-like acidity. Very youthful, energetic and captivating. The youthful, energetic tannins demand much more time, but it is already hard to resist. Super-classy but still in its youth. The balance is sheer perfection. 2010 made the mediocre good, the good excellent, and the excellent outstanding. (WS)