Welcome to Benvenuto Brunello, the celebrated international wine tasting premiere that is held annually in the heart of Montalcino. In 2026, Benvenuto Brunello arrived in London! So, as we look toward to the 2021 vintage, the event marks a historic milestone: the debut of a year that critics are already calling a “vertical masterpiece.” While Benvenuto Brunello 2021 (the event) originally introduced the resilient 2017s, the 2021 vintage itself – now hitting the world stage in 2026 – is the new crown jewel of the appellation and looks to be a vintage getting global critics very excited.
The 2021 vintage was born from a year of dramatic contrasts, beginning with a sharp spring frost that naturally thinned yields, followed by a warm, stable summer. The resulting wines are defined by their “al dente” structure – vibrant, deep, and remarkably precise. Unlike the solar warmth of 2020 or the operatic power of 2019, the 2021s offer a refreshing return to aromatic transparency, mineral classicism, and nervous energy.
At this year’s exciting London preview, tasters found Sangiovese in its most elegant form: floral, savoury, and built for decades of cellar ageing. For collectors and enthusiasts, Benvenuto Brunello remains the essential early compass for navigating these releases, celebrating a vintage that perfectly balances Montalcino’s rugged Mediterranean soul with sophisticated, modern finesse.
Altesino Rosso di Montalcino 2024
Rich plummy nose packed with berry fruits. Fleshy, soft and deliciously full in the mouth.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Altesino Brunello di Montalcino 2021
Delicately reductive with saline cassis, black cherry and wood smoke. Sleek mineral tannins, supple, pure and precise with a beautiful balance.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Altesino Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Montosili 2021
Richer, broader savoury black berry aromatics. Delicately sappy, showing wood spice, black berries, balsamic and a plummy depth with a telltale salinity. A very complete wine.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Caparzo Rosso di Montalcino 2024
Bright and lifted with fragrant candied red cherry fruits. Good depth and fleshy concentration, soft acids and an accessible, generous opulence.
(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino 2021
Smoky spicy black cherry notes with hints of violets, wild herbs and wood spice. Finely poised, cool, creamy and elegant with a superb fruit – acidity balance and sufficient creamy tannins.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino Vigna La Casa 2021
Deep, dark and broody, showing balsamic, black cherry and botte barrel wood spice. Plush, ripe and concentrated, layered with black berries and liquorice over a more prominent structure.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Argiano Rosso di Montalcino 2024
Bright, vibrant lifted aromatics, violets, red cherry and a delightful raisined cranberry fragrance. Sweet, plush and slightly reductive and saline, this is a very smart, polished expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Argiano Brunello di Montalcino 2021
A very expressive aromatics, perfumed, precise and full of pink musk and candied red cherry fruits. Lovely concentration, fleshy mid-palate and a long finish with stony grippy mineral tannins.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Argiano Brunello di Montalcino Vigna del Suolo 2021
Aromatics of fragrant pressed violets, lavender and savoury red cherry fruits aged for 24 months in large oak. Intense and focused, tightly textured with powdery tannins and a long, spicy, freshness on this limestone site. Very impressive..
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Poggio di Sotto Rosso di Montalcino 2022
Lovely vital, savoury, perfumed aromatics with hints of red berries, cured meats and grilled herbs. Beautiful breadth and depth with an extra bit of bottle complexity and textural sophistication. Compact, powerful with a good mineral back bone.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino 2021
Intricate aromatics with red and black berry fruits, red liquorice and delicate notes of tar and dried herbs. Compact and textured, there is impressive depth, elegance and understated power. A very serious expression.
(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Famiglia Maté Brunello di Montalcino 2021
A deep broody aromatics show sweet Christmas spices, tar, liquorice, balsamic and botte oak spice notes. Silky soft and precise, there is impressive focus and freshness, a supple fleshy concentration and a cool, harmonious finish with good persistence. Really beautiful wine.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Famiglia Maté Brunello do Montalcino Veltha 2021
The complex aromatics reveal Christmas spices, wood bark, quinine, and bramble berry nuances. Plush and mouth coating, the concentration is impressive, the balance and harmony rich, intense and focused. Packs a lot of punch with elegance and sophistication. A real beaut.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Famiglia Maté Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2020
Complex aromatics show plenty of sapidity and botte wood spice, black liquorice, aniseed root and bramble berry nuances. Plush and compact on the palate, revealing notes of balsamic, cured meats and savoury raisined red cherry notes. Power packed and full of mineral grip with a fabulously intricate texture. Truly superb.
(Wine Safari Score: 97/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Frescobaldi Castel Gioconda Brunello di Montalcino 2021
Broad broody aromatics show black cherries, wood smoke, liquorice, and subtle earthy notes. Full and punchy on the palate, but texturally polished and very precise, layered with spicy cherry, limestone minerality and complex Christmas spices.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Frescobaldi Castel Giocondo Vigna Ripe al Convento Riserva 2020
The nose reveals broody, tarry, smoky black cherry fruits following to a plush, creamy palate with well integrated acids and a deliciously concentrated tertiary fruit finish. A lot going on here, making for a very notable Reserva style.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Il Poggione Rosso di Montalcino 2023
Rich, ripe and lifted with layered aromatics of raspberry ripple, confected red cherry and a delicate sapidity. Quite restrained on the palate, mineral and spicy but showing a well polished red fruited core beneath.
(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino 2021
Aged three years in large oak, the wine shows delicately reductive aromatics packed full of gun smoke, wood embers, tar, black cherry and kelpy salinity. Compact, tight knit and creamy, there’s a real focus and concentration, textural density and a long, tangy finish. Superb.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2020
From a 62 year old single vineyard that’s aged for four years in large oak. Plush, complex and intense being full of liquorice, bresaola, cured meats and a creamy, textural, black cherry fruit finish. Dense, powerful and kissed with sweet baking herbs and dried mint leaf nuances on the finish. True class.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino 2021
A delicately reductive nose shows earthy savoury aromatics embellished with delicate pink musk, raisined red cherries and perfumed potpourri spice. Full, plush and creamy, this carries concentration and weight of fruit, finely balanced by a well-integrated acidity.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello do Montalcino Vigna del Fiore 2021
First produced in 1981 but not made every year. Aged one year in French oak then transferred to Slavonian oak for a further two years. Deep, broody, brambly aromatics with a savoury earthy depth and raisined cherries. Plush, sweet fruited and quite expansive in the mouth, this has deliciously ripe berry fruits, a notable concentration but also a beautifully tangy acidity on the long finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2020
An extra year of oak, normally around three to three and a half years but with an emphasis on elegance and finesse. Beautifully mineral and tight knit, this is quite a serious Brunello expression allowing a fine stony mineral vein to shine through. Impressive.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino 2021
Quite a plush, creamy lactic expression with classical red cherry, cranberry and limestone mineral notes. The minerality is also notable on the palate, framed with grippy tannins, a plush fruit concentration and a delightful black stone fruit finish with impressive power.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
