James Suckling: Brunello 2010 Vintage 'A vintage of a lifetime' Jan 2015

‘’The year 2010 for Brunello di Montalcino is the greatest modern vintage of Italy’s most famous red wine region. Never have the wines been so profound in quality, character, and quantity from the best hillside vineyards of Montalcino.’’

‘’This is not a vintage to miss. It is as significant as the legendary 1997 vintage, not only for the great quality of the Brunellos made but for its historical greatness.’’

‘’Vintages like this don't come along very often. As I wrote, 1997 is a year that had such unique greatness of the 2010. However, the viticulture and winemaking of today can't be compared to two decades ago. The Brunellos of today are superior, especially in a great year like 2010.’’

‘The 2010 vintage made great wines. There is no doubt about it. This is why you have to buy some.'

ANTONIO GALLONI, vinousmedia.com, 2014

‘’On a more positive note, Brunello lovers have much to look forward to. The 2010s are shaping up to be excellent, and perhaps more than that, as long as the wines in bottle capture the magic they have shown in barrel’’

Erobertparker.com (Monica Larner) Feb 28th 2014

 ‘The next four vintages promise outstanding results with 2010, in particular, possibly reaching iconic status. Montalcino has some great wines in store for us and the barrel tasting I did while visiting estates was nothing short of exhilarating. Rest assured: The hype and the buzz is not hyperbole.’

Tasting Notes

This is very muscular for the vintage. It shows lots of stones, dark fruits and hints of tar. Full body, firm tannins and a chewy texture. Ripe and rich. Yet shows tension and intensity. This racy and structured. Tannic now but will show its greatness in 2018. As it should be from one of the masters but the new hand of his son Giovanni Neri is showing through with a touch more finesse. Score: 99 points.

JAMES SUCKLING: Brunello 2010 Vintage 'A vintage of a lifetime', Jan 2015

Critical opinion of Casanova di Neri

Antonio Galloni: ‘Giacomo Neri makes some of the most exciting wines in Montalcino’

Monica Larner (The Wine Advocate): ‘’Giacomo Neri is many things: he is an obsessively quality-minded vintner, a clever businessman and a trailblazer who is largely responsible for introducing the concept of “modern Brunello.”

October 2013, the Tenuta Nuova Brunello was listed as one of the Top 10 Best Value Wines in the World for Wine-searcher.com

2010 - Investment Potential

By way of comparison we would draw parallels with the 2006 and 2001 vintage from this estate in order to draw a conclusion as to the investment potential of this wine.

Both the 2001 and 2006 have been scored twice by James Suckling and in his most recent re-assessment of the 2006 vintage which was upgraded from 97 to 100 pts, he directly benchmarks the quality of the 2006 with the 2001 asking whether the 2006 will ultimately be better than the 2001. The assertion being he sees these two vintages as the best expressions of this wine to date.

However, it must be considered that both these most recent tasting notes were both given before the release of the 2010s. Given Suckling’s belief that the 2010 vintage will rank as one of the greatest for the region and the fact that although he gave the 2010 a 99 point score (his highest ever first tasting score for this wine) he believes that it will improve and ‘show its greatness in 2018’, as a result one could envisage the 2010 receiving an upgrade to 100 pts in the next few years as the wine improves and matures with bottle age.

Given the strong global demand expected for the 2010 Brunellos coupled with the 99 point score given by James Suckling and the relatively low production of this wine (4,000 cases) we project that the 2010 has the potential to conservatively appreciate to the same price level as the 2001 with the longer term opportunity for the 2010 to eclipse the 2006 with a few more years of bottle age.

Therefore a return of 50-83% over a 5 year hold.

Key Points