Sassetti Pertimali, La Querciolina Montecucco Rosso 2018

92 points John Gilman, View from the Cellar
"The Sassetti family owns the famed Pertimali estate in Brunello di Montalcino. Today, Lorenzo Sassetti is the proprietor and winemaker for the property. The family’s Montecucco bottling is fairly new, from property that they have purchased along the coast in Maremma. The wine is composed entirely from sangiovese and is raised in large, Slavonian oak botti for six months prior to bottling. The 2018 Montecucco Rosso comes in at 14.5 percent octane and offers up a refined bouquet of cherries, roasted gamebird, cigar wrapper, a fine base of soil, just a dollop of Tuscan herb tones, brown spices and cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a rock solid core of fruit, excellent mineral drive and grip, ripe tannins and a long, well-balanced finish. Because these vineyards are planted on volcanic soils, the wine has a superb spine of acidity that lends backend lift and precision. Impressive juice! This needs some time in the cellar to allow its backend tannins to soften up a bit more.”

91 points Vinous
“There’s something dark, animalistic and wild about the 2018 Rosso Montecucco. It’s an intense and energetic expression, yet powerful, showing crushed blackberries and wild herbs spiked with a twang of sour citrus. The textures are silky and pliant with masses of ripe fruits and wild berries offset by penetrating minerals and brisk acids. This tapers off long and lightly structured. A total success for the vintage.”

Vinous Reverie Notes
Four generations of the Sassetti family have made wine in Montalcino. Livio worked the historic property through the late 1970s, then purchased the 16-hectare vineyard of the now–famous Podere Pertimali. The Podere is in the Montosoli area, north of Montalcino, a particularly well-known area for the cultivation of the Sangiovese. In 1999, the Sassetti family acquired property in the Maremma, La Querciolina, within the Montecucco DOC. Here the wines are invigorating, aromatic with a powerful style that dances on the palate rather than attacking it with blunt force. Tasting Notes: Vivid blackberry, candied plum, spices and herb aromas fill the nose. Fruity and fresh on the palate with earthy minerals, fine tannins. A long, silky finish completes this Rosso.