2001 Salvioni Brunello di Montalcino

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate #168, Dec 2006($145) Powerful and authoritative, Salvioni’s deeply-colored 2001 Brunello di Montalcino is unquestionably one of the vintage’s top wines. It displays a tightly wound core of sweet dark fruit, marrying notable concentration with classic structure on a frame of great expansiveness and length. The 2001 Brunello saw a full four years of cask, considered long by today’s standards, yet it boasts incredible freshness, richness and vibrancy. This magical, unique Brunello of exquisite pedigree will be at its best in another few years and it should offer rewarding drinking to at least age 20. A great effort. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2021. 95 points

Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, Jul/Aug 2006
($155) Bright red-ruby. Bright red-ruby. Liqueur-like aromas of smoky dark fruits. Sweet, juicy and densely packed, with excellent vinosity to the strong fruit flavors of strawberry, cherry and red berries. Lush and concentrated, with solid underlying structure. This expands in the mouth and builds impressively toward the back, throwing off notes of graphite and earth. May well merit an even higher score with four or five years of bottle aging. 91(+?) points

Wine Spectator, July 2006
($155) Fantastic aromas of crushed blackberry, licorice and lightly toasted oak. Full-bodied, with fine tannins and a fruity, balanced finish. Best after 2007. 800 cases made. 92 points