Sesti Brunello di Montalcino and everything else from this great producer from Tuscany on SALE!!
I like to drink wine more than I used to...
Don Corleone, The Godfather
The wines that I like to drink seem to all start with a "B", Barolo, Barbaresco, Burgundy, Bordeaux and of course Brunello.
The Benvenuto Brunello event happens every year in mid-November and even though Brunello di Montalcino is one of my favorite wines this is the first time that I have ever attended this event. October, November and December are the busiest time of the year in the retail world, so it is hard to justify taking a trip this time of year other than a weekend getaway and going to Italy for the weekend is anything but that. First there is the painful flight to Rome which is 10 hours and then immediately after that a car ride to Montalcino which is three hours. A long day but when you are awarded the Luccia D’Oro by the Consorzio of Brunello producers, you really have no choice as this is the most prestigious award for a wine store or a restaurant in all of Italy.
Every year the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino awards a prize called LECCIO D’ORO.
The prize is divided into two sections:
Restaurants (Italian and overseas) and
Wine Shops (Italian and overseas).
The prizes are awarded to the places that have a Wine List with a wide well represented range of Brunello di Montalcino and the other Montalcino wines covering both the various vintages and numerous labels from many different estates.
Past winners of this award include: EATALY, New York, VINO ITALIANO, Boston, PRAELUM, Singapore, HEDONISM WINES, London and ENOTECA “K&L WINE MERCHANTS”, Los Angeles just to name a few of the world’s top wine establishments that Wine Watch has now joined receiving this prestigious award in 2024!
I always say that wine is about a time and a place but the people also play a key role in wine. First there are the people that tend the vines who spend the entire year in the vineyards making hundreds of decisions throughout the course of the year that affect the outcome of the grapes quality at harvest. Then, there are the people in the winery who make sure that once the grapes are picked that they are treated correctly in the winery so the resulting wine is not flawed due to mishandling once the perfectly ripe fruit makes it from the vineyards to the fermentation tanks and then to the barrels and finally to the bottle.
Finally, there are the people that promote and sell the wines. Of all the DOC and DOCG wines in Italy the Consorzio of Brunello di Montalcino producers create the best experience for the wine professionals and Brunello lovers once the finished product is ready for release. This experience is by far the best in all of Italy and when you make such a great wine you need to create a great experience to showcase the wines.
The first opportunity to taste the latest vintage in Montalcino is at the Bienvenuto Brunello in Montalcino, this year the tasting was on November 16th. This is an event that was created for the trade and press to showcase the newest releases. Brunello di Montalcino is held back for five years by law before release and six years for the Riserva, so this year they were showcasing the 2020 vintage of Brunello and the 2019 vintage of Riserva Brunello. Don’t forget about the Rosso di Montalcino, these wines are only held back for one year, and I always say Rosso di Montalcino gives you a snapshot at what the top wines from this vintage will look like 4-5 years later when they are released. Rosso di Montalcino also gives you a wine that you can enjoy in its youth. Although Brunello is held back for 5 years and Riserva Brunello for 6 years in a great vintage these wines need another 10-20 years in the cellar before they are drinking at their peak.
One of the things that makes the experience unique that you get when you go the Bienvenuto Brunello event is the type of service they offer to taste the wines. They make a tasting sheet that includes all the wines at the event and then they allow you to sit at a table and select the wines you would like to taste while dozens of sommeliers service the room and bring you the bottles that you would like to sample. This is the only event of its kind that I have ever attended and although the main event is in Montalcino they host a similar event at Vin Italy in April and have one in various other countries throughout the course of the year, I attended this event in New York City many years ago and this is the first year that they have hosted the walk around tasting with the producers behind the tables since the pandemic in 2020.
This year’s event featured two excellent to outstanding vintages with the newest release the 2020 being very drinkable and charming not quite as hot as the last few years thus making the wines a bit more classic and fresh, while the more structured 2019 Riservas showing the power and richness of a warmer vintage with a level of concentration that would indicate a more age worthy vintage like the 2015 and 2016 vintages.
Currently we have 118 selections in the Brunello section going back to the 1978 vintage of Biondi Santi. We have been hosting an annual tasting to feature the newest releases from Montalcino every year in April but a week before this event we hold a vintage Brunello tasting featuring the oldest wine in the store along with a dozen selections showcasing the last few decades to give a perspective on how these wines age so you, our “Wine Drinking People” can see firsthand at what age is the optimum to drink your Brunello di Montalcino in your cellar.
This trip was a short one and although I did discover a few new wines at the event, one of the most impressive wines that I found was one that I already knew of and for some reason forgot about- you know that they say out of sight out of mind. The first night of the event Elisa Sesti was at my table, I remembered meeting her father years ago on one of his visits to the states and loved all of their wines so much I brough everything they made into the store at that time. After spending the evening with her and tasting through the new releases as soon as I got back I brought everything into the store again as these are some of the best wines in Montalcino.
I did not forget about the wines from this great producer but I had not passed these wines through my lips for a few years and every wine tastes better when the producer is there in front of you especially when the personality fits the wine perfectly. You can’t drink the label but when it personifies the wine perfectly the wine tastes better. I feel in love with these wines from the first sip and it was great to get reacquainted with Sesti and to break bread with Elisa at Benveuto Brunello.
The vision of creating a winery starts with the terroir and Castello di Argiano is sacred ground in Montalcino. The greatest achievement in any business is to bring back to greatness something that was lost. This great property was left in ruins and the story of the resurrection is always worthy of a story. I give you the story of Sesti and all the wines that are available from this great producer as our latest new/old finds from the Wine Watch.
Although he always enjoyed visiting vineyards and attending tastings, Giuseppe Maria “Giugi” Sesti did not initially choose a career in wine. Instead, his Venetian upbringing inspired him to study music, art, and astronomy, the last of which became his profession. He met his future wife in North Wales while writing his first book on this topic, and in 1975 Giugi and Sarah moved their family to Tuscany, where they bought the abandoned ruins of the hamlet and castle of Argiano, slowly clearing the land and restoring the buildings to create the breathtaking estate we see there today. Giugi was now a father of four, vice-director of a local Baroque opera festival, and actively writing books on astronomy, but he miraculously found spare time to visit local wineries and help his neighbors in the vineyards and cellar. His passion for wine grew along with his experience, and in 1991 he planted his own vineyards on the slopes around the castle. The children helped pick and stomp grapes from the earliest age, and though they, too, pursued international studies in various fields, they always managed to come home for the harvest. In 1999 the couple’s only daughter, Elisa, joined the estate full time, and today she is an active partner in all aspects of the vineyard management and winemaking.
While helping out at neighboring estates Giugi observed that simplicity and careful attention were the most important factors in producing great wines, while chemical intervention skewed their delicate balance; so he determined to make entirely natural wines right from the start. He even took a pioneering extra step by applying his prodigious knowledge of the moon’s influence on living things to his vineyard management and winemaking. Today the family continues this thoroughly eco-friendly philosophy (although no official certification currently meets their personal standards), and Elisa’s primary concern is the materia prima, or raw material, that goes into the wine. The Sesti lineup includes a white Sauvignon and a Sangiovese Rosato born directly of necessity, since the family wanted something light and cooling to drink under the hot summer sun; they were forced to increase production when visiting friends and clients tried these wines and started placing orders. But their basic trio—the Brunello, Brunello Riserva “Phenomena,” and Rosso di Montalcino—provides traditional expressions of the appellation, robust and powerful yet refreshing, with great aging potential in the Brunellos.
All the Tuscan Wines from Sesti Winery on SALE!!
2022 Sesti Toscana Rosato
Price: $33.00 Your Price: $29.04
From their idyllic hilltop perch in southern Tuscany, the Sesti family produces some of the finest Brunello di Montalcino out there. Call it a first-world problem, but you can’t drink only Brunello through the heat of summer. The necessity for a wine to be drunk cool during the warm months led the Sestis to create this rosato from Sangiovese otherwise destined to make Brunello (which they could sell for five times the price, by the way). It’s gentle and mouth-filling, perked up by a touch of salinity that recalls the oceanic vineyard soils—quite a sophisticated rosé that is nonetheless gay and carefree.
2022 Sesti Rosso Di Montalcino Tuscan DOC
Price: $42.75 Your Price: $37.62
Elisa Sesti likes to say that Sangiovese is a prima donna variety that requires pampering and the right conditions to thrive—and pamper it, she does! Her Rosso di Montalcino, with its seductive and mood-enhancing perfume, is like a delicious elixir of black cherry, bitter herbs, and fragrant violet.
2022 Sesti Monteleccio Toscana IGT Tuscany, Italy
Price: $33.00 Your Price: $29.04
Winemaker Notes Monteleccio is an enormously pleasurable wine that evokes juicy, ripe cherries, rhubarb, and a touch of mint. This rosso is filled with class, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously. This Monteleccio can probably also go the distance beyond the short, explosive sprint we love it for. That is where the nobility of the Brunello-quality grapes comes in. Succulent and tightly coiled, with a beautifully integrated tannin and outstanding finesse, this “baby Brunello” punches way above its weight and will serve you well again and again!
2019 Sesti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Tuscany 3 LITER
Price: $599.00 Your Price: $527.12
2019 Sesti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Tuscany
Price: $127.50 Your Price: $112.20
(96 Points) Planted in 1986 on Montalcino’s southern slopes, Sesti’s 13 hectares are freshened by an eastward tilt, constant breezes and surrounding woodlands. Ripeness allies with brightness, particularly in this 2019, which recalls the joyfulness of the estate’s IGT and Rosso di Montalcino counterparts but with the gravitas of Brunello. There's a sweetness of fruit and fragrance as sandalwood, arbutus shrub and vanilla bean suffuse lush red cherry, and it flows with grace and ease. Yet as becoming as this seems to be now, it is tightly wound underneath that gracious core – the intricate structure is fashioned for endurance. (MM)
2018 Sesti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Tuscany 3 LIter
Price: $578.00 Your Price: $508.64
2018 Sesti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Tuscany Magnum
List Price: $256.50 Your Price: $225.70
Sesti’s new Brunello is seductive, tuned up, honed to perfection, and screaming out of the Brunellian gates. It can be enjoyed immediately or savored for many years (store it in a good cellar). There is nothing quite like a great bottle of Brunello when it is ripe for the picking.
Start with its deep, luscious nose. The wine is savory, thick, juicy, wonderfully saucy, almost truffly, with a sensation of freshly turned earth. In my notes taken while tasting it for the first time in April at the Castello di Argiano, Sesti’s hilltop estate, I compared it to a vinous ragù that has been cooked down for a long time with tomatoes and herbs. “Drink with pasta as if sauce,” I wrote. (You should probably still include the pasta sauce.) It also possesses a lovely tannin that is fine and thirst-enhancing with zero aggression.
There are so many Brunelli out there to choose from these days. We think this is one of the very best, and it never disappoints. Proprietor Giuseppe Sesti, an astronomer from Venice who has been deeply involved in his own blend of organic/biodynamic/cosmic viticulture ever since he purchased his estate in the seventies, explained the secret of his land to me recently: “The ancients talked of the aria buona di Argiano [good air of Argiano]. The castello is perched on a promontory surrounded by two valleys that channel cooling winds from the Mediterranean up to the vineyards, keeping the vines cool throughout the summer despite the sometimes scorching heat.” This is one of the most important keys to the perennial freshness of Sesti’s Brunello: with wine—as in real estate—location, location, location. –Dixon Brooke
2018 SESTI BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO RISERVA PHENOMENA MAGNUM
Price: $385.50 Your Price: $339.24
2018 SESTI BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO RISERVA PHENOMENA
Price: $166.50 Your Price: $146.52
Sesti's top bottling that was aged for 51 months in old oak botti before bottling. Riserva bottlings are only released 6 years after the harvest. Powerful yet refreshing. The Phenomena label is a work of art conceived by Elisa and marks a phenomenon of nature that occurred during that year. On the 27th of July 2018 stargazers witnessed the largest total eclipse of the 21st century. It was made up of three coinciding events, a blood moon, super moon and a blue moon. Last seen on May 31st 1844 and the next appearance will be on January 31st 2037. The resulting wine has a good amount of forward fruit cherry and plum with notes of sweet herbs, sage and bay leave with red licorice and floral aromas lifting from the glass. Smooth and silky on the tongue, a very forward and seductive wine with a lovely freshness, light and elegant enough to drink today but has enough substance to be around for decades. Finish 50+ Most Excellent
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