Only a truly extraordinary harvest can produce the Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva D.O.C.G.: since its establishment in 1984 Romitorio has released only a handful of vintages of this wine.
A rigorous selection of grapes is made from the estate’s eldest vineyards located in the Northern zone of Montalcino.
Each vineyard block is monitored throughout the vegetative process, blocks are chosen and each cluster is carefully tended in order to ensure that the fruit reaches a consistent and optimal ripeness. The Sangiovese clusters are then harvested meticulously by hand, with hand sorting both before and after destemming.
Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks with an initial short period of cold maceration (below 20 °C) on the skins for about 15-20 hours. This is followed by up to 24 days of maceration at a higher controlled temperature. Malolactic fermentation that is naturally caused then lasts for about 10 days, before the wine is rested to separate the lees.
The wine matures in oak for approximately 36 months, and after bottling,the wine is aged in Castello Romitorio’s temperature - controlled cellars until release.

TASTING NOTES
There is an astonishing and disarming consistency in this wine across the vintages. As a Riserva this has already had ample time to become itself, to show its honest soul: we find rugged soil, icy winters and warming sunshine, we find wilderness and something epic that years cannot smudge or alter. It is muscular and strong. This wine just is. The warming alcohol counters the incisive acidity, the tannins, enmeshed and resolving, still have their drying, unrelenting streak. Dried notes of Marasca cherry still shimmer. With increasing age the savory elements increase: more salt, more herbs, more soil. For me, this all boils down to one word: honesty.
(A. Krebiehl MW)