Lifted floral notes of lilacs and rose hips, followed by a mix of red fruit and spices. Medium-bodied with fine tannins. Balanced overall. Needs some more time to soften and a touch more fruit. Drink after 2027.

Poggio Nardone's 2018 Brunello di Montalcino is layered with oak spice and campfire ash, and that's the first thing you notice about this medium to full-bodied Sangiovese. There is a second wave of black cherry and baked plum, but the wine's aromatic presentation is rather binary and simplistic at the end of the day. It revolves mostly around those two pillars: oak spice and black fruit. To the palate, it shows soft tannins and accessibility. This Brunello ages in French oak botti for three years. Production is 10,000 bottles.

The Poggio Nardone 2017 Brunello di Montalcino (with 8,000 bottles hitting the market now) shows plumpness and ripeness with cherry confit and raspberry preserves. Those enriched fruit flavors are carefully followed by measured tones of spice, tar, sweet tobacco and fragrant cedarwood. However, all of these aromas and flavors remain nicely balanced in this fruit-forward vintage. There is some tightness or stemminess on the dry tannins, and that is the only part of the wine that isn't integrated.

The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino offers richness and extra fruit density with fleshy cherry and plum followed by spice, tar, tobacco and campfire ash. This expression embraces a contemporary taste profile with fermentation and aging in oak. This results in softness and textural richness that feels especially velvety and snug in this vintage. There is some tightness on the tannins but that should subside within the next few years. Some 10,000 bottles were produced.

This is a lovely expression of Sangiovese with a full and generous disposition. The Poggio Nardone 2015 Brunello di Montalcino offers bright cherry, cassis, raspberry and other red berry fruits. Those fruity high notes are followed by savory tones of forest floor, candied orange peel, autumnal leaf and baking spice. The wine offers a smooth and silky mouthfeel with well-integrated tannins and a long, polished finish. This is a clean and compact interpretation of Brunello with the amped up and generous characteristics of this sunny vintage. Here is a generous Brunello worthy of a Fiorentina steak. Some 25,000 bottles comprised this release.