The 2009 Brunello di Montalcino Altero is packed tight with clove, cinnamon spice, black fruit and tobacco. Because the mouthfeel is much thinner than previous editions of this wine, those oak tones seem even more evident here. They should integrate and retreat into the fruity texture of the wine with more time aging in the bottle. Drink: 2017-2024. ~ 91 Points, Monica Larner, Wine Advocate, Feb 2014

While we first produced this Italian wine in 1983, it has actually only been a Brunello since 1995 due to a change in the aging in oak regulations for the production of Brunello which were reduced to 2 years. This modern expression of Brunello gained fame when President Obama gifted a bottle to speak Boehner and it made the CNN news!