**NYC welcomes Brunello di Montalcino!** All photos by Lisa Denning.

The global wine industry is in the midst of facing its biggest challenge ever: climate change. What I’m hearing from wine producers everywhere is that extremely erratic weather has become the new norm. They never know what to expect from year to year, a bountiful harvest with near-perfect conditions or, more often than not, dreadful weather resulting in a sharp drop in wine production. Fires, frost, hail, high winds, extreme heat and drought—you name it, they get it.

Brunello di Montalcino, Italy’s Revered Sangiovese, Suffers Heat and Drought

During a tasting of the latest release of Brunello di Montalcino wines (the 2017s) in NYC earlier this year, wine trade and media heard about the vintage’s unrelenting heat which, combined with little to no rain, spelled near disaster for a region highly prized for its Sangiovese wines.

“In April there was some frost damage, which fortunately wasn’t too severe,” said Lars Leicht, VP of Education for The Somm Journal and a presenter at the tasting, “but it was super hot with subtropical temperatures in July and August and there was a drought from spring straight through summer.”

Leicht says the producers were worried about grapes getting sunburned, shriveling and shutting down from stress.

“Fortunately,” he said, “September came along with lower temperatures and a little rainfall, and then October brought consistently mild temperatures in which the grapes reached full ripeness. The results from spring frost and heat shriveling were reduced quantities, yet the wines are showing beautiful aromatics—what you would expect from Brunello.”

Emergency Measures

To safeguard the 2017 harvest, producers were able to water the vines, a practice allowed under only the most extreme conditions. In the past, only dry farming of Montalcino’s vineyards was permitted due to a fear that some producers would use irrigation to produce larger, lower-quality grapes—more juice means more wine to sell. However, nowadays, with off-the-charts heat and drought occurring more frequently, irrigation can be the only way to save entire harvests.

“Emergency irrigation has been allowed since 2016,” said Il Poggione’s winemaker Alessandro Bindocci over dinner in New York City. “We don’t often use it, only if it’s absolutely necessary, and we only use it to fight the heat. Needless to say, in 2017, we made good use of it.”

Other measures to combat the scorching conditions included working the soil to allow the roots to dig deeper down to find water and nutrients, planting cover crops, like grass, to help keep the soil cooler, and harvesting at the correct time: not too early when the tannins are unripe and the wines will be overly astringent, nor too late when the grapes’ sugar levels are too high and the acidity is too low, leading to overly alcoholic and lifeless wines.

While it wasn’t easy, the best producers were able to create wines of elegance and complexity that they hope will last for several years.

“It’s hard to say what the aging potential of the 2017s will be,” says Bindocci. “I think many people underestimate it and won’t buy the wines from that year. They say the vintage was too hot, that it’s going to be very short term, but I don’t think so. Maybe the 2017s won’t last as long as the 2016s, but I see them having a pretty long life.”

Have you tried the 2017 Brunellos yet?

With over 200 wineries in Montalcino, there are many outstanding examples to seek out. Generally speaking, compared to a classic Brunello vintage like 2016, the 2017s are fruitier and richer, with ripe and velvety tannins, meaning they won’t need a decade or more to show their greatest potential. Many of them are drinking beautifully right now.

As a bonus, many of the 2017s are priced a bit lower than those from the highly-rated vintages, making them a good value for the money.

Following are my top choices for 2017 Brunello di Montalcino, based solely on the wines I have tasted so far this year, about 40 in total. (Several of my favorite producers, like Casa Raia, Castello Romitorio, La Serena, Salvioni, Sassetti Livio Pertimali and more, were not featured at the tasting and I haven’t had a chance to try them yet).

The Wine Chef Top 17
Altesino, Argiano, Campogiovanni, Canalicchio di Sopra, Cava d’Onice, Col d’Orcia, Collemattoni, Loaker, Donatella Cinelli Colombini, Il Poggione, La Fiorita, La Fortuna, Patrizia Cencioni, Pian delle Querci, Poggio Landi, Talenti, Uccelliera.