Tolaini Picconero Merlot/Cabernet Franc 2011

Wine Spectator 93
Harmonious, complex and just beginning to hit its stride, this red features black cherry, black currant, violet, toast and mineral aromas and flavors that permeate the smooth texture, unfolding in layers to a long, fruit-, mineral- and spice-infused aftertaste. Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

Wine Advocate 93
A blend of 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Franc, the 2011 Picconero Tenuta Montebello is a distinguished and important wine. I've been noticing how well Cabernet Franc performs at this Tuscan estate. You get a good sense of this here (and especially in this vintage). The wine opens to an inky black appearance as you would expect, with fragrant aromas of dried blackberry and candied cherry. Warmer aromas of allspice and sweet clove add more consistency and weight to the overall package. These various attributes find terrific harmony.

James Suckling 92
This is very chewy and rich with dark berry and chocolate character. A full-bodied red that needs time to soften. Savory and delicious. Give it two years to soften. Bordeaux blend.

This superstar super-Tuscan is a blockbuster! Rich, concentrated and muscular, yet wonderfully balanced with deep tiers of cherry, plums and wild berries, and nuances of spice and currants. A long flavorful aftertaste echoes with juicy fruit and mouthwatering tannins for minutes afterwards. Organic!

The estate's objective is to produce a great wine without compromise thus only the estate's best grapes are chosen for Picconero. Once harvested, the grapes undergo 3 selection processes before only the whole berries are transferred to the French oak fermenters. The temperature is controlled while the skins are kept in contact with the wine for 30 days. Manual push downs and pump overs are done every 4-6 hrs with 1 delestage per week. The wine is then kept in the cellar for 18 months of aging in new barriques, 6 months on fine lees. The wine is bottled and rests another 12 months before shipping. The extreme attention to detail starting in the vineyard with the green harvests enhancing the quality of the fruit on the vine, gives life to a great wine with complexity, sensuality and elegance and the promise of a long life.

The name Picconero comes from Picco which is the Italian word for "peak" and nero, the Italian word for black, which Italians use historically to refer to red wine.

The harvested grapes, once debunched, go through the optical selection machine where the grapes must meet the preset criteria to pass through: any small, green or squished grapes and all debris are ejected and only the ripe whole grapes make it into the vats. The vats are cooled to 5C-10C (41F - 50F) and the grapes are added whole to each tank for a cold soak before natural selected yeast strains are added to initiate fermentation. Vinification at Tolaini is done in 26 stainless steel temperature-controlled tanks with a two chamber system, while the best grapes from each harvest are fermented in open-top fermenters made of French Allier oak (12 units of 4500 liter capacity), a time-proven touch that increases the complexity in the wines. The generous array of tank sizes allows for individual parcels of grapes to be fermented and stored separately. These batches are kept apart through subsequent barrel aging in new French oak barrels between 18-25hl before blending.