94pts James Suckling

Fresh and really beautiful for a 2017 with so much drinkability and approachability. It’s full and layered with medium tannins and a delicious finish.

94pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Altero (with 8,000 bottles made) represent a clear step up in intensity and balance compared to the thinner annata wine. It also offers a dense nucleus of dark fruit with blackcurrant and plum, along with some background spice, tar and smoke. Altero sources its fruit from I Poggi and Il Vignone at the highest elevations (at 500 meters above sea level). These cool growing spots have served the wine well in this hot vintage in terms of preserving aromas and freshness. Best after 2024.

94pts Wine Spectator

Ripe, lush and expressive, this red features cherry, plum, earth, iron and tobacco flavors, with a solid line of tannins providing support. Long, picking up herbal accents on the finish.

Winemaker Notes

Juicy red currants, cherries, and sprigs of fresh rosemary are robed in vanilla and baking spice with just a wisp of smoke.

Winery Notes

Poggio Antico is one of Montalcino's most elevated estates, with vineyards averaging 1476 feet above sea level, southwest of the famed medieval citadel. Both the unique location and altitude privilege the wines of Poggio Antico, which benefit from the perfect exposure and enjoy favorable overnight drops in temperature, ideal conditions that increase finesse and intense bouquet.

Poggio Antico was founded in 1976 and consist of 50 clayey, calcareous acres of Brunello di Montalcino. The estate has seen a phenomenal growth, going from 50 to the present 80 acres under vine, developing two parallel Brunello worlds – the more traditional, larger-barrel Brunello, aged longer in Slavonian oak and the modern, finesse-driven Altero, aged in tonneaux of French oak; securing a stellar position in the global market and extending and upgrading the facility to ultrahigh-tech standards.