“I don’t want him to retire, never,” Iacopo Mori declares, when asked when he will take over the mantle of winemaker at Montalcino-based Il Marroneto. Joining the winery seven years ago and taking on more and more responsibility, Iacopo is standing in for his father Alessandro tonight, who has picked up a bug which has kept him away from an Armit private clients’ dinner at Michelin-starred Sketch.
Even as this father-son team begins its 51st year as a winery, they are experiencing new challenges vintage by vintage, most recently in 2023 “a vintage where nature reminds us who’s in charge,” Iacopo adds, “And even now my father will say ‘this has never happened to me before,’ before arriving at the same place. It keeps things fresh. But no, I don’t want him to ever retire.”
"We spotted it at the very first pump over – it was like pumping over ink." Iacopo Mori on the 2020 Madonna delle Grazie Riserva
The evening is a showcase for the new wines – the 2021 Brunello di Montalcino, the 2021 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie and the rare-as-hens-teeth 2020 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie Riserva as well as some back vintages of each, although the MdG Riserva has only been made once before in 50 years, back in 2013.
Il Marroneto is a boutique 6ha estate that has always respected local winemaking tradition in Montalcino, but has leaned towards a more elegant style, one with a lighter hue, soaring Sangiovese aromatics and a firm backbone of acidity – compared to some of then more ‘hefty’ traditionalists.
The Madonna delle Grazie comes from a single 2ha plot that was acquired in 2000, and is made with vineyard-sorted fruit and vinified with a lighter touch still, while the MdG Riserva is only made when one barrel of this MdG literally forces the winemaker’s hand to bottle it separately – or when Alessandro falls in love with it. The first time this happened was in 2013, the second time in 2020.
Iacopo is at a loss to explain why one barrel should be so different. “It’s different for no particular reason – I don’t know what creates it – the wine does it by itself. With the 2020 vintage we spotted it at the very first pumpover – it was like pumping over ink. It was too much of everything – denser, darker, more structured – it’s too much to call it a ‘monster’ but it has a number of different characteristics – polyphenols, dry extract, alcohol – everything together makes it a very impressive wine.”
A special barrel: Iacopo and Alessandro with the 2020 Brunello
Alessandro has previously explained it as "Love at first tasting. I realised right away that that barrel was something unique. "In my conception as a vintner a Riserva is a barrel which, thanks to its very nature and in particular vintages, takes on unusual characteristics that make it different and superior in many ways to the other wines, such as its capacity for ageing. I don’t know why or how this happens: I think it’s just naturally blessed. And that is why this Riserva is a totally exceptional wine, one that can’t be repeated year after year. It is nature that decides when to give it to you."
"That particular barrel had something about it that was unique and special. In fact, I immediately had a feeling that it could express something particular. For this reason, I started 'listening to it' on a daily basis, exchanging my sensations with my colleagues and some friends in the trade, as well as with our distributors and importers. I wanted to understand whether my feeling was correct or not."
The 2020 vintage was an ‘aggressive’ one according to Iacopo – too dry and too hot with the vines suffering a great deal. The berries were small with the yield lower than 2019 but the quality was apparently higher.
One of the beauties of an evening like this one is that you get to taste the new wines and drink them over a period of time, with and without food and in the company of genuine fans who buy the wine.
Tasting the new wines
A few general observations were that the wines all clearly came from the same philosophy – a common thread that united them all – and showed their relationship to one another. From the 2013 Riserva to the new Brunello the wines were all in near-perfect balance, and all of them took time to open out and changed throughout the evening.
For me there were two wines that stood out in the evening and the 2020 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie Riserva was one.Tasted after the 2021 Madonna delle Grazie, it immediately and instantly was a wine that jumped up a level. It was a bit closed at first, then started revealing itself as complex, layered, with stunning, lifted aromas of sweet spice, wild black berries, sun-dried tomato. Tasting it, the wine was as fresh as you like on the front palate with juicy summer berries, intense cassis and black cherry; you then got a sense of the wine’s robustness (“we’re going to need a bigger glass”!) – broody undergrowth turned to a formidable structure of tightly wound, unresolved tannins. Tense at this stage of evolution but will settle down as it gets its legs under the table. A wine that goes up to 11.
Tasted as a contrast was the first and only other Riserva, the 2013 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie Riserva which is in a lovely stage of its life. The nose is ripe, red-fruited with a savoury edge – herbs, sous bois, porcini; the palate is ripe and rich but still elegant with a mineral undertow that one associates with 2013 in Montalcino. Fine, sandy tannins with the flavours fanning out with sweet strawberry, red cherry, liqourice, sweet chestnut and date skin, hints of leather too. The length was phenomenal and the wine just seemed to get better and better over the course of the evening.
The 2021 vintage was a surprise, Iacopo says. “2021 was surprising for me – after 2020 and immediately before 2022 but it’s the same as ‘20. The wine changed completed after five months in bottle – it found the substance of 2020 with the equilibrium of 2019. Where 2020 was vibrant, 2021 was immediately precise. The weather was about the same as 2020 – tropical spring, raining every day, and then it stopped for three months with no rain – then arrived again in September – we were lucky because without it we might not have made a Brunello. So the wine is totally different even though the weather was the same.”
The 2021 Brunello di Montalcino was the second wine of the evening, served after the 2019 and with a Guinness-poached egg with wild mushrooms, Guinness sabayon and gingerbread. It’s an absolute cracker of a wine and so approachable for a youthful Brunello. The nose draws you in with dark black cherries, pretty rose petals, a hint of lavender, sweet Italian spices, clove, cardamom. There’s a lovely interplay too between the wine’s intensity and ease of drinking – black cherry, earthy, rounded, microfine and youthful velvety tannins, lovely chalky dry finish, with a morello cherry note. Just what you want, a wine that drinks early and keeps long.
To start a dinner with the 21 and 2019 Brunello di Montalcino was like having twin strikers on your soccer team – think Wright/ Bright or Rush/ Dalglish. There will be little opposition. This was drinking à point and was my other hit of the night. The nose is pretty, creamy, beautifully elegant with dried flowers and more beefy/ bloody notes coming in as the wine opened out. It has a sturdy backbone with lovely sweet red fruits, cooled tomato, hints of beef broth, Luxardo morello cherries and younger blue fruit on the finish. Refined, elegant and still spellbinding two years after first tasting it.
The second wine to be served on the night from this oustanding vintage is the 2021 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie which is like a breathtaking, amplified version of the Brunello without losing any of the finesse or elegance along the way. Intense and very concentrated, complex aromas start with red and black fruit, cherry blossom, truffles, sweet spices and smoke. Beautifully elegant in the mouth with youthful, polished tannins, orange zest, rose petals. Absolutely faultless – a wine of majesterial power and beauty.
The 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Madonna delle Grazie suffered a bit from being ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’. It promises so much on the nose – ripe damson and cherry – there are waves of ripe red fruit on the palate with cedar spice but the tannins are still unresolved, tight and the finish is just way too short. It could be this isjust entering its drinking window or else closing down for a spell but given the wine’s pedigree it will turn around in time.
If you’re not familiar with these wines then now’s the time to get acquainted. They are imported and sold in the UK through Armit Wines which is a commercial partner of The Buyer. To discover more about them click here.
