2010 - Brunello di Montalcino Schiena Asino, Mastrojanni

The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Schiena d'Asino is a gorgeous wine and one that I highly recommend if you are a Brunello fanatic like me. The purity of the fruit is stunning and the wine underlines the qualities that make Sangiovese among the most noble of all Italian grapes. It offers crystalline intensity with forthcoming aromas of bright cherry, balsam herb, anise seed, pressed violets and spice. This ensemble is balanced and nuanced. It shows amazing depth and complexity. Fruit for the wine is sourced from a single vineyard that runs across the crest of a hill. The name Schiena d'Asino ("the donkey's back") evokes this unique geography. Mastrojanni last made a Riserva in 1998 and the wine (released six years after the harvest) has carried the name of its vineyard designation ever since.

Mastrojanni's 2010 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Schiena d'Asino is fabulous. Utterly dazzling in richness and overall intensity, the 2010 Schiena is endowed with tons of energy. Sage, rosemary and a host of Mediterranean herbs open up first, followed by graphite, smoke, incense, dark spices and black stone fruits. Feral, intensely mineral notes underpin the fruit and capture the essence of site. This no-holds-barred Brunello remains remarkably light on its feet for such a big wine. Still, the 2010 Schiena is an inward, brooding wine that is going to need at least a few years to show all it has to offer.

Tasted blind. Deep ruby with orange tinges. Brooding with hints of shoe polish. Ripe, compact and a little introverted at the moment. Tightly built tannins and finely tuned balance. Not at all ready. (WS)