Castello Banfi’s 2012 Brunello di Montalcino is a textbook expression of the vintage. This wine faithfully reflects the warmth of the vintage thanks to aromas of plump cherry, blackberry, spice, grilled herb and rosemary. The bouquet offers a very Mediterranean quality that is saturated, rich and succulent. There’s a distant mineral vein that fits perfectly within this aromatic portrait of Sangiovese. Castello Banfi has done a good job building up the mouthfeel in a vintage that has produced many thin and lean wines. This expression offers respectable dimension and depth. Eighty percent of the wine is aged in botte grande and the rest goes into French Barrique for two years.

That said, Brunello is a great wine that deserves something substantial,a fine roast leg of lamb with rosemary, pot roast pheasant, roast squab with trufflesor that most famous dish of all bistecca alla fiorentina, Tuscan-style steak, ideally sourced from the indigenous Chianina beef.