Bright cherry and juniper flavors are the main flavor themes, augmented by strawberry, wild thyme, stone and loam notes. Taut, elegant and well-structured, balanced and long. The finish reveals this wine's potential. Best from 2023 through 2045. 525 cases made.

The Salicutti 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Piaggione is a mid-weight red wine with a deep and lasting aromatic impact. The wine offers very vertical or lifted aromas of dried fruit, cedar wood, tilled earth, cigar, cola and medicinal herb. It also shows a lot of balsamic character, and this is something I often recognize in warm-vintage Brunello, while it offers less primary fruit. The character here is ethereal and fragrant, shedding any monolithic tones you might expect of a wine of this depth and persistence. I would recommend a medium-term drinking window so that you catch the fruit before it fades.

The 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Piaggione shows an intense display of crushed raspberry and tart cherry, leaning to the darker and spicier spectrum, showing exotic brown spice, cedar, and shavings of baker's chocolate. On the palate, soft textures give way to ripe black cherries with a rich, confectionery note, as brisk acids add energy, and saline-minerals slowly saturate. The finish is long, as residual acids sizzle upon the senses, tapering off to reveal pretty red berry fruits with a savory herbal twist. The 2015 Piaggione is already quite open, coming across as almost creamy on the palate, with vibrant primary fruit that nearly masks its structural core.

Subdued aromas suggesting iris, French oak and exotic spice emerge on the nose. The dense brawny palate is one-dimensional and rather tired, offering dried black cherry, vanilla and roasted coffee bean alongside the heat of evident alcohol. Close-grained tannins give it a drying finish.