La Fortuna Brunello 2021: restrained and closed
La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino 2021: spicy, stern and still closed, with red fruit you have to search for. My tasting note from Amsterdam.
The most interesting comparison of La Grande Bellezza sat on the table: two Brunellos from 2021, from La Fortuna and from Pian delle Querci, side by side. Same appellation, same vintage, different house. La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino 2021 turned out to be the restrained one of the two, and that is exactly what makes it compelling.
La Fortuna Brunello 2021 in brief
The wine is Sangiovese Grosso, DOCG, from vineyards on the cooler northwest side of Montalcino with vines 20 to 40 years old. Fermentation ran fourteen days at controlled temperature, without selected yeasts, with 25 days of skin contact. Then forty months in 25-hectolitre Slavonian oak casks. The harvest began on September 25, and that date explains a lot about the style.
Tasting Note
Appearance
Light ruby with a hint of brick, a shade darker than the other 2021 that day.
Nose
Restrained and spicy. Chili next to strawberry, with tobacco and cacao in the background. The nose holds back.
Palate
Stern and peppery, and still very closed. The red fruit is present, but you have to search for it. Structure that does not quite reveal itself yet.
Finish
Firm and reserved, with potential you feel more than taste.
Quality
A reserved, structure-driven Brunello clearly not ready. Patience is rewarded, but for now it does not give itself.
Two honest caveats. First, that closedness: right now the wine shows shorter than it is, and the fruit stays hidden behind the structure. That is youth, not a flaw, but open it now and you do not taste what is inside. Second, the alcohol: at 15% this Brunello sits on the powerful side. It carries it without obvious heat, but it is a lot, and it calls for food at the table.
Drink or keep? Keep. Best from 2028 according to the house. Give it time to melt that sternness, and the fruit will come forward on its own.
- Producer
- La Fortuna
- Wine
- Brunello di Montalcino 2021
- Vintage
- 2021
- Region
- Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy
- Grape
- Sangiovese Grosso (100%)
- Ageing
- 40 months Slavonian oak (25 hl casks)
- Harvest
- September 25, 25 days skin contact
- Alcohol
- 15%
Sources
- Tenuta La Fortuna (official): tenutalafortuna.it
- Consorzio Vino Brunello di Montalcino: consorziobrunellodimontalcino.it
- La Grande Bellezza (tasting): lagrandebellezza.com
Tasted at La Grande Bellezza 2026 in Amsterdam. No partnership, independent assessment.
More on Wine Review
Tua Rita wines: a €19 vermentino and a €51 Lodano
Tua Rita is Rita Tua, back to front. I tasted the estate's Vermentino and its Lodano Rosso side by side. Which to buy, and for which evening.
Read on →
What does lees aging do to champagne? A blind test
Same cuvée, four versus seven years on the lees, a two euro price gap. Blind tasted with B. Girardin's Appoggiature, plus La Roie as the counterpoint.
Read on →
Gallimard Blanc de Noirs: Solera in the Glass
A blanc de noirs that pours copper, built on 30% reserve wine from a solera running 2009 to 2022. What the label says, and where it parts ways with the flyer.
Read on →