James Suckling: "[A] tiny nirvana for the production of Brunello di Montalcino on this estate. The almost four hectares of vineyards are biodynamically farmed, and the winemaking is 100 percent handmade by the energetic couple themselves. [They] believe the ecosystem of San Polino, which is located on the northwest side of Montalcino, comes out clearly in his luscious, balanced Brunellos. His Brunellos have an incredible clarity and pureness of fruit that is unequalled in the region. Their Helichrysum Brunello in particular is outstanding".
2025 TASTING NOTES
Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2019:
Jancis Robinson: 18
Lustrous, mid to deep ruby. Exuberant, exotic raspberry-to-cranberry nose. Bags of raspberry fruit on the palette on a layer of gravelly tannins. Very long, intense, minerally and dramatic yet with an elegant constitution. A stunning wine. (Walter Speller)
Vinous: 94+
The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva combines a vivid blend of crushed strawberries, minty herbs, hints of rhubarb, cedar shavings and worn leather. It sweeps across the palate seamlessly and elegantly, with gorgeous, silky textures. Tart wild berry fruits are elevated by a core of tantalizing acidity, with tactile mineral notes that collect toward the close. Nuances of blood orange mix with a flinty resonance and fine-grained tannins as the 2019 tapers of classically dry and dramatically long. This is beautifully executed. (Eric Guido)
Brunello di Montalcino Helichrysum 2020:
James Suckling: 97
This is very aromatic with raspberry, orange-peel and violet character. It’s medium-bodied and very fresh with refined tannins that run long and true. Crunchy and pretty for the vintage. Tiny production from a single vineyard. From biodynamically grown grapes.
Jancis Robinson: 17
Luscious mid ruby. Exotic spice with slumbering raspberry fruit on the nose. Racey raspberry and cranberry fruit filled out with powdery tannins that still need to settle. Very long and perfumed but far from ready.(Walter Speller)
Vinous: 93
The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino Helichrysum opens with a spice box bouquet that blends potpourri with incense, cedar shaving and dried black cherries. It's juicy with round textures and ripe red and blue fruits that slowly saturate the palate in primary concentration. Edgy tannins resonate, adding a youthful grip as the 2020 tapers of with sapid length and a tart blackberry tinge. (Eric Guido)
Brunello di Montalcino 2020
James Suckling: 94
Pretty aromas of raspberries, peaches and citrus fruit follow through to a medium to full body with crunchy fruit and tannins and a juicy finish. Rather velvety texture with a slight punchiness to the phenolics. From biodynamically grown grapes.
Jancis Robinson: 17 ++
Lustrous. Mid-ruby. Brooding nose that is slow to open up but with plenty of depth. Minerally, saline notes. Sappy, juicy fruit that is still a little embryonic and lines with gorgeous chewy tannins. Great balance and lots of potential. Full spread on the finish.(Walter Speller)
Vinous: 90
The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino is understated, with nuances of stone dust, dried flowers and spice. It's ripe and fruit-forward in style with red and black fruit aromas elevated by a core of zesty acidity. Hints of spiced citrus and tart cranberry linger through the finish as this tapers off with tension and gently tannic. 2020 should develop a more aromatic presence with time. (Eric Guido)
Of yeast and Brunello, by Walter Speller, Published by Jancis Robinson, 11 September 2019
https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/yeast-and-brunello
James Suckling: Interview with Luigi Fabbro, 12 February 2012
https://www.jamessuckling.com/videos/brunello-di-montalcino-san-polino-james-suckling-interview
Montalcino in miniature: A Potrait of San Polino and the 2009 Vintage, by Jancis Robinson, 21 December 2009
The tiny, rugged estate of San Polino perches on the top of a hill about 10 minutes south east of Montalcino in central Italy, above a breathtaking view of the surrounding valleys and hills. The first 300 Sangiovese vines were planted here in 1998, and in 2001 the owners harvested their first vintage from the three-year-old vines. Luigi Fabbro and Katia Nussbaum bought San Polino in the 1990s. The land was virgin, and had nothing but 1.5 ha (3.7 acres) of olive trees.
They started off by making olive oil with the help of their then three-year-old son Daniel. Katia at the time was a full-time teacher - she is English by birth, London born and bred, but has lived in Italy most of her adult life and is probably more Italian than English. She envelopes people with generous warm laughter and a naturalness that is tangibly evident in the embrace of their beautifully unpretentious ancient Tuscan farmhouse with its thick walls, golden stone and enormous fireplace; a place of stacks of books, deep cushions and mouth-watering cooking smells. One can't help thinking that Katia's heart is as big as the huge bowls of steaming, fragrant food that she puts on the table.
Gigi grew up in Friuli helping his father make wine (at this point he grimaces slightly, and makes a gesture which implies that perhaps this was not exactly fine wine) and cheese. Gigi's route to winemaking was circuitous. Conventional he is not. Acutely intelligent and crackling with intensity, he has developed computer software, written a book on the tuning of the ancient Burmese harp, taught himself Sanskrit and is involved in a project mapping biodiversity in the Amazon, for which he has written several papers and presented at the IFOAM Organic World Congress. He has a quick-silver interest in everything around him, including everyonehe meets.
San Polino now has all of 2.5 ha (6.2 acres) of Sangiovese vines (1 ha officially registered for the production of Brunello di Montalcino and 1.5 ha registered for Rosso di Montalcino). Another 1.5 ha are leased from a neighbour - also organic. Right from the start, perhaps because of their undeniably flower-child backgrounds, Katia and Gigi ran the farm organically and on strongly biodynamic principles. Chemicals had never been used on the land, which was basically thick with brambles and olive trees initially, so they did not need to go through a conversion period. Gigi uses no sulphur whatsoever in the vineyards and very little in the winery. They manage the vineyards intensively (I get the impression that Daniel and Giulio are not the only children in this family), with grass cover, minimal green harvest and traditional training.
The philosophy was to keep the traditions of Montalcino, where they had lived for many years, drawing on the infinite experience, knowledge and wisdom of their neighbours. Gigi after all is not a modernist; the tractor on the farm is his father's 1952 Massey Ferguson, on which he learned to drive at the age of five. It is still in working order (although a few weeks ago it did run over Katia's brand-new bicycle). Production is a total of 15,000 bottles, with the Brunello making up between 6,000 and 8,000.
Apart from the help of their sons (when they are not at school and university), the workforce is a lean three in number: Katia, Gigi and Avni. Avni (Alberto Gjilaska) is Albanian and came to work temporarily for Gigi and Katia when they first bought the farm. Eleven years on, he is still there. His qualifications at the time, according to Katia , amounted to 'something in wine'. Now he is the one who keeps Katia on a tight rein, not allowing her to buy anything until he has negotiated a deal. Clearly his Italian has improved. Help also comes in the form of volunteers from WWOOF - World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. The San Polino farmhouse-come-winery is shown below.
We arrived just after the 2009 harvest. Fermentation had started - 100% ambient yeast, minimal temperature control, no new oak, no nutrients. The most intrusive interference in this winery was Katia, hugging her stainless-steel tanks at 2 am, coaxing them to start fermenting to the strains of whatever she was playing on her portable CD- player.
This was my opportunity to get a sneak preview of the 2009 vintage. Gigi refused to be drawn on a verdict for the vintage. He believes that no one really knows until the wines have been in barrel for several months. It was a wet June, a very hot August, and a later harvest than usual, but oddly the alcohols were lower, too. The danger was that the acidities had started to drop, which is an additional concern for organic producers as this makes the grapes less resistant to mould and diseases.
I felt a bit like I was being allowed to walk into a maternity unit - two rows of the new babies, birth date and initials hand-scrawled on the labels. So here goes; a look in the incubators... tread gently...
Tasted on 19 Oct 2009
The hydrometer readings mentioned below are a good indication of how far the fermentation has progressed - at 0 there is more or less no sugar left and the fermentation is therefore complete.
Tank 11 - this is the bleed-off tank, so the most sugary of the lot. Hydrometer reading 6. Quite a bright, purple-pink. Cloudy. Extraordinarily juicy. Light and pretty and frivolous and even some tannin.
Tank 24 - I suspect this will be the best wine. It's from the bottom fields and alcohol will probably be a staunch 14.5%. Hydrometer reading 0. Opaque, deep-stained aubergine purple. A slightly eggy smell but thick deep plum layers underneath that. Lots of tight, tight, tightly laced tannin. Grippy and cheeky with masses of acidity but clearly needs lot and lots and lots of time to knit. Plums and plums and plums.
Tank 23 - Hydrometer reading 0.4. Nearly done. Lighter purple and very murky. A pretty blueberry nose. Much lighter on the palate and a little less concentrated, lavender, with a fenugreek note on the end.
Tank 22 - Hydrometer reading 0. Blackcurrant and the scent of fresh blackberry fruit. Touch of egginess.Thick opulent texture. Beautiful powerful muscled tannins, smooth and tight and long. Arched acidity. Real richness and thoroughbred poise.
Tank 16 - Hydrometer reading 1. This tank is from the leased vineyard. Clearer than Tank 22, and darker. A slightly cidery note, scented red-apple skins, and earthy. Massive, massive tannins - like being knocked over with an iron bar. A brute. Beetroot earthiness, mulchy, and a lot of squashy plum. This feels like it would make good ballast for a blend, but perhaps is a little too bullish for main stage.
Tank 17 - Hydrometer reading 2.2. This tank is from the leased vineyard. More fruit on the nose and palate than Tank 17. Big tannins again, but gentler this time. Far less aggressive. Lots of forward fruit and that sweet beetroot note again.
Tank 25 - Hydrometer reading 1.2, grapes bought in from neighbour Luciano - a 4.5 ha vineyard but with very low yields. Dark black-purple, regal colour. Beery aromas. Very rounded fruit, beautiful curves and firm velvety texture. Sweet blackcurrant, jewelled.
Tank 19 - Hydrometer reading 1.2. Dark purple pink. Very direct, floral and feminine and springing from the glass. A straightforward, neat number without fussy complexity. Grippy tannins that feel very slightly rough around the edges.
Tank 1 - Hydrometer reading 0.1. Looks like borscht! Thick and milky. The most complex bouquet of all. Lots there! Rose petals and lavender laid over rich autumnal leafiness. This one holds lots of secrets, gleaming with the promise of exquisitely ripe fruit, even figs, and sumptuous tannins. I think this one might sing. Salasso/ Saignee - pale soupy pink. Simpler, lighter, softer. A glass of crushed berries.