A tight, linear red with plums, chocolate and walnuts and some forest-floor and porcini mushroom undertones. Complex and aromatic. Full-bodied with dense, chewy tannins that are intense and powerful. Flavorful and long. Opulent
95 POINTS WINE ADVOCATE
99 POINTS JAMES SUCKLING
96 ANTONIO GALLONI VINOUS
100 POINTS WINE CRITIC
On the best vintage years, Fuligni selects a Brunello Riserva which is refined for five years, as per regulation, three and a half of which in wood. The grapes of Brunello Riserva generally come from our oldest vineyards, making a concentrated, long-living wine of superior quality and pleasantness. With the right storage conditions, the Brunello Riserva’s evolution can develop over several decades.
Fuligni Riservas can be found in the cellars of great wine collectors and are an excellent investment thanks to the value they have earned both in market quotations and in wine auctions.
Paolo Vagaggini, one of the top and most skilful Sangiovese experts in Tuscany, takes care of the Fuligni wines, maintaining the long-standing relationship between the Fuligni and the Vagaggini families which dates back to the sixties, when Fuligni collaborated with Paolo’s father, Francesco Vagaggini. The special relationship with the Vagaggini family has recently become richer as young Jacopo Vagaggini, after graduating from Oxford and specialising in Bordeaux, started collaborating with his father.
The Fuligni Estate spreads over approximately one hundred fully cultivated hectares of land in an almost continual strip on the eastern side of Montalcino where, historically, the most authentic production of Brunello emerged. The wines, covering fourteen hectares, are primarily located in Cottimelli, at altitudes varying from 380 to 450 metres above sea level.
Here, the land, which predominantly faces north-east, belongs entirely to the Eocene Santa Fiora (marl) geological formation with a predominantly rocky terrain. Other vineyards specifically destined for the production of Rosso di Montalcino and IGT wines are located east, around Villa San Giovanni a Semini, which dates back to the 17th century and is today an agriturismo.
The Fuligni Viscounts
The Fuligni Family, of ancient Venetian origin, moved to England in the 14th century to lead a Free Company supporting Edward III, receiving favours and honours from the Crown. When the Habsburg-Lorraine became head of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Luigi Fuligni moved to Tuscany as a general of the new rulers. Giovanni Maria Fuligni moved to Montalcino at the beginning of the 1900s, where he started to produce wine, as his family had done before him in their lands in Maremma, mainly in Scansano. The Fuligni winery of Montalcino has been managed for decades by Maria Fuligni. The estate spreads over approximately 100 hectares of land with varying exposure. The vineyards, of almost 400 hectares, are on the north-eastern side of Montalcino, with the classic Brunello exposure. There is a cellar in the historic seat of Fuligni, a 17th century palazzo where the Medicean Grand Dukes used to reside, although the majority of the cellars are situated in Località Cottimelli, 3 km from Montalcino in the direction of Siena. The tasting rooms are in this same venue, in an ex-convent of nuns, dating back to the 16th century, which has recently been renovated. Since the passing of Giovanni Maria Fuligni in 1971, the winery has been managed by his daughter Maria Flora, a graduate in philosophy and a true woman of wine, who lovingly manages the inherited lands with the same wisdom and passion as her ancestors.