Eredi Fuligni 2020 Brunello di Montalcino 750ml

The 2020 Brunello di Montalcino has a reputation problem that has nothing to do with the wine. Sandwiched between the spectacular 2019 — which drew near-universal superlatives from every critical voice in Italian wine — and the equally celebrated 2021, the 2020 vintage arrived on the market carrying what Decanter's Sarah Heller MW accurately described as "middle-child syndrome." The context is unforgiving. When your older sibling received 98 points and your younger sibling received 99 points, the expectation that you must compete on those terms is both unfair and commercially harmful.

The wine itself tells a different story. James Suckling's 2020 Brunello vintage report described wines that were "not jammy or overly alcoholic" despite a hot and dry European summer — instead showing "freshness and brightness of fruit, making them extremely attractive to drink now while also having enough structure to improve over the next 10 to 12 years and beyond." The comparison he drew was to 2015 — one of the most beloved recent Brunello vintages. Fuligni's 2020 specifically received 95 Points from Suckling, 95 from Vinous, 95 from Decanter, 94 from Robert Parker, and 93 from Wine Spectator. The Wine.com aggregate note describes "crushed raspberries, shaved cedar and dusty rose — ripe red berry fruits with inner sweetness offset by salty minerality — large-scale feel with expertly maintained balance."

Critically, unlike 2018, Fuligni deemed 2020 an ideal vintage for a Riserva — meaning the standard bottling and the Riserva exist separately. The standard 2020 Brunello is therefore the estate's full range of fruit without the Riserva concentration of 2018, but with a different set of qualities: the large-scale freshness, the expertly maintained balance, and the tart cranberry and licorice resonance that the Wine.com note identifies as the vintage's most specifically Fuligni characteristic. This is the middle child making its own case, in its own language, and winning the argument.

Origins & Craftsmanship

Eredi Fuligni has farmed the cool northeastern side of the Montalcino appellation since the 1970s — historically the most authentic production zone for Brunello, where the altitude between 380 and 450 metres, the Galestro and Alberese soils, and the slower ripening of the northeastern exposure produce wines of unusual aromatic delicacy and structural finesse. Roberto Guerrini manages the estate's four vineyards — San Giovanni, Il Piano, Ginestreto, and La Bandita — with the obsessive low-yield discipline that has made Fuligni the consensus choice as the appellation's finest producer: vines planted at 3,300 to 5,000 per hectare, a maximum production of one bottle per vine, multiple selective harvest passes rather than a single picking date.

The 2020 growing season began with a wet spring that built healthy water reserves — an important distinction from more severely drought-stressed 2020 vintages elsewhere in Europe. The summer was hot and dry, but the northeastern Montalcino exposure and the estate's vine management preserved the natural freshness that defines the Fuligni style. Harvest started on September 20 — a slightly later date than the scorching summer's calendar might suggest, confirming that the vines' root systems were drawing on those spring water reserves to maintain freshness through the growing season.

Unlike the 2018 — where no Riserva was produced, directing all of the estate's finest barrels into the standard bottling — Fuligni deemed 2020 an ideal vintage for a long-lived Riserva. The standard 2020 Brunello is therefore assembled from the estate's full range of vineyards and vine ages at the annata quality level, aged in the standard combination of larger older barrels and smaller barriques for 36 months before 18 months of bottle aging under DOCG regulations. The large-scale character that the Wine.com note identifies is the vintage's most distinguishing contribution: a broader, more expansive style than the linear tension of the 2018, with a freshness that makes it approachable at release while the tart cranberry, licorice, and grippy tannins confirm genuine cellaring potential.

Critics Reviews

James Suckling — 95 Points (2020)

Vinous — 95 Points (2020) "Rich and exuberant in the glass, the 2020 Brunello di Montalcino bursts with autumnal spices, crushed raspberries, shaved cedar and dusty rose. It impresses further with a core of ripe red berry fruits that saturate deeply, displaying a pleasant inner sweetness offset by a salty core of minerality. The 2020 leaves the palate drenched in primary concentration with a tart cranberry, licorice resonance and grippy tannins, all while maintaining a remarkably fresh persona. The 2020 has a large-scale feel with expertly maintained balance. Fuligni is among those properties which deem 2020 an ideal vintage for a long-lived Riserva. I can't wait to try it next year. In the meantime, it will be impossible to resist this annata bottling. Harvest started on 20 September."

Decanter — 95 Points (2020) "It wraps smoothly over the palate with an elegant, mid-weight texture."

Robert Parker / Wine Advocate — 94 Points (2020) "A core of cherry and plum leads off, accented with vanilla, earth, eucalyptus and iron notes. Muscular, with an expansive finish accentuating the tannins."

Wine Spectator — 93 Points (2020)

James Suckling — 2020 Brunello vintage context: "The wines are not jammy or overly alcoholic, and most show a freshness and brightness of fruit, making them extremely attractive to drink now while also having enough structure to improve over the next 10 to 12 years and beyond. The wines are a bit like 2015."

Tasting Profile

Nose Deep ruby with garnet edges — the cool northeastern exposure's naturally elegant color at full Brunello maturity. The nose opens with richness and exuberance — the 2020 vintage's generous character immediately present in a way that the more tensile and linear 2018 approaches differently. Crushed raspberries lead with vivid, slightly dark-fruited freshness alongside autumnal spices — the warm 2020 summer's contribution in a fruit concentration that is riper and more immediately welcoming than cooler years. Shaved cedar adds aromatic woodiness alongside dusty rose — the floral dimension that is the Fuligni estate's most consistently present and most beautiful aromatic quality across every vintage. Cherry and dark plum deepen the fruit dimension from the Parker note. Vanilla and earth thread through alongside eucalyptus — the latter an aromatic quality specific to the 2020's particular expression of the Sangiovese Grosso in a warm year. Iron and a mineral note add the northeastern terroir's geological character beneath the fruit generosity. The overall impression is of a nose that is more immediately generous and more broadly expressive than the 2018's compactness — the middle child having something it needed to say.

Palate Large-scale and fresh simultaneously — the quality that every reviewer specifically identified as the 2020 Fuligni's most surprising and most impressive achievement given the hot growing season. The entry is rich and primary: ripe red berry fruits saturating deeply with a pleasant inner sweetness that the Parker note captures as "cherry and plum with vanilla." The tart cranberry and licorice resonance that Vinous identified builds through the mid-palate as the wine's most specific and most Fuligni-characteristic quality — dark, slightly sour, and adding the structural tension that prevents the fruit generosity from becoming simply opulent. Grippy tannins provide genuine structure — more expansive and muscular than the silky near-imperceptibility of the 2018's tannins, confirming the vintage's larger-scale character. A salty core of minerality threads through the center alongside eucalyptus and the iron-mineral quality of the northeastern vineyards. The smooth, elegant mid-weight texture that Decanter identified is the palate's most immediately appealing quality — the vintage's warmth translated into a mouthfeel of genuine silk despite the tannin presence.

Finish Long, expansive, and mineral. The tart cranberry and licorice resonance that defines the mid-palate carries through the close alongside grippy tannins and a salty mineral note. The remarkable freshness that Suckling's vintage report identified as the 2020's defining quality is most apparent at the finish — the wine maintaining a fresh persona despite the summer's heat and the concentration it produced. Autumnal spice and dusty rose fade gradually. The wine's large-scale feel and expertly maintained balance are most clearly confirmed in a finish that is simultaneously generous and structured — the middle child, finally, on its own terms.

Quick Overview

Serving & Occasion

Serve at 17–18°C in a large Burgundy-style bowl. Decanting 60 minutes is recommended — the large-scale expansive character opens considerably with air, and the full aromatic picture of crushed raspberry, cedar, and dusty rose reveals itself progressively. The 2020 is more immediately accessible than the tensile 2018 — Vinous' "impossible to resist" and Suckling's "attractive to drink now" both point to a wine that rewards current consumption alongside genuine cellaring potential through 2035–2040. Outstanding alongside Bistecca alla Fiorentina, wild boar ragù, braised lamb, pappardelle with Chianina, aged Pecorino Toscano, and any Tuscan preparation where the wine's generous red fruit, mineral depth, and Sangiovese spice find their natural companion.