Tenuta Friggiali Brunello di Montalcino DOCG, Tuscany, Italy 1996

Wines of the Tenuta Friggiali, produced by the vineyards lying on the south west slope of Montalcino, express the characteristics of the terroir to which they belong in their being rich in acidity and vitaminic content.

Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Friggiali is actually a classic Brunello wine, it can withstand a long storage, it has a particularly bright ruby-red colour even in the oldest vintages, strength and breeding, and an ample bouquet of berry fruits with a polished and very long finish. Full-bodied with big velvety tannins and round and soft structure, on the palate it shows the typical minerals of its terroir and some cedar and tobacco aromas that it acquires with the ageing in wood.

Probably, lovers of Renaissance art will recognize in this decoration, which was originally woven in the noble families’ bottom drawers and in some sacred fabrics of that epoch, a pomegranate, ancient symbol of prosperity, wealth and fertility. It is reproduced both in the label of Brunello and Rosso, in gold on a black background in the first and in silver on a blue background in the latter, thus symbolizing the different worth of the two wines (gold for the Brunello and silver for the Rosso). Today the pomegranate can be admired in many works made by the Masters of Tuscan Renaissance art, such as in Sano di Pietro and his paintings portraying the Madonna (whose mantel is interwoven with small pomegranates) exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.