Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve 2008 (750ML)

97 JS / 96+ WA / 94 VM / 93 WS

The pureness of fruit is so intense here. It's also so clean and beautiful. The wine shows fabulous aromas of flowers, blueberries, and raspberries. It’s full-bodied, with chocolate, licorice, and plums. The texture is very velvety. This is a wine in near perfect proportions. -James Suckling

Here's a vintage that came out of left field and knocked me flat with delight. The 2008 Flaccianello della Pieve is just my kind of Sangiovese with a gorgeous level of silkiness and smoothness, all followed by tangy menthol freshness and balsam herb that give so much momentum to the vertical lift and drive of the bouquet. The wine's complexity is enhanced by drying mineral notes with barbecue smoke and mesquite. There is a slight hint of ripeness here that you taste in the sweetness of the tannins and the satiny nature of the finish. I love the balance between the wine's natural acidity and the softer side of its fruit.- Monica Larner, the Wine Advocate

The 2008 Flaccianello della Pieve is quite pretty, even if it is a bit buttoned up. It possesses lovely perfume and sweet Pinot-like fruit backed by acidity and structure that are unquestionably those of Sangiovese. Today the 2008 impresses for its energy and verve. It should be a fabulous wine to drink in another few years, once the tannins settle down a bit. This is yet another 2008 that has grown considerably in stature over the last year.-Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

Linear, austere, the '08 is beginning to show some woodsy, underbrush elements, matched to a racy, nervous profile. The tannins are assertive for now and the length fine.—Non-blind Flaccianello vertical (July 2014). Best from 2016 through 2030.-Bruce Sanderson, The Wine Spectator