Mini-Vertical of La Rasina
This relatively small estate was created in the 1970s by winemaker Santi Mantengoli, but it didn’t begin making its own wine until almost a decade later. Yet the big change came with the legendary 1997 vintage when the owner’s son, Marco Mantengoli, took over the helm of the property and guided La Rasina into making wonderful wines vintage after vintage.
Producing now four wines on 11 hectare of vineyards in northeast Montalcino, Brunello di Montalcino is undoubtedly the flagship wine for this family-owned winery. The wines are consistent in general, even in challenging vintages. And compared with other Brunellos, La Rasina definitely is one of the best wines for the money, selling around $40 a bottle on average, according to Wine Searcher.
In 2001, the winery introduced another wine called Brunello di Montalcino Il Divasco, a single vineyard wine that’s a tribute to second-generation winemaker Vasco Mantengoli. All grapes used by the winery are grown organically.
Here we’ve selected five of its recent vintages of Brunello, arranged by scores. Click on the names for James’ scores and tasting notes. Both the 2010 and 2011 Brunellos will be on pour at our Great Wines of Italy U.S. event next month. If you haven’t purchased your tickets yet, click here to get yours ASAP.
La Rasina Brunello di Montalcino 2007
La Rasina Brunello di Montalcino 2010
La Rasina Brunello di Montalcino 2008
La Rasina Brunello di Montalcino 2011
La Rasina Brunello di Montalcino 2009