DOCG Red

Col d'Orcia Brunello di Montalcino

Tenuta Col D’Orcia

Grape
Sangiovese
Region
Tuscany
ABV
14.5%
Body
Medium to full
Drink
2028 to 2038

The estate Brunello of Montalcino's third-largest producer, organic since 2010: 100% Sangiovese aged four years, thirty months of it in big oak. Cherry, leather and tobacco at 14.5%, rated 4.1 by 55,583 Vivino tasters. In stock from £32.93.

Best price
£32.93

2019 · 75cl · checked 26 Sep

Prices read daily from 3 UK retailers. We earn a commission on some links; it never changes the order.

Where to buy Col d'Orcia Brunello di Montalcino

£32.93 best price · 3 retailers in stock · checked 27 Sep 2026

Stock is shown where the retailer publishes it, offers are sorted by price, and unavailable offers can’t be clicked.

8wines Best price 2019 · 75cl · checked 26 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£32.93 £43.91/L
Vino Best price Save 10% 2021 · 75cl · checked 27 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£37.50 was regular price £41.67 £50.00/L
Xtrawine Best price 2021 · 75cl · checked 26 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£39.00 £52.00/L
Xtrawine Best price 2016 · 75cl · checked 26 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£61.00 £81.33/L
Xtrawine Best price 2021 · Magnum 150cl · checked 26 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£80.00 £53.33/L
Unavailable (1)
Xtrawine Best price 2020 · 75cl · checked 14 Sep
Out of stock
£43.00 £57.33/L
Out of stock

Stock status is read from each retailer’s page once a day and may lag. Case and magnum listings show a per-bottle or per-litre equivalent and sit outside the best-price figure.

Tasting Notes

Cherry, oak and leather: what 7,867 Vivino tasters find in Col d'Orcia's Brunello

The crowd picture is consistent: oak, tobacco and vanilla, then leather and earth, then cherry and raspberry, across 7,867 Vivino reviews. The 2021 adds the floral, peachy lift Col d'Orcia describes for the vintage, over the chalky tannins of a five-star year.

Tasted by
ItalianWines editorial
Tasted on
14 September 2026
Source
Drinker consensus · confidence Medium
Taste profile
Body Light / Full
Tannins Smooth / Grippy
Sweetness Dry / Sweet
Acidity Soft / Crisp
Nose

Cherry and raspberry with oak, tobacco and leather: those are the notes Vivino's 7,867 reviewers mention most for Col d'Orcia's Brunello, with plum, liquorice and a violet edge behind. The 2021 leans more floral, Col d'Orcia says of the vintage, with peach and crisp red cherry.

VioletViolet
CherryCherry
PlumPlum
RaspberryRaspberry
TobaccoTobacco
LeatherLeather
OakOak
LiquoriceLiquorice
VanillaVanilla
Palate

Full and structured, with ripe tannins that four years of ageing, thirty months of it in big Slavonian and French oak casks, have softened rather than sweetened. At 14.5% the fruit is ripe but the acidity holds it up. Wine Enthusiast's note on the 2020 adds strawberry, orange peel and wild fennel.

Finish

Long and savoury, with the liquorice and tobacco Vivino's tasters keep mentioning. In the 2021 there is a dry grip that Col d'Orcia describes as chalky to sandy.

Overall

The estate Brunello of Montalcino's third-largest producer, organic since 2010, rated 4.1 out of 5 across 55,583 Vivino ratings with a Wine-Searcher critic average of 92 out of 100. Wine Enthusiast, tasting the 2020, says it could still be considered underappreciated for the price. At £33 to £42 in the UK it is one of the safer Brunello buys; the 2021 wants until about 2028.

Drink now Best by 2038
Live UK pricing

What £33 to £42 buys in Col d'Orcia's Brunello

Wine-Searcher puts the global average for this wine at about 80 euros before tax, and the UK offers sit well under it: the 2019 at £32.93 and the 2021 from £39, both in stock. A 2021 magnum is listed at £80. The 2020 and the 2016 are sold out at the shops we track.

Best price · 75 cl £32.93 at 8wines
Price spread £32.93 - £80.00 Across 3 UK retailers tracked
Retailers tracked 3UK 5 in stock
Vintages live 2021 · 2019 · 2016 Current release: 2021
Per-litre (75 cl basis) £43.91 Per-litre price for the lowest current offer
Last checked 27 Sep 2026 Refreshed once every 24 hours
Wine fit score

How Col d'Orcia's Brunello scores for the cellar and the table

Top marks for the cellar and for an occasion, high for food, and better value than most Brunello at £33 to £42. Low for everyday drinking and middling for beginners: 14.5% and firm tannins reward patience and a plate of meat.

Best for cellar 9.2/10

Brunello DOCG rules mean four years' ageing before release, and Vinous puts the 2021's window at 2028 to 2038. Vivino rates the estate's 1988 at 4.5.

Best for an occasion 9.0/10

DOCG Brunello from Montalcino's third-largest producer, from five-star years, with critics at 92 to 94 points: a safe bottle to bring out for a celebration.

Best with food 8.5/10

Full body, firm tannins and savoury depth: made for steak, braises, game and hard cheese, less useful with light or spicy food.

Best value 7.8/10

UK prices of £32.93 to £42.20 sit well under Wine-Searcher's global average of about 80 euros before tax, and the 2019 carries 93 and 94-point scores from six critics.

Best intro to this style 5.0/10

A serious, tannic 14.5% red that needs food and, for the 2021, a few years' patience: rewarding, but not a first Italian red.

Best everyday bottle 2.5/10

At £33 or more and 14.5%, this is a bottle for a proper dinner, not a Tuesday.

Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.

Denomination Compliance Snapshot

Brunello di Montalcino in five fields

A compact view of what the Brunello di Montalcino denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.

Allowed grapes
1 varieties listed
This bottle: Sangiovese.
Minimum ageing
48 months minimum
Of which 24 months in oak.
Region / area
Comune di Montalcino, Toscana
Source: Editorial.
Style
DOCG · Brunello di Montalcino
Minimum ABV at this colour: 12.5%.
Classification
DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita)
Vintages

2016 to 2021: four Col d'Orcia vintages and how they compare

The vintage chart gives 2016 and 2019 five stars plus, 2021 five stars and 2020 four. The 2021 is the tighter, longer-lived wine, cut by April frost and a dry summer; the 2020 is the rounder one to open first.

2021 Current release
Best price
£37.50
Retailers
3 in stock
ABV
14.5%
Window
Ready from 2028 to 2038

Frost on 8 April and a long dry summer marked the year, Col d'Orcia says, but June-to-August rain ran slightly above average and the heat never lasted. The vintage chart puts the harvest about 15 per cent below 2020 and gives the year five stars. A panel of Masters of Wine brought in by the Brunello consortium called the 2021s fragrant, defined and vertical. Vinous puts the drinking window at 2028 to 2038.

2020 Sold through
Best price
not listed
Retailers
0 in stock
Window
Drink now through 2036

A four-star year on the Italy's Finest Wines chart: a warm, sunny summer and an early harvest gave round, balanced Brunellos with prominent tannins, ready sooner than the 2019 or 2021. Wine Enthusiast found strawberries, raspberries, orange peel and wild fennel in Col d'Orcia's 2020.

2019 Previous release
Best price
£32.93
Retailers
1 in stock
ABV
14.5%
Window
Drink now through 2039

Five stars plus on the vintage chart: spring rain filled the soils before a moderately hot, dry summer, and the grapes reached the cellar perfectly ripe. Col d'Orcia's 2019 scored 94 from Wine Advocate, Decanter and Wine Spectator and 93 from Vinous and James Suckling.

2016 Previous release
Best price
£61.00
Retailers
1 in stock
Window
Drink now through 2041

Five stars plus on the vintage chart: regular rain into spring, July rain to balance a hot July and August, and a long, dry September harvest. The chart describes ripe, enveloping tannins and wines built to live for decades. The one UK shop we track lists Col d'Orcia's 2016 as sold out.

Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.

The disciplinare, the place, the label

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG and the Sant'Angelo in Colle estate behind it

Brunello must be 100% Sangiovese, aged at least four years with two in oak, and passed by a tasting panel before release. Col d'Orcia farms 150 hectares of vines on the hill below Sant'Angelo in Colle, organic across the whole estate since 2010, and has made Brunello since the 1930s.

01

DOC, DOCG, IGT: what the badges mean

Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.

Brunello di Montalcino is in the DOCG tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.

02

The denomination rules, in detail

  • Allowed grapes. 1 varieties listed in the disciplinare
  • Yield ceiling. 8.0 tonnes per hectare
  • Minimum ABV. 12.5% vol
  • Minimum ageing. 48 months total (of which 24 in oak)
  • Tasting panel. Mandatory pre-release tasting commission
03

Region and area context

Brunello di Montalcino falls within Tuscany, covering Comune di Montalcino, Toscana.

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG zone The producer Wine route in the zone

Made at Tenuta Col D’Orcia, Montalcino. Directions

Wine route in the zone: Brunello and Rosso loop.

04

Reading the label

  • Tenuta Col D’OrciaProducer / estate
  • SangioveseGrape varieties
  • Brunello di Montalcino DOCGGeographic indication and quality tier
  • 2021Vintage (year of harvest)
  • 14.5% volAlcohol by volume
  • Imbottigliato all’origineEstate-bottled
05

What sits behind the price of Col d'Orcia Brunello di Montalcino

Tracked from
£32.93
Direction
Mostly cost up
Drivers
4 up / 2 down
Main factor
Four years' ageing, thirty months of it in big oak
  1. 01

    Four years' ageing, thirty months of it in big oak

    Cost up

    Brunello DOCG cannot be sold until the fifth year after harvest. Col d'Orcia keeps this wine four years, thirty months of it in Slavonian and French oak casks holding 2,500 to 7,500 litres, then rests it in bottle. Money sits in the cellar for years before a bottle is sold.

  2. 02

    Organic farming across the whole estate

    Cost up

    The whole 520-hectare estate has been farmed organically since 2010, with compost made on site, and the grapes are hand-picked into crates. Organic vineyards need more labour than sprayed ones.

  3. 03

    A DOCG cap on how much each vineyard may yield

    Cost up

    The Brunello rules cap yields at 8 tonnes of grapes per hectare, roughly half what Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC allows, so each vine gives fewer bottles.

  4. 04

    Montalcino's third-largest producer

    Cost down

    Col d'Orcia calls itself the third-largest producer of Brunello, with 150 hectares of vines. Wine-Searcher's global average for this wine, across all vintages on sale, is about 80 euros before tax; the UK offers in stock sit at £33 to £42.

  5. 05

    A retailer discount on the 2021

    Cost down

    Vino.com lists the 2021 at £42.20 against a £55.53 list price, so the current vintage is on offer there. Its 2020 carried the same kind of discount, £43.60 against £57.37, but that listing is out of stock.

  6. 06

    UK duty and VAT on a 14.5% wine

    Cost up

    At 14.5% alcohol, UK duty is about £3.33 a bottle at the £30.62 per litre of pure alcohol rate in force since February 2026. VAT takes another £5.49 of the £32.93 2019.

01

Four years' ageing, thirty months of it in big oak

Cost up

Brunello DOCG cannot be sold until the fifth year after harvest. Col d'Orcia keeps this wine four years, thirty months of it in Slavonian and French oak casks holding 2,500 to 7,500 litres, then rests it in bottle. Money sits in the cellar for years before a bottle is sold.

Perfect Pairings

Dishes that go with this wine

Food Pairing

Steak, braises and aged pecorino: food for a structured Brunello

Full body, firm tannins and savoury depth call for meat with fat and time in it. The tech sheet on Xtrawine's listing suggests game and mature cheeses; a bistecca alla fiorentina is the local answer.

Tannin softening Strong match

Bistecca alla fiorentina and grilled beef

Fat and char in a thick T-bone soften Brunello's tannins, and the wine's cherry and leather flavours stand up to the smoke. It is the Tuscan pairing the estate's own hills are known for.

Try with: Fiorentina steak · Brasato al Barolo · Bollito dei Pastori · Ribeye steak · More pairings →

Body matching Strong match

Slow-cooked game and braises

A full-bodied 14.5% Brunello matches the weight of braised beef, boar or venison, and its liquorice and tobacco notes meet the deep flavours of a long cook. The tech sheet on Xtrawine's listing names game as the ideal match.

Try with: Brasato al Barolo · Spezzatino di pecora · Carbonade · Venison Stew · More pairings →

Fat cutting Good match

Roast lamb, pork and rich roasts

Brunello's acidity cuts through the fat of roast lamb or porchetta, and its ripe tannins grip the meat rather than the mouth. A Sunday roast is the easiest way in.

Try with: Porchetta · Agnello Ragu Lucano · Arrosticini · Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce · More pairings →

Salt balance Good match

Aged pecorino and hard cheeses

Salt and age in a hard cheese round out the tannins and bring out the cherry fruit. That is why the tech sheet on Xtrawine's listing pairs this Brunello with mature cheeses, and aged pecorino is the Tuscan choice.

Try with: Pecorino sardo e pan carasau · Caciocavallo farcito · Frico · Strong cheddar cheese · More pairings →

Aromatic bridge Good match

Truffle, mushrooms and earthy pasta

The leather and earthy notes Vivino's tasters find in this Brunello echo truffle and porcini. A plate of tagliatelle al tartufo or a mushroom risotto makes the wine taste rounder.

Try with: Tagliatelle al tartufo di Acqualagna · Porcini mushroom risotto · Tajarin al Tartufo · Truffle risotto · More pairings →

Avoid Clash

Skip spicy food, oily fish and light salads

Chilli makes 14.5% alcohol and firm tannins taste hot and bitter, oily fish turns the tannins metallic, and a light salad is simply crushed by the wine. Save Brunello for meat, game and hard cheese.

Skip with: Chicken madras · Szechuan beef · Sashimi · Insalata Caprese · Salmon · Pairing guide →

Drinking + cellar

Cellaring Col d'Orcia: the 2021 wants until 2028

Vinous gives the 2021 a window of 2028 to 2038, and the estate's old vintages show how far its Brunello goes: Vivino rates the 1988 at 4.5 and the 1990 at 4.3. Lay the 2021 down and open the 2019 first.

Drinking window
2028 → 2038

Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.

Decanting
1 hour

A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.

Serving temperature
16-18°C

Aim for the cooler end on a warm day; warmer end opens up more aromatics.

Cellar potential
High

Brunello DOCG rules mean four years' ageing before release, and Vinous puts the 2021's window at 2028 to 2038. Vivino rates the estate's 1988 at 4.5.

Buy now or wait?
Buy now

£32.93 for a 75cl bottle of the 2019, at 8wines, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.

Sources & trust

Where the Col d'Orcia Brunello facts come from

Prices & stock

Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 27 Sep 2026, 02:16 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.

Confidence · High
Tasting notes

Drawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino and Wine-Searcher, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.

Confidence · Medium
Appellation rules & ageing

From the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.

Confidence · High
Why it costs what it costs

Our reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.

Confidence · Medium
Drink window & cellar potential

Style guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.

Confidence · Medium
Related

Sangiovese, Montalcino and the Marone Cinzano estate: what links to this bottle

Producer
Tenuta Col D’Orcia Tuscany

Common Questions

Yes, by every public measure. Vivino's crowd rates it 4.1 out of 5 across 55,583 ratings, Wine-Searcher's critic average is 92 out of 100 from 229 reviews, and the 2019 scored 94 from Wine Advocate, Decanter and Wine Spectator.

The 2021 wants until about 2028 and will hold to 2038, according to Vinous. The 2020 is the more approachable vintage to open first. Older Col d'Orcia Brunellos age for decades: Vivino rates the 1988 at 4.5 and the 1990 at 4.3.

The 2019 is the value pick at £32.93: a five-star-plus year on the vintage chart with 93 and 94-point critic scores. The 2021 is the one to cellar, a five-star year with firmer tannins. The 2020 is the softest of the three for drinking now.

Cherry and raspberry with oak, tobacco and leather, then plum, liquorice and a violet note, which is how 7,867 Vivino reviewers describe it. It is full-bodied at 14.5% with ripe but firm tannins and a long, savoury finish.

Yes. The whole estate, 520 hectares with 150 of them under vine, has been farmed organically since 2010, and Wine-Searcher lists the Brunello as certified organic. In 2026 Wine Enthusiast named Col d'Orcia its Environmental Advocate of the Year.

Steak, braised or roast meat, game and hard cheese. The tech sheet on Xtrawine's listing suggests game and mature cheeses. A bistecca alla fiorentina, a brasato or an aged pecorino are the Tuscan matches.

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Col d'Orcia Brunello di Montalcino