Wine Pick: Brunello di Montalcino

Donatella Cinelli Colombini proves winemaking is more than just an old boys’ club.

If you think politics is an old boys’ club, try being a winemaker in Tuscany, where it’s not uncommon for a family—sorry, for the males in a family—to have made wine for generations. So in comes force of nature Donatella Cinelli Colombini, who takes a sisters-are-doing-it-for-themselves approach to making wine: the whole operation is run by women, which would have been just a neat gimmick but for the fact that the results are almost universally lauded. Her Brunello di Montalcino 2010 ($75) is a pleasing mix of soft fruit with a backbone of earth and leather that goes for finesse over brute power—what a surprise.

Brunello di Montalcino 2010, $75