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Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, Biondi Santi 2016

RegionItaly
Subregion Italy > Tuscany > Brunello di Montalcino
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietySangiovese

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Tasting Notes

Wow, here is a vintage I've been anxiously waiting to try. The 2016 growing season was one of the best in recent memory in Montalcino, and if we look back in time, this vintage marks the year Biondi-Santi was sold to a French group. The prestigious 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva proves a mighty collector's bottle that will undoubtedly gain in complexity and depth with careful bottle age. The wine offers wild nuances of forest berry and tart cherry, and there are herbal side notes as well as floral tones of dried violet and lilac. The tannins are soft, powdery and feel like they melt away on the palate. 2028-2060

99
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate, May 2023

Aromas of strawberries, flowers, fresh mushroom, forest flower, sandalwood, and hints of balsamic. Full-bodied and tight on the finish. This is a linear and fine-tannined red. Available in March 2023. Needs another five years or so to show its full potential. New classic.

98
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, December 2022

The 2017 Biondi Santi Brunello has a lightly fragrant oak nose with notes of cream and vanilla and cherry. The weight is beautifully ethereal with a little of that weightless quality that you find in very fine wines. The tannins have a slight grippy dryness but it is not excessive and there is a green sharpness to the cherry flavors that linger on the palate. It has lots of finesse and flow and a fine texture. For this wine the new team from EPI were involved a little with the vineyard but 2018 will be the first vintage they made completely from start to finish. Biondi Santi have not yet released their 2018 Brunello so when it is released it will more accurately reflect their ideas and style but with this 2017 they have already delivered a beauty.

96
Susan Hulme MW, The Wine Independent, January 2023

Ruby-garnet in colour. This is very tight and youthful on the nose, with a brilliant purity of bright cherry fruit and tobacco leaf. The palate is similarly taut, and hard to penetrate. There is an underlying ripeness of fruit but the energy from acid and tannins brings harmony. With significant air the nose starts to open up and show layers of flowers, herbs and savoury spices. It remains a little tricky to see how this focused, refined and tightly wound wine evolves into the edgy and characterful wines of the 1970s and 1980s, but there is no doubting its ageing potential and quality.

18
Thomas Parker MW, JancisRobinson.com, November 2022
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.