2016 Sfursat 5 Stelle
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Tasting notes
The Nino Negri 2016 Sforzato di Valtellina Sfursat 5 Stelle is this estate's top wine (with 25,000 bottles produced). Only made in the best vintages from a special selection of Nebbiolo grapes, the wine sees air-dried fruit in the celebrated Sforzato tradition. The first vintage of this wine was 1983. The bouquet presents dried fruit and cherry confit aromas that come from the appassimento process, some oak spice and toast from the aging and linear mineral tones that reflect the granite soils of these mountains. This is a round and thickly concentrated wine with a rich phenolic profile to help it age over the next decade or so.
Critic scores
Average Score
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2016 Sfursat 5 Stelle is a powerful, dense wine. Dark cherry, chocolate, espresso and licorice open up first, followed by huge tannins. The 2016 possesses quite a bit of richness, but the tannins are equally formidable. Readers will have to be patient with the 2016, as it is nowhere near ready to drink. For my taste, the 2016 really pushes the limits of concentration.
Lustrous ruby with orange tinges. Deep nose of cherry, cardamom pod and liquorice powder. Plush but not heavy fruit on the palate with dried cherry and cocoa-powder notes and minty dark-chocolate notes. Gripping tannins and succulent acidity and plenty of dense fruit without ever getting heavy. Clearly modernist, but most of all hedonistic. Much more interesting than most Amarones. Could just be a tiny bit drier, but that is being hyper-critical. (WS)