2016 Brunello di Montalcino
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Tasting notes
Alcoholic fermentation with a total skin maceration of four weeks. Aged for at least 24 months in large Slavonian oak casks. Deep, lustrous ruby. Taut nose with rich cherry fruit underneath and a complex oak note. Full, yet sleek on the palate with lots of grainy tannins kept beautifully in check by the generous succulent cherry fruit. Ends full, concentrated and a little vibrant. The enormous alcohol of this wine simply goes unnoticed, until you look at the label. (WS)
Critic scores
Average Score
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
The 2016 Brunello is ripe with aromas of blackberry compote, tobacco, sage, and sunbaked earth. The palate has lasting black cherry fruit, coffee, and licorice, with rich texture and firm tannins with significant hold. This will certainly be a wine to cellar for 4-6 years and drink 2026-2036.
From the Frescobaldi family of Florence, the Luce della Vite (or Tenuta Luce) 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Luce is a wine of depth and intensity. This 2016 vintage goes further and offers more substance than most of the recent vintages we've seen. It reveals a dark color and appearance with cocktail cherry, balsam spice and a touch of white chocolate. The tannins are dry, but the wine compensates with a good dose of that concentrated fruit richness that defines this classic vintage. This is a 30,000-bottle release.
The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Luce from Frescobaldi lifts up with a heady display of medicinal cherries, cinnamon and cloves with a dusting of cedar and white smoke. It’s silky and seamless, coasting effortlessly across the palate with ease, while gaining tactile grip as notes of tart raspberry and minerals slowly settle in. There’s ample acidity to balance this large-scaled effort, as it unabashedly tapers off to a black currant-cocoa-mocha-coffee mixture throughout the structured finale. The 2016 Luce della Vite had me right up until the finish, where it unfortunately leaves a harsh impression of wood instead of fruit.