2016 Siro Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva PS
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The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva PS is impossible to ignore, as a burst of mentholated black cherries mixes with notes of crushed stone, sage, smoking embers and a hint of spiced orange. Pure in style yet silken in feel, it offers red berry fruits that cascade across the palate as a jolt of zesty acidity lifts the experience. Structured and dramatically long, the 2016 tapers off with a saturation of fine tannins and a pleasantly bitter tinge of dark chocolate that lingers. It’s a dark beast of a Brunello.
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Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
Eric Guido, Vinous
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This is a wine of impressive magnitude and depth. The Siro Pacenti 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva PS is modern, bold, powerful and built like a brick wall. It delivers ample concentration and texture richness, but it also boasts a pretty dark ruby color that is quite beautiful in the glass. This is a healthy, vibrant wine with plenty of aromatic character. There are fruit and oak tannins (both firmly in place to guide the wine over long cellar aging), and it sits squarely over the palate, imparting creaminess and structure. Give it ample time to soften and unfold. With time (I came back to the bottle 24 and 48 hours after opening it), it shows delicate hues of mountain herb, mint and violets. Made in limited numbers, there are only 650 bottles of this vintage plus some larger formats.
It’s hard to pull yourself away from the 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva PS, as a stunning mix of cooling mint and menthol gives way to cloves, cedar shavings, dried cherries and underbrush. This dark beauty further impresses with a texture like crushed velvet, weighty and fleshy yet refined. Sour berries combine with hints of blood orange and inner herbal tones to create an interplay of salty and sweet tension. It isn’t the concentration or the heady aromas or flavors that impress here as much as the gorgeous balance that they all create. The 2016 Riserva PS tapers off incredibly long, unexpectedly fresh, with fine-grained tannins and notes of licorice and black currant.