2016 Brunello di Montalcino Vallocchio

The 2016 Vallocchio Brunello di Montalcino offers more brooding aromatics of pine, baking spice, black cherry, and baked earth. The tannins are more present and building than the “normale,” though the structure is still well-integrated and feels weightless. This should be enjoyable 2022-2042. Tenuta Fanti’s Brunello is sourced from 10 hectares of vineyards within the Castelnuova dell’Abate area, where the Fanti family and estate practices organic viticulture.

This wine sources its fruit from a five-hectare vineyard, rich in friable schistous Galestro soil at a moderate (and warm) 250 meters above sea level. The Fanti 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Vallocchio shows roundness and softness with hints of elegant mineral and warm soil at the edges. The core of this full-bodied wine is packed with purple and black fruits such as plum and blackberry. Like the 2015 vintage that I remember well, this 2016 release also shows pretty elegance that shines through the more robust nature of this vineyard site. This is a 10,000-bottle release.

The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Vallocchio from Fanti dials it up a notch from the straight Brunello di Montalcino. Darker, deeper and sultry, this displays notes of ripe blackberry and plums complemented by exotic brown spice and a hint of lemon confit. Its textures are like velvet being drawn across the palate, black-fruited and ripe, offset by tactile minerals and cooling herbal tones. This is youthfully monolithic and dense, only revealing its stern tannic core toward the close, where I’m finding notes of black tea, licorice and hints of cocoa. The 2016 Vallocchio is unapologetic with its aggressive bouquet, yet what’s under the hood is built for the long term.