2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva Il Greppo (2022 Release)

Day one:  Lustrous mid ruby with orange tinges. Tight, compact and embryonic on the nose. Notes of sour cherry and cranberry, with savoury, minerally notes and a suggestion of dark spice. Compact, tangy cherry-fruit palate that shows real concentration but only very reluctantly opens itself up on the finish. Amazingly balanced and suave already, but the compact fruit, layered with coating, firm tannins, demands more bottle age. Overall, a little riper and more à point than earlier years but also a little less electrifying, perhaps. Day two:  Still quite subdued but with astonishing depth that reveals itself only after having been open for 24 hours. Hint of malt bread. Lush but completely dry cherry fruit, with still-firm tannins that are almost a little Nebbiolo-like, which have now taken a step back from centre stage, even if they are still a little unwieldy. The fruit is still compact, if more fragrant than yesterday. Day three:  Balsamic cherry fruit with a clear iodine note. Tangy, perfumed cherry fruit on the palate and with the tannins still very much present on the finish. Long and compact and with integrated acidity that is less pronounced than I remember from previous vintages. (WS)

The 2016 Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva is layered and unfolds in the glass with incense, baking spice, ripe red cherry, and cedar. It has more concentration and length through the mid-palate and offers an impeccable balance of structure, ripeness, and tension. It is expressive on the nose, but it is even more impactful at this stage with its intensity through the palate, with nearly electric energy of wild raspberry, rose petal, tea leaf, and orange zest. Allow for cellaring another 3-4 years. Drink 2026-2046.

Savory depths of sage, red currants, underbrush, dried roses, worn leather, hints of iodine and cedar smolder up from the darkly alluring 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. This impresses first with its purity, then with its energy, seamlessly silky and refined, yet almost racy in style, with saline-infused wild berries and nuances of sour citrus that drench the palate, lifted by a flourish of mint. The 2016 finishes with crystalline tannins, creating an almost-crunchy sensation, as tart red fruits and nuances of licorice slowly taper off. There’s an invigorating feel to the 2016 Riserva that I’ve never witnessed from a bottle of Biondi Santi Brunello, which, coupled with a depth of beautifully pure and delineated fruits, makes it a total pleasure to taste. That said, the 2016 is structured and built for a long and prosperous maturation.