Tenuta di ArgianoBrunello di Montalcino 2016

A very polished red with cloves and caramel, on top of black cherries, mushrooms and forest floor. Black olives, too. It's full-bodied with polished tannins and lovely depth all the way through. Lightly chewy. Juicy black-cherries and savory black-olive character. Complex. Drink after 2025.

The Argiano 2016 Brunello di Montalcino shows a lovely transparency to its appearance and follows with lifted red fruit aromas, cassis, wild cherry and blue flower. It is made with a simple approach, fermented in cement tank and aged slowly in oak, and the fruit comes from a 22-hectare site with limestone marl soils. It delivers a lightness and a weightlessness that is not often ascribed to this vintage. No worries, the power of 2016 comes through at the very end in terms of tannins and structure. This ample release of 115,000 bottles will be ready to drink after 2023 when the wine has had time to open and flesh out.

The 2016 Argiano Brunello di Montalcino shows sweet herbs and tobacco with hints of mocha and cedar spice box. It’s silky in texture, coasting across a medium-bodied frame while giving way to tart red berries, with grippy tannins mounting toward the close. A cooling wave of minty herbs and licorice adds much needed freshness, bringing the 2016 into balance throughout the youthfully structured finale. While this was hard to read and quite backward upon opening, it blossomed beautifully in the glass over time.

-- Eric Guido