Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Exuberant nose showing aromas of strawberry, black cherry, hazelnut and notes of orange peel and tobacco. Perfect ripeness on the palate with fine grained tannins and a long lasting finish.
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James Suckling
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.
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Wine Enthusiast
This fragrant red opens with heady scents of blue flower, star anise, camphor and new leather. Still young and primary, it delivers juicy red cherry, spiced cranberry, licorice and tobacco supported by a backbone of refined tannins. Fresh acidity keeps it energized and balanced. Drink 2026–2041.
Editors' Choice -
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Brunello has lifted aromas of confected raspberry fruit, crushed roses, cedar, and sweet licorice. The palate opens with ripe red plum, cocoa, and dried herbs, with velvety tannins. The 2016 is an elegant wine with approachability and finesse. Argiano practices organic farming with a strong focus on sustainability and biodiversity both in the vineyard and in the cellar. Drink 2021-2031.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
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.
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Wine Spectator
The supple texture and medium-body easily support the ripe cherry, raspberry and plum fruit, while earth, leather and tobacco add grace notes. Very harmonious, even at this stage, this red is bright and long, with a fruity and savory aftertaste.
Among Italy's elite red grape varieties, Sangiovese has the perfect intersection of bright red fruit and savory earthiness and is responsible for the best red wines of Tuscany. While it is best known as the chief component of Chianti, it is also the main grape in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and reaches the height of its power and intensity in the complex, long-lived Brunello di Montalcino. Somm Secret—Sangiovese doubles under the alias, Nielluccio, on the French island of Corsica where it produces distinctly floral and refreshing reds and rosés.
Famous for its bold, layered and long-lived red, Brunello di Montalcino, the town of Montalcino is about 70 miles south of Florence, and has a warmer and drier climate than that of its neighbor, Chianti. The Sangiovese grape is king here, as it is in Chianti, but Montalcino has its own clone called Brunello.
The Brunello vineyards of Montalcino blanket the rolling hills surrounding the village and fan out at various elevations, creating the potential for Brunello wines expressing different styles. From the valleys, where deeper deposits of clay are found, come wines typically bolder, more concentrated and rich in opulent black fruit. The hillside vineyards produce wines more concentrated in red fruits and floral aromas; these sites reach up to over 1,600 feet and have shallow soils of rocks and shale.
Brunello di Montalcino by law must be aged a minimum of four years, including two years in barrel before realease and once released, typically needs more time in bottle for its drinking potential to be fully reached. The good news is that Montalcino makes a “baby brother” version. The wines called Rosso di Montalcino are often made from younger vines, aged for about a year before release, offer extraordinary values and are ready to drink young.