Winemaker Notes
The Riserva is exclusively produced during the best vintages following an even more scrupulous grape selection. A wine of outstanding structure, it is enhanced by a very long aging period in French and Slavonian oak barrels.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This stunning red leads off with a beam of cherry, kirsch and violet flavors, while mineral, tobacco and ash lend accents. Fresh and juicy, with fine harmony and an exceptional aftertaste that echoes the fruit and mineral elements. Its solid structure gives this fine aging potential.
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James Suckling
There’s a real purity of sangiovese fruit here with cherries, orange peel and sandalwood. It’s full-bodied yet so tight and refined as well as structured. Fine tannins lead you down deep into the palate which opens up at the end. Fascinating. Drink in 2024 and onwards.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Poggio Antico 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva absolutely delivers the goods, especially if you are in the market for a rich and robust expression of Sangiovese with dark fruit, cherry, leather, spice and tar. The finish is smooth and velvety, and although you recognize the structure of the wine, you by no means feel the tannins in any obvious way.
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.