Winemaker Notes
The 2016 vintage began with a mild spring with little rain, while the summer was very hot with above average temperatures. During the month of September some rains created a milder and perfect climate for the maturation of Sangiovese, enhancing its freshness and giving soft and balanced tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Colombaio is another exciting new release from Fabio Tassi. The bouquet shows a classic Sangiovese disposition, giving equal weight to bright fruit and wild cherry, while also emphasizing earthy tones of leather, herb garden and dried mint. Like the classic 2016 Brunello released by Tassi, there is a distinct red fruit tone here that reminds me of candied cherry or dried raspberry. This wine shows a mid-weight mouthfeel and is generally elegant, light and bright on the palate. These wines are fermented in a cone-shaped barrel and aged in Slavonian (Garbellotto) casks for 30 months.
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James Suckling
Juicy black plums and mushrooms, after initial dustiness and dried-leaf aromas. Cocoa beans and orange peel, too. It's full-bodied with firm tannins with a long finish.
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.