Working my way through the 16s. All have evident tannin, more than the same wines from 15. Which is expected. Quick impressions of them as of now:
Argiano - not too exciting, it’s very reserved, unlike the 15
Uccelliera - I’m pretty sure this could be confused with Nebbiolo with it’s red character and structure, it’s really good
Col D’orcia - powerful, value oriented but could use time…prominent tannin
San Filippo - really good leaning to the red versus dark side of the spectrum
San Filippo Le Lucere - Very good, clearly more sophisticated than the baseline; cork had mustiness but the wine did not; I will need to revisit to be sure it wasn’t a compromised bottle, as good as it was
Altesino - Superb, quick to open, dark character with good balance - while I like the red character of some of the others, this is the best, particularly taking price into account
Speaking of 2016 Brunello. All is not awesome., I am right now sipping the abomination called 2016 Tenuta di Collosorbo Brunello di Montalcino. What a waste of $52
If I wanted ripe zinfandel, I would have purchased ripe zinfandel.
Have a couple bottles each of Fanti, Capanna, and Casanova di Neri queued up, seeing if anything else pops up over the weekend before I pull the trigger…
You have convinced me to sample a 16 Altesino and to buy a few more Uccelliera. I bought 3 that I didnt plan to open for a decade, but I think I will grab 2 more now and try at least 1 young!
I realize there could very well be a benefit to aging these wines, but I need to know what the wines are like in order to make experienced recommendations when requested. The Altesino was pretty glorious. I have more to hit including La Pottazine and Fuligni. Its a tough job
I didn’t take any formal notes, but I would say a bit more vibrant then the other 16s I’ve had so far, besides maybe the Fanti. Ripe, with slightly more red fruit (tart cherry), which I really prefer in young Brunellos, good acidity, and some floral notes. If you like Sangiovese in this vein, I think it will be great over the next year or 2, and then probably best to hold for 5-6 years after that or more. I’m going for 3 more, but not sure I will open another before 2027. Not confident on my read for long term aging, but I didn’t think it showed the long term potential WA suggested with a late drink of 2040.
Definitely… I generally like to sample to see if I want to buy more or make a note of when I want to consider opening another, but I’ve gone so wide, and have more wines that I want to try this year than I will have a chance to, so to help with the self control, I’m sort of avoiding the ones I am pretty sure I will only be tempted to buy more of.
Anyone tried the Marroneto Brunello from 2016? I picked up a few out of curriosity as it seems to be this red fruited elegant style of Brunello I like.
Over the past couple of months, had 2 16s that were drinkable young due to tolerable tannin and solid fruit presence. Both are base Brunello offerings.
La Pottazzine - Lot’s of power in a somewhat linear, fruity style. I imagine the flavor profile may expand with time. It’s enjoyable, but right now, it comes across as too simple to me.
Ciacci Piccolomini - Reminiscent of Altesino but with a bit more power. Intense fruit on opening, then calmed down and broadened out after only a short air time. One of my favorites so far for early drinking.
2016 Uccelliera is already showing well after a 4-5 hour decant. Excited to see how they will show in a decade or so. This is my new favorite that I have tried for the 2016s
I don’t have a lot of experience with collosorbo but what you described sounds familiar. I don’t recall the vintage but I got half a case or maybe more from a local merchant I have bought from for years. He got a good price on it so I took a bit off for his hands. The first few bottles were to say the least disappointing. I then left them alone for many years and
The next few were better but still not what I was wanting. I waited for more years yet again and finally the last few bottles turned out to be really good.
I’m not saying that the 2016 will pull an ugly duckling but it is possible. But I also never purchased another vintage as the road to those final few delicious bottles was long and not very pleasant
