The vintage Montalcino measures itself against
Podere Brizio · Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2016 · until 7 August
Ten years lie between the harvest and this glass. In the glass: undergrowth, porcini and tobacco, beneath them sour cherry and rosehip, a touch of violet, and ripe tannin with a lively acidity holding it together. All of that already today. And another ten years ahead.
The 2016 vintage was given five stars by the Consorzio, its highest mark. A cool, even summer without heat spikes, and a harvest that stretched into October. Years like that give the Brunelli people worship.
Podere Brizio sits in the south-west of Montalcino, one of the warmest corners of the appellation, at 300 to 350 metres with a view down to the Maremma. The Bartolommei family farms 16 hectares there on sandstone and rocky marl, certified organic. The warmth gives the ripeness, the marl the tension. The Riserva was given plenty of time: four years in vast casks of Allier oak, then years in bottle.
