2016 Brunello di Montalcino

The 2016 Brunello has aromatics of fresh leather, dried cherry, and anise. The palate is ripe with candied cherry lozenge, tomato leaf, and dusty earth, with angular and drying tannin and tangy acidity. Enjoy 2022-2030. La Fortuna is located in the southeast, in Castelnuovo dell’Abate with 11 hectares under vine.

I have really enjoyed these latest releases from La Fortuna from the past few years. The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino (with 35,000 bottles produced) opens to a dark ruby or garnet appearance and shows impressive aromatic intensity. With that intensity comes sharpness and precision. The aromas unfold quickly to display candied fruit, cocktail cherry, licorice, cola and dark spice. This is a frank and naked expression of Sangiovese from an excellent vintage.

The 2016 La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino shows dusty bright cherries in a cloud of confectioners’ spice and crushed stone with hints of mint and sage. It’s silky in texture, balancing ripe red berries and saline-minerals with vibrant acids, maintaining a juicy freshness in spite of the grippy tannins which slowly settle in. Purple inner florals and notes of licorice linger throughout the long and structured finish, with just a hint of heat poking through. This will provide a good amount of pleasure over the short term, but it may fall out of balance with extended cellaring.