Pian Delle Vigne 2016 Brunello Di Montalcino 750ml

This is a wine to watch, thanks to some exciting new changes to come. The Antinori family purchased new vineyards located at the highest point in the appellation at the romantically named Passo del Lume Spento (Pass of the Extinguished Lantern) where higher altitudes make for cooler growing conditions. This new acquisition complements the estate's current holdings in Pian delle Vigne (translated as the "flatlands of vines") located at much warmer lower elevations with heavier reddish soils. That means future vintages (wines to come after the 2018 Brunello that is already in bottle as I write this) may see a blend of fruit from the two sites, giving the winemaking team much more latitude to blend from both cool and warm parcels. Or the Passo del Lume Spento fruit could end up in its own single-vineyard bottling. It will be interesting to see how the estate uses its new fruit and its new winery.

The Marchesi Antinori 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Pian delle Vigne takes us back to a classic profile for the estate in which you perceive an open and approachable bouquet. This is textbook Pian delle Vigne. The wine's foundations are rooted in ripeness with dried cherry and blackberry, and there are earthy notes with some powdery licorice and iron ore. Pian delle Vigne performs nicely in the celebrated 2016 vintage; however, this wine remains far more accessible than its peers, and I suggest a near to medium-term drinking window as a result. It was racked out of barrel and went into glass sooner in order to preserve the aromatic integrity of the vintage. Prioritizing glass over barrel aging is a trend we are seeing across the appellation.

Score: 93 points -- Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate, 2021