Brunello di Montalcino 2016

The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino offers clean and pristine fruit and otherwise delivers a textbook interpretation of the vintage. Given the large extension of vineyards farmed by this estate, which is located on the southern side of the appellation, and the deft technological approach employed in the winery, you can count on Castello Banfi to offer an authentic read of any of their wines about to hit the market or that have been aged at the back of your cellar. Indeed, the Banfi library of wines acts as an institutional memory of modern Brunello. This edition shows sharp and focused fruit with leather, potting soil and balsam herb. For a straight-up classic Brunello, this wine delivers the goods. Castello Banfi delivers one of the finest sets of wines that I have yet tasted from this American-owned benchmark estate. In addition to these new releases (from both 2015 and 2016), it's my pleasure to recommend a new wine, the single-vineyard Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Marrucheto that steals the show.

Score: 94

Monica Larner, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2023-2040 30 November 2020