In Bond Fine Wine. 2016 Talenti Brunello di Montalcino Piero, Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy. Red italy - tuscany in 6x75cl. Top critic score: 97/100 (EG). Drinking window: 2024+. Sold in bond by Albany Vintners, independent fine wine merchants.
Talenti is a family-run estate near Sant’Angelo in Colle, founded by Pierluigi Talenti in 1980 and now run by his grandson Riccardo. Its Brunellos strike an attractive balance between traditional and modern styles, combining ripe cherry fruit, savoury spice and generous texture with freshness and polished tannins. Ageing in both French and larger Slavonian oak barrels gives the wines richness without overwhelming the Sangiovese character. It offers a relatively affordable route into serious, age-worthy Brunello, sitting stylistically between the more traditional Il Poggione and the richer Casanova di Neri.
Eric Guido (EG) — 97/100 · Vinous, 30/11/2020 · Drink 2024-2036
The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Piero is an excellent follow-up to the 2015 that wowed me earlier this year. It takes a much more refined and darkly alluring approach, as an air of crushed stone gives way to masses of blackberry and cherry, further blossoming to show notes of sage, a dusting of cedar, mocha and leather strap. There's an exotic flair here without ever straying from Sangiovese puri…
Monica Larner (ML) — 95/100 · Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com, 30/11/2020 · Drink 2024-2042
This is the second vintage of Piero, a wine that pays homage to the winery's founder. The Talenti 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Piero shows a bigger and bolder style next to the classic 2016 Brunello; however, this wine remains graceful and lifted nonetheless. It does not make the mistake of showing too much extraction or concentration (it is aged in tonneau for two years), and its pretty personali…
James Suckling (JS) — 97/100 · JamesSuckling.com, 28/10/2030 · Drink 2024+
This is really beautiful with so much black-cherry and blackberry aromas, as well as walnut and cedar. Some black truffle, too. It's full-bodied, yet ever so tight and polished with solid tannin tension and focus. Goes on and on. Structured and beautiful. Try after 2024.