2016 Brunello di Montalcino

Andrea Costanti’s wines embody the southeastern hillside terroir of Montalcino, with vineyards ranging from 440 to 510 meters, large diurnal temperature swings between day and night and unique galestro soils, a mix of oceanic marls on the surface with sand and stones beneath. This, in combination with the ventilating winds that can be felt nearly any time of the day, is the perfect location to create classic Brunello of the highest order. Winemaking is minimalistic and wonderfully clean, helped by a new fermentation cellar and classic barrel aging room located below the estate. On this recent visit, I had the opportunity to retaste the 2016, a truly classic wine that is just starting to open up. It remains one of the top wines of the year. The 2019 is also something to be excited about, racy yet deeply textural with masses of dark red fruit. As is usually the case, the wines of Costanti display a youthful exuberance before shutting down for a long slumber. And don’t miss the 2021 Rosso di Montalcino (from the sandier soils at the base of the Montosoli hill) and Rosso di Montalcino Vermiglio (a barrel selection), which both excel through cellaring.

I was very happy from the first moment I tilted my glass of 2015 Costanti Brunello Riserva. Thinking back to my tastings of the 2015s in February, the Brunello di Montalcino was one of the wines from the vintage that captured the sun-kissed persona of the year, yet it didn’t deliver the complexities and structure that I look for in these wines. Well, let’s just say that the Riserva more than makes up for that performance. It’s layered, primary and structured with the capacity for a long and steady evolution in our cellars. Costanti explained that the Riserva is a selection of his best barrel of Brunello each year; the one that strikes him as having the most potential for long aging, yet the élevage is exactly the same. The Riserva spends the same time in barrel as the straight Brunello, with just one more year refining in bottle before release. However, while I’m fawning over the 2015 Riserva, it would be a shame not to mention that the 2016 Brunello is spectacular as well. Costanti has captured all of the best qualities of the vintage, and he’s turned out a wine that will thrill fans of this historic estate. Another interesting moment from our recent interview included Costanti's explanation of how much global warming has actually helped this part of Montalcino over the past decade, located in the cooler northeast between 380 and 450 meters above sea level. When he originally began working in the vineyards during the early eighties, achieving balanced ripeness wasn’t always easy; but today, the warm days are perfectly balanced by the cold currents that blow through these hillside vineyards at night. Something to keep in mind - granted, this is the classic production zone - is that it has only been in the last decade or so that the producers here have really captured the attention of a wider range of Brunello collectors.