2016 Brunello di Montalcino

“It’s fair to say we’ve been both bold and lucky.” This quote from Luca Marrone, enologist of both Poggio di Sotto and Tenuta San Giorgio in Castelnuovo dell’Abate, resonated with me throughout my tastings. Especially when you consider that the majority of producers thought of 2016 as a perfect vintage. Granted, it’s important to keep in mind that, from north to south and east to west, Montalcino has many different elevations, soils and expositions. In the case of both Poggio di Sotto and Tenuta San Giorgio, the challenges of 2016 came in the form of heavy rains which affected them throughout the warm summer months. The lucky part had to do with their southern location, the never-ending breezes from the Tyrrhenian Sea through the Orcia Valley to the west and cold-air flows from Monte Amiata, which helped keep vines well ventilated, protecting the grapes from mildew. The bold part had to do with keeping more bunches on the vines to evenly distribute water, but also in splitting the harvest up between the two estates in three stages, taking in fruit to fuel the 2016 Poggio di Sotto Brunello in the first half of September, then another harvest of ripe berries after the mid-September rains, followed by one last berry-by-berry harvest a week later. As a result, the wines of the two estates, with vineyards that share similar elevations and expositions (South-West for Poggio di Sotto and South-East for Tenuta San Giorgio), couldn’t be more different. That said, each of them have their qualities and are standouts in the 2016 vintage.