2017 Brunello di Montalcino

The Talenti winery is one of the handful of producers that managed to cull some magic from the 2017 vintage. Riccardo Talenti explained that the warm and dry conditions of the year convinced him to start harvest on September 2nd in an attempt to maintain high acidity, a low pH and balanced ripe fruit within the tiny berries that the vintage produced. The Talenti winery oversees five distinct vineyards spread out between the higher elevations of Sant'Angelo in Colle and lower elevations of Castelnuovo dell'Abate (about five kilometers east from the estate), which also helps them to create a more balanced expression through blending. I was also very happy to see another vintage of the single-vineyard Piero in 2017, which emerges from a two-hectare parcel first planted by PierLuigi Talenti near the winery in the 1970s. These old vines managed to thrive through this torrid vintage. Riccardo Talenti explained that he also kept macerations short, at twelve days to help temper the effects of the year, and that production was down by 20%, and that’s with all of the Riserva juice going into the straight Brunello. All of that said, it’s all good news here, because even while the 2017s aren’t at the usual level of this house, they are absolutely worth checking out, ...and... the 2016 Riserva Pian di Conte is off the charts. This is a wine that I typically respect, but that I prefer the Brunello and Piero over, though Talenti found a wonderful balance with the 2016, which is basically a barrel selection that refines in a combination of twenty-five and thirty-hectoliter oak casks, along with a small amount in Tonneaux for thirty-six months.