2016 Brunello di Montalcino Tassi

Tasting through the Tassi lineup of cru bottlings, from their 2015 Riserva Franci to the 2016 Colombaio and Giuseppe Tassi, was exciting, to say the least. Tassi has always been thought of as having a bigger and more fruit-forward style; yet with these new releases, there was significantly more depth to be found, as well as the capacity and, in some cases, necessity to mature in the cellar. Fear not; while the cru bottlings really need time, they’ll be worth the wait; and the Brunello Tassi, which is no slacker, should be drinking beautifully in only a few years. Circling back to the crus, Fabio Tassi has done a wonderful job of expressing and communicating the importance of identifying such pockets of terroir throughout Montalcino. The Colombaio, a twenty-year-old parcel purchased in 2016, is planted in rocky, sedimentary, clay-rich soils above Abbazia di Sant'Antimo, it’s a nuanced and feminine beauty that should blossom over the coming years. In contrast, the Giuseppe Tassi, from vines planted at slightly higher elevations and in poor soils of galestro and sandstone, is a dark beast of a wine which shows a happy marriage of density and radiance, something that the best wines of 2016 have become known for. Lastly, the Franci cru, which we witness in this report through the 2015 Riserva, hosts thirty-five-year-old vines in sedimentary soils at 200 meters in elevation, and with full southern exposures, to create a deeply seductive, spicy and mineral-intense wine that harnesses the ripeness of the vintage yet finishes wonderfully fresh. When all is said and done, I plan to watch the Tassi portfolio very closely over the coming years.