Wow, here is a vintage I've been anxiously waiting to try. The 2016 growing season was one of the best in recent memory in Montalcino, and if we look back in time, this vintage marks the year Biondi-Santi was sold to a French group. The prestigious 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva proves a mighty collector's bottle that will undoubtedly gain in complexity and depth with careful bottle age. The wine offers wild nuances of forest berry and tart cherry, and there are herbal side notes as well as floral tones of dried violet and lilac. The tannins are soft, powdery and feel like they melt away on the palate.

Savory depths of sage, red currants, underbrush, dried roses, worn leather, hints of iodine and cedar smolder up from the darkly alluring 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. This impresses first with its purity, then with its energy, seamlessly silky and refined, yet almost racy in style, with saline-infused wild berries and nuances of sour citrus that drench the palate, lifted by a flourish of mint. The 2016 finishes with crystalline tannins, creating an almost-crunchy sensation, as tart red fruits and nuances of licorice slowly taper off. There’s an invigorating feel to the 2016 Riserva that I’ve never witnessed from a bottle of Biondi Santi Brunello, which, coupled with a depth of beautifully pure and delineated fruits, makes it a total pleasure to taste. That said, the 2016 is structured and built for a long and prosperous maturation.

The fruit for the Riserva comes exclusively from the oldest vines at the estate. Aged in Slavonian oak for three years. Ruby-garnet in colour. This is very tight and youthful on the nose, with a brilliant purity of bright cherry fruit and tobacco leaf. The palate is similarly taut, and hard to penetrate. There is an underlying ripeness of fruit but the energy from acid and tannins brings harmony. With significant air the nose starts to open up and show layers of flowers, herbs and savoury spices. It remains a little tricky to see how this focused, refined and tightly wound wine evolves into the edgy and characterful wines of the 1970s and 1980s, but there is no doubting its ageing potential and quality. (TP)

Day one: Lustrous mid ruby with orange tinges. Tight, compact and embryonic on the nose. Notes of sour cherry and cranberry, with savoury, minerally notes and a suggestion of dark spice. Compact, tangy cherry-fruit palate that shows real concentration but only very reluctantly opens itself up on the finish. Amazingly balanced and suave already, but the compact fruit, layered with coating, firm tannins, demands more bottle age. Overall, a little riper and more à point than earlier years but also a little less electrifying, perhaps. Day two: Still quite subdued but with astonishing depth that reveals itself only after having been open for 24 hours. Hint of malt bread. Lush but completely dry cherry fruit, with still-firm tannins that are almost a little Nebbiolo-like, which have now taken a step back from centre stage, even if they are still a little unwieldy. The fruit is still compact, if more fragrant than yesterday. Day three: Balsamic cherry fruit with a clear iodine note. Tangy, perfumed cherry fruit on the palate and with the tannins still very much present on the finish. Long and compact and with integrated acidity that is less pronounced than I remember from previous vintages. (WS)