Il Marroneto's 2016 Brunello di Montalcino is a delicate and heavenly, perfumed beauty. Roses mix with lilac and violets before giving way to a dusting of sweet spice, nuances of plum and white strawberries. It’s wonderfully pure, seeming almost weightless at times yet with gorgeous inner sweetness and a complex display of bright red fruits laced with minerals, hints of licorice and building florality. The long and classically structured finish guarantees that no matter how enjoyable this may be today, it will only get better. EG

Perfumed, focused and loaded with energy, this radiant red boasts enticing scents of iris, rose, crushed mint and wild berry. Boasting ethereal elegance as well as intensity and flavor, the chiseled palate has great fruit purity, delivering juicy red cherry, spiced cranberry, star anise and white pepper. Noble tannins and bright acidity provide balance and an ageworthy framework. Drink 2024–2046. Kerin O'Keefe

Out of the gate, the Il Marroneto 2016 Brunello di Montalcino shows exciting purity and red fruit intensity. Compared to the Madonna delle Grazie, this wine has an ever-more lifted quality to the bouquet, whereas the Madonna has a firmer underlying texture that bodes well for longer aging. The character here is fresh, lively, youthful and vibrant. In fact, I would recommend drinking this wine while all those elements are still intact. The bouquet is crazy fun to describe: I get whiffs of black cherry, macchia mediterranea (which is not too different from what we call chaparral in California), peppercorn, dried cranberry and even a whiff of something that reminded me of the delicious rosemary herb mix you stuff inside roast porchetta. The base of the wine is light, almost weightless, but its structure and firmness do eventually catch up on the long finish.

The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino is highly aromatic with tart cherry fruit, medicinal herbs, dried roses and cedar. The palate is ripe upfront with sweet raspberry, fresh blood orange, and saline minerality with energetic acidity, and fine-grained tannins. The 2016 is vibrant and transparent with classic elegance. Hold for 3-5 years and drink 2025-2036. AF

The 2016 is a fine rendition of the estate's Brunello in a fine year overall. It was 'a very easy vintage,' according to Alessandro, with plenty of sunshine as well as rain at all the right times. The sweet cherry, raspberry and creamy scents lead to a chewy yet elegant palate with grippy, textural tannins. Juicy red fruits are joined on the mid-palate by a tangy, lip-smacking minerality and then a long finish bursting with balsamic freshness. Served from magnum. Drinking Window: 2022 - 2040
Tasted by: James Button (London, 09 Mar 2022)
Part of Il Marroneto: Producer profile & 10 wines rated

Just mid ruby. A nose that reminds me a little of Biondi-Santi. Deep, sweet and a little mysterious with a hint of camphor. Increasingly complex with aeration. Vibrant acidity buffered by a layer of suave, supple fruit and gorgeous, chewy tannins. Complex and composed on the nose, energetic and transparent on the palate. Drink 2022 - 2038
Walter Speller - March 2021