We hate to throw around phrases like “vintage of the century”, but ask 100 wine professionals to pick one for Tuscany, and 99 of them will say 2016. Today, we can offer an intersection of this incredible vintage with the top wine of a true old-school classicist: the Capanna Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2016. 

Capanna makes Brunello the way we love it most. They employ long macerations and age exclusively in large Slavonian botti. There is zero flash here, and zero attempt to appeal to “international” tastes. They want to make thoroughly Tuscan wine, and they do it very well. This is deep Sangiovese with impeccable balance.

Capanna’s vineyards sit in the north of Montalcino, in the Montosoli neighborhood that’s prized for lift and perfume. You feel the cooler exposure in the wine’s poise: dark, clean fruit shaped by fine tannins and natural tension rather than sheer weight.

As a classic wine at the Riserva level from a top vintage, it’s a wine that takes time to come around. Fortunately, at almost 10 years of age, it has already put in that time, or at least most of it. It’s  in a beautiful early window now, with the spine to cruise for many more years if you’d like to lay a few down.

Capanna Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2016 - $129.99
"The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva wafts up with a classic Capanna profile, rich yet elegant, with masses of crushed black cherries, sweet herbs, cloves and hints of cigar box. This is velvety yet not weighty, with a salty core of minerals and brisk acids that enliven its citrus-tinged red berries and exotic inner spice. While persistent and structured, the 2016 keeps you coming back to the glass, savory and saline in character with grippy tannins, but also a tug of residual tension that keeps the expression unexpectedly fresh. This is a tremendous Brunello Riserva in the making, and all it needs is time." - 96 points, Eric Guido (Vinous)