2016 Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino

Deep dark red black colour with a dark red hue. Complex and highly perfumed, aromatics of red currant and red cherry have a rose petal like overlay with elements of dusty cedar, dried herbs, spicy tobacco and a faint whiff of leather also chiming in. Structural and intense, the sublime palate is flooded with a mix of red to black currant and red cherry fruits which are underpinned by stern yet seamlessly integrated tannins. Robust back half with evolving nuances of dried herbs, tobacco, old cedar, earth, black olive and spice moving in. Fresh acidity provides focus. Elegant yet exceptionally powerful it boats an outrageously long and rustic finish.
Cellar 8-10 years plus.
Alc. 14.5%

Other Reviews….
Le Chiuse is a small 6-hectare estate that was split off from the Biondi-Santi estate in 1993, when it was inherited by Simonetta Valiani, the great granddaughter of Ferruccio Biondi-Santi, who owns the property today. Le Chiuse is a certified organic estate.
The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino is lifted with aromatics of soft medicinal herbs, fresh soil, cherry fruit, and dried flowers. The palate is fresh with black cherry fruit, tea leaf, orange peel, and mineral-rich, stony earth. There is well-integrated structure, with crispness, fresh acidity, and a beautifully long finish. This is one of my favorite wines of the vintage for its classic structure, high complexity, and nuanced, balanced style. Drink 2025-2042.
100 points
Audrey Frick – JebDunnuck.com

This gorgeous wine opens with fragrant aromas of violet, wild berry, new leather, tilled earth and spice. Showing the estate's hallmark elegance, structure and precision, the focused, full-bodied palate delivers cherry, crushed raspberry, star anise and tobacco before finishing on a note of black tea. Taut, refined tannins and bright acidity keep it vibrant and balanced. Drink 2024–2046.
100 points
Kerin O’Keefe – Wine Enthusiast

Pretty strawberry, currant and cherry flavors take center stage in this taut and linear red, flanked by floral, mineral and tobacco notes, with fine balance and intensity on a slim frame. This is ample, yet the refined tannins provide structure. Best from 2024 through 2048.
98 points
Wine Spectator

The 2016 Brunello di Montalcino is an understated beauty of a wine that takes some time to come fully into focus. Patience is rewarded by a dazzling display of roses and violets, giving way to fresh-picked strawberries with a dusting of autumnal spice. This pure expression of Sangiovese fruit continues to impress with undeniable elegance, soothing and soft yet energized by brisk acids, taking on a decidedly salty note while still showing a mix of ripe berries. It’s so gentle yet full of character, tapering off to round tannins, primary fruit and inner florals. The 2016 Le Chiuse is full of potential but also deceivingly delicious today. Drink 2024-2038.
97 points
Eric Guido - Vinous

Lorenzo Magnelli and the team at Le Chiuse are currently enlarging the winery to make room for a late-release program that will see Brunello Riserva held back for 10 years. Indeed, the legendary Biondi Santi family once sourced fruit here to put into their most age-worthy vintages. Le Chiuse's late-release wines promise to be very exciting. A 2015 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva was produced, but instead of releasing it now, that wine will hit the market in 2025. Good things come to those who wait.
Le Chiuse's 2016 Brunello di Montalcino is a wine buzzing with energy and spirit. You sense this in the sheer crunch and snap of the primary fruit that recalls wild berry, cassis and sour cherry. Those lifted red fruit aromas are framed by light smoke, tar, potting soil, blue flower and crushed mineral or limestone. This is an extremely elegant wine that has been shaped by an epic vintage. The wine draws its fruit from an eight-hectare parcel with limestone clay. Le Chiuse's star is rapidly rising, and this new release from 2016 just thrust that shooting star into hyper speed. With 13,576 bottles made, this estate gives us one of the best buys of the vintage. Drink 2024-2045.
97+ points
Monica Larner - Wine Advocate (Dec 2020)