James Suckling crowns the 2016 vintage of Brunello di Montalcino: “impressive”

“An impressive vintage of Brunello di Montalcino ... The greatest ever if it were not preceded by the wonderful 2015”. This is the judgment on the 2016 vintage of Brunello di Montalcino according to James Suckling, one of the most influential wine critics in the world, in the article published today on his website www.jamessuckling.com. A response from the wine guru who arrives after his recent tastings of 212 labels of the new vintage, on the market from next January. Very high the average scores assigned by the critic (50% evaluated from 95/100 upwards), who underlines how “Brunello has reached an incredible level of average quality reached by both small and big names”.
For the president of the Consorzio del Brunello di Montalcino, Fabrizio Bindocci, “in the year of Covid we had the good fortune to find in the 2015 and 2016 vintages two great allies of our designation, which we believe to be a sort of commercial vaccine to the crisis in the sector. Until now, 2015 has allowed us to keep afloat a market that has lost ancient certainties; 2016 will hopefully mean a new start. Unfortunately - added Bindocci - the present is made of closures that are becoming increasingly thicker in Italy and abroad in the most important commercial period. November and December represent in fact about 30% of the total annual sales”.
And among the effects of the health emergency there is also that of the postponement to the spring period (from May 14 to 21) of the 2021 Previews of Tuscan wines, including Benvenuto Brunello, the debut event of the new vintage on the market. “A great vintage like 2016 deserves to be honored in the best way - concludes Bindocci - and we are studying alternative formulas to celebrate it, in the first months of 2021, also through an integrated action on national and international digital channels”.