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.

The Capanna 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva reveals a medium-dark ruby color and shiny intensity. This Riserva is balanced and quite beautiful, showing that sharp clarity and freshness that only Sangiovese can deliver in cool and balanced vintages such as this. To the palate, the wine is rather restrained, showing a mid-weight approach and lots of crisp acidity on the close. This Riserva needs more time to open and a few more years of cellar aging. Fruit selection for this wine prioritizes the best clusters with smaller berries and looser bunches that are more resistant to damp and disease. The finished wine ages in large oak casks for four years. Production is 14,272 bottles.

Leather, underbrush and nutty aromas form the nose along with a whiff of fruitcake. The robust, monolithic palate offers muscle but not much fruit, recalling steeped prune, the heat of evident alcohol and hints of licorice accompanied by firm, close-grained tannins. Despite the tannins, drink sooner rather than later before the remaining fruit dries out completely.