Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino 2016

Caparzo was present nearly at the creation of Brunello as we know it: founded at the end of the 1960s by a group of friends who bought an old ruin with vineyards, it produced its first vintage in 1970, when Montalcino counted just thirteen wineries. Since 1998 the estate has belonged to Elisabetta Gnudi Angelini, who also owns neighboring Altesino. The annata draws Sangiovese from estate parcels in four zones of the appellation, each with different soils and exposures, a blend built for completeness rather than any single slope, then ages two years in large Slavonian oak casks and three more in bottle. From 2016, a vintage plainly among Montalcino's finest, it shows dark cherry, red plum, cranberry, and orange peel over rose petal and pipe tobacco, silken in texture with fine, dusty tannins. Historic Brunello in its most classic proportions.