Wine Advocate (95+)

The Tenute Silvio Nardi 2016 Brunello di Montalcino makes a big impact in the glass thanks to its dark color saturation and the pretty intensity of its aromas that range from dark fruit and plum to soft potting soil and grilled herb. You get beautiful balance here, even more so when you allow the bottle to breathe for a few hours. A twofold delivery of freshness and tannic backbone gives the wine the DNA required to hold 10 years or more. Having had the pleasure of touring the vineyards, I can firmly state that Tenute Silvio Nardi occupies one of the most distinctive areas of the Montalcino appellation, tucked into the northern side of the area, at high altitude, hidden by thick forests and cooled by an almost blueish quality of light. The soils are dark and mineral-rich with pockets of schists and shale. A unique position such as this does not guarantee consistent results every year, and I can imagine how vulnerable this area could be in the most extreme weather, especially given the later harvest. Indeed, my feeling is that vintage variation is experienced with greater intensity here. But when presented with a classic vintage such as 2016, all those elements fall magically in place to produce wines of extreme elegance and character. Tenute Silvio Nardi has three new releases from 2016: a classic Brunello and two single-vineyard expressions.

Vinous (93)

The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Manachiara is dark, bold and powerful. Sweet red cherry, plum, hard candy, flowers and mint rush forward as this succulent, open-knit Riserva shows off its personality. The Manachiara is quite forward and fruit-driven, yet it is also very nicely balanced throughout. This is a terrific showing from Nardi.

James Suckling (97)

This is really beautiful with black cherries, porcini mushrooms, black walnuts and dried flowers on the nose. It’s full-bodied, yet very toned and tight with class and precision. Wonderful length and focus. Goes on for minutes. What a wine from here. Best ever? Try after 2025.

James Suckling (100)

An incredible benchmark for Brunello with great depth, length and power. Sour cherries, flowers, dried fruit and bark. Full and layered with intense, polished tannins. Tightens at the end. Goes on for minutes. Better in the future, but always great.

James Suckling (97)

Such wonderful opulence and beauty. The nose shows dried flowers and minerals with blackberries and black cherries. Purity is the word. Full-bodied with incredible depth and structure and polished, silky tannins that envelop your palate. The length is really impressive. Try after 2025.

James Suckling (99)

Black cherries, lavender, black mushrooms, lead pencil and violets on the nose. Full-bodied with a powerful and polished tannin structure that follows through to the very end. Pure, silky texture. Fascinating aftertaste of ripe fruit, yet it’s fresh and tense. Some orange peel, too. Glorious at the end. So well crafted and pointed. This needs another three to five years to integrate but already extremely impressive.

Wine Enthusiast (97)

Like its sunshine-inspired name suggests, Solaia is an opulent and generous achievement that represents the highest pedigree in Italian wine. The intensity is mind-blowing and the wine peels back slowly to reveal thick layers of blackberry, chocolate fudge, spice and general fruit decadence. The mouthfeel is super smooth yet powerful, delivered in the most elegant fashion.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2014 Solaia will be released during the second half of 2017. This is a fine-tuned expression that shows a focused sense of detail and careful attention. The quota of Cabernet Franc has been upped by a hair and this makes a big difference, especially in terms of the wine's bouquet. Otherwise, this celebrated Tuscan blend is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with Sangiovese. It opens to dark fruit aromas with crushed mineral, pipe tobacco, pressed flower and toasted spice. Its appearance is midnight black and profound. The wine delivers a sense of sheer excitement and nervousness that will subside with another few years of bottle age. Nonetheless, I think a certain amount of that bright edginess or rigidness will always be part of this cool vintage Solaia. In the mouth, the wine is firm, compact and dense. The tannins are chiseled to the point of sublime integration. Marchesi Antinori made 40% less Solaia in this vintage in order to maintain the quality you taste here.

The Wine Independent (100)

This 2015 Marchesi Antinori Solaia is so charmingly sweet, ripe, and open with very bright and exuberant aromas of cream and blackberries. My impression is that many 2015s in Tuscany in general have absorbed more oak than in some other vintages but this wine wears it so well. The palate is super-harmonious with a gentle ease and flow and the tannins are beautifully integrated and combine with subtle flavors of sweet oak-spice, cream, vanilla and blackberry. There is an elegant acidity and juicy freshness but in this wine the tannins take on a new dimension becoming seamlessly refined. Just beautiful!

The Wine Independent (100)

This 2015 Marchesi Antinori Solaia is so charmingly sweet, ripe, and open with very bright and exuberant aromas of cream and blackberries. My impression is that many 2015s in Tuscany in general have absorbed more oak than in some other vintages but this wine wears it so well. The palate is super-harmonious with a gentle ease and flow and the tannins are beautifully integrated and combine with subtle flavors of sweet oak-spice, cream, vanilla and blackberry. There is an elegant acidity and juicy freshness but in this wine the tannins take on a new dimension becoming seamlessly refined. Just beautiful!

Wine Advocate (100)

I fussed over scoring this wine more than I'd like to admit—tasting through three samples under different conditions at various intervals and testing my impressions blind against wines in its peer group. Most importantly, I tasted this 2016 vintage against the 2015 vintage over and over again. I confess to a few nights of restless sleep as a result. Ultimately, my decision to award 100 points to the 2016 Solaia came on impulse and with the most natural sense of purpose. I had also given the 2015 vintage a perfect score, and intellectually, it seemed impossible not to pick a favorite among these two stunning expressions. I will also state, outright, that the wines are very different, principally because the 2015 vintage shows more overall opulence and sweetness that extends to the pronounced textural richness of the mouthfeel. The 2016 vintage, on the other hand, is more chiseled and sharp with mineral shadings of campfire ash and graphite at the rim of its dark fruit. The mouthfeel is more streamlined and tight at its core, suggesting that the wine will unfold and soften beautifully with time. I feel like 2015 is the Dolce & Gabbana of the situation and the 2016 is the Armani Privé. The personalities of the two wines are distinct, yet my admiration for each is identical.

The Wine Independent (98)

The 2017 Marchesi Antinori Solaia has an inky black core with a young-looking, vivid purple rim. Wow! The nose is bright, pure, exuberant, and joyful with precise blackberry and blackcurrant aromas. This is such an appealing wine, focused on ripe expressive fruit, unhampered by too much oak. I adore its open, cheerful, accessible style. There is of course lots of cream, vanilla, and sweet spice notes but they are integrated beautifully into the rest of the wine. The palate is a little more firm and less covered by lush concentration but stylistically it feels closer to a sophisticated but lighter version of the 2015. The oak does not dominate; instead, it allows the fruit to find its full expression. There is a delightful, tangy, savory element on the finish. This 2017 Solaia is not overpowering but instead focused, pure and vibrant.

Vinous (98)

Antinori’s 2018 Solaia captures all of the elegance of this important vintage. The bouquet alone is mesmerizing. It speaks to the stunning beauty and pedigree of Cabernet Sauvignon as grown at the Antinori family’s Tignanello property. Sweet scents of crème de cassis, lavender, graphite, mint, spice and espresso lead into a fine, delineated palate. Bright and energetic, Solaia is decidedly medium in body in 2018, with striking purity and exceptional beauty. I can’t remember ever tasting a young Solaia with this much sheer appeal and balance in the early going. In 2018 Solaia is 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Sangiovese and 7% Cabernet Franc. Production is down to around 60,000 bottles because of strict selection.

James Suckling (98)

This has a complex array of blackberries, black cherries, cocoa, dried herbs, slate, tobacco, olives and charred bark. Some dried roses and iodine, too. Medium-to full-bodied with firm yet refined tannins. Powerful, in an understated way. Long. 73% cabernet sauvignon, 7% cabernet franc and 20% sangiovese. Try in 2025.

Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98)

A great vintage of the iconic Solaia, full of cloves, sage, graphite, grilled dried herbs, underbrush and roasted cherry pit. There's fruit too, bilberry and cassis, juicy and mouthwatering, both understated and exuberant, ensuring a Tuscan fingerprint despite its majority Cabernet Sauvignon construction. Has grip and length, and effortless charm, reflecting an excellent vintage with low yields after a hot dry summer. Antinori family showing once again why this wine, that comes from 20ha the sunniest slopes of the Tignanello estate, set at 350-400m altitude, is so hard to resist. Winemaking director Renzo Cotarella.

Vinous (100)

Antinori's 2021 Solaia is another wine that captures all of the potential I sensed when I tasted it some months ago. More than anything else, the 2021 is a fine example of the style Antinori favors these days, an approach that favors finesse more than opulence. Dark plum, mocha, licorice, chocolate, spice, lavender and menthol build effortlessly in the glass. Oak and tannin are impeccably balanced. The 2021 spent 18 months in wood, three months in once-used barrels during the malolactic fermentation and then 15 months in 100% new barrels for the rest of its aging.

Vinous (96+)

In 2014, the very challenging, wet growing season yielded just a single cask of Sangiovese that I was able to taste a few times before it was bottled. From the beginning, the 2014 was mesmerizing. It is all that and more today. Powerful and yet translucent in the glass, the 2014 presents a beguiling mélange of dark cherry, plum, lavender, spice and leather. I would be in no rush to open the 2014 today, as it is still very young. Soldera has historically done quite well in difficult years. I won’t be at all surprised if the 2014 turns out even better than this note suggests.

Vinous (96+)

In 2014, the very challenging, wet growing season yielded just a single cask of Sangiovese that I was able to taste a few times before it was bottled. From the beginning, the 2014 was mesmerizing. It is all that and more today. Powerful and yet translucent in the glass, the 2014 presents a beguiling mélange of dark cherry, plum, lavender, spice and leather. I would be in no rush to open the 2014 today, as it is still very young. Soldera has historically done quite well in difficult years. I won’t be at all surprised if the 2014 turns out even better than this note suggests.

Jancis Robinson (18.5)

Very aromatic. Polished fruit, smooth tannins and then exceptionally persistent. Wonderfully transparent healthy juice with a hint of southern Tuscan dustiness on the finish.

Jancis Robinson (19)

Glorious! Such life and length. Notably aromatic. Superb. Just a perfect, vibrant expression of what this estate can deliver: precision, fruit, freshness and a uniquely transparent expression of ripe, southern Tuscan Sangiovese.

Wine Advocate (96+)

The elusive and highly collectible Soldera Case Basse 2018 100% Sangiovese is already available in certain markets yet ultimately proves very hard to buy. I suspect it is easier to locate in the United States than in Italy. No matter, Soldera advocates will be very pleased with this latest release that maintains enormous Sangiovese character and brightness despite the uneven growing season (that saw a wet and cool spring and a hot summer). The legendary Gianfranco Soldera died the morning of February 16, 2019, from a heart attack while driving along the bucolic, vineyard-lined road near his winery. That means this is the last vintage manned directly by Soldera, a man who remained extremely active in the vineyards and the winery until the very end. His send-off to us is a delicately nuanced wine with cassis, wild berry, rosemary, pencil shaving and blood orange. This is a beautiful wine that pays tribute not only to Gianfranco Soldera but to his non-interventionist vision of Italian wine that has influenced so many younger vintners in his wake.

Indulge in the exquisite taste of Sopravvento, Changes!, VdT 2019, a captivating expression of fine winemaking. Iconic for its innovative winemaking techniques, finely honed in the Sopravvento winery nestled in the lush landscapes of Italy. Crafted in the desirable 2019 vintage, this wine illustrates the commitment to quality the winery prides itself on.

The Sopravvento, Changes!, VdT 2019 is a remarkable blend of grapes grown in Italy’s nutrient-rich soil, their deep-rooted vines absorbing the essences of their surroundings, and thereby imbuing the character of this exceptional wine. This wine is made using traditional vinification methods, showcasing a profound depth of flavour and complexity.

A respected name in the domain of fine wine, Sopravvento has a long tradition of crafting sublime nectars. Each sip of Sopravvento, Changes!, VdT 2019 unveils the winery's passion and dedication to the production of impeccable wines. A must for true connoisseurs, this wine is an enriching tasting experience that leaves a lasting impression.

The prodigy of Gianfranco Soldera, there was no single greater mentor from which the young Stella di Campalto could learn the mysteries of Montalcino than the legendary winemaker, whose eponymous estate represents the apotheosis of modern Brunello for many lovers of the region. 

 

At the very forefront of the new wave in Brunello di Montalcino, Stella di Campalto is a young, ambitious winemaker dedicating herself to her craft to further the quality and renown of Brunello di Montalcino.

 

Austere and often more rustic than many would perhaps prefer, there is more polish and subtle generosity to this Tuscan giant, Stella di Campalto is Brunello’s “one of the most promising young growers” (VN) in the eyes of Antonio Galloni of Vinous.