2016 San Filippo Le Lucere Brunello di Montalcino Tuscany 750 ml

Ask any championship team: Delivering top performances in back-to-back years is incredibly difficult. But after crafting a 2015 Le Lucére Brunello that landed at #3 on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 and was a finalist for James Suckling’s “2019 Wine of the Year,” San Filippo made it look effortless with their 2016, which we think easily challenges its superstar sibling. 

San Filippo, which Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate called “home to some of the best boutique Brunello today,” turned out this powerful Brunello from a vintage that contends as one of the region’s best ever. Freshly-released, this prodigy already has a 98-point score under its belt.

That’s thanks, in part, to a stellar 2016 vintage. 2015 was a widely-lauded year for Brunello, but 2016 was even better, receiving the region’s best score ever (tied with the legendary 2010) on Wine Advocate’s vintage chart. San Filippo capitalized—evoking power and finesse in this wine and making it an envy-inducing find for collectors looking to snap up 2016’s best bottles as soon as they hit the market.

The 2016 Le Lucére showcases the majestic richness that made the 2015 a star, plus a little something of its own. It displays “more intensity and concentration,” and “a greater level of Sangiovese purity and direction” than the estate’s classic Brunello, said Wine Advocate. That singularity inspired James Suckling to call it “really gorgeous” and rank it among his Top 100 Italian wines of 2020.

The wine’s generous aromatics are as hauntingly spectacular as the wispy fog that caresses the estate’s hills, full of steeped flowers, Morello cherry, and winter spice. Take a sip to find an even deeper richness, black fruit finely balanced with cinnamon and clove, what Vinous praised as a “very well constructed” wine with “a gorgeous interplay of velvety textures.”

Legendary winemaker and Tuscan native Paolo Caciorgna is the set of hands behind the top-scoring San Filippo wines. The famed oenologist has consulted for over 25 estates in Italy, including prestigious houses such as Montalcino’s Altesino and Etna’s pioneering winery Tenute delle Terre Nere. Even British rock star Sting called on Caciorgna to make his wines when he launched his Sister Moon label in Tuscany. Surprisingly, this was not the first A-lister to be associated with San Filippo. Hollywood actor Richard Gere selected an earlier vintage of San Filippo Le Lucére Brunello for the private label at his New York-based Relais & Châteaux property Bedford Post. 

Caciorgna draws power and richness from schist soils on the estate’s six-acre Le Lucére vineyard. After fermentation, the wine spends 24-28 months in barrels and barriques, developing its impressive structure and balance. After ten more months in bottle, it’s fully evolved into the bold and fragrant masterpiece that has collectors clearing out space in their cellars.