Very pretty blue fruits with crushed stone and bark as well as pine needle undertones. It’s medium- to full-bodied with firm and velvety tannins with a dusty texture. Very long and fresh with brightness and focus. Better after 2023 but already attractive and fresh for the vintage.

This is the second edition of a wine that the entire cellar team at Castello Banfi is proud to present. A lot of work, research and thinking went into the 2017 Brunello di Montalcino Vigna Marrucheto. This bottle represents perhaps the most tangible conclusion of years of vineyard mapping, soil studies and cellar tweaking. This one parcel, the Vigna Marrucheto, with light brown soils rich with marina fossils and smooth stones, was singled out for its fruit purity, intensity and endurance. The wine opens to a dark, inky appearance with plenty of ripe plum followed by spice, leather and tarry smoke. Vigna Marrucheto (with 13,325 bottles released) is velvety and soft with lots of volume and depth. This hot vintage is especially characterized by that ripeness.

The ripe plum and blackberry fruit flavors in this red pick up iron, tobacco and wild herb accents before succumbing to the stiff, underlying tannins. There is appealing fruit, freshness and detail here, yet a touch dry in the end. Best from 2025 through 2038.