2016 Andretta Brunello di Montalcino

Wine Access members made Andretta one of our very top Brunellos of the last year, showering it with five-star reviews. The bottle that earned those raves came from the exceptional 2015 vintage, which we thought was about as good as it gets—until the 2016s came along. 

If you love lush, muscular expressions of Brunello, then this is the wine for you. Its heady aromas of dark cherry and cedar commingle with notes of dark cocoa, espresso, and exotic spice. The mouthfeel is rich and sultry, with grippy tannins balanced out by fantastic acidity, leading to a long, satisfying finish.

We’re fairly certain Andretta is the only wine we’ve ever sold made by a philosophy teacher and an aerospace engineer. In 1994, Rosalba Vitanza and her husband, Guido Andretta, went on a weekend escape to Montalcino. They fell in love with the area, and ended up buying a beautiful property there that included four acres of vines. Rosalba used the grapes from those vines to make wine for family and friends—humble beginnings that ultimately led to the creation of her own winery, Tenuta Vitanza.

Guido was always bugging his wife to make his favorite style of Brunello: muscular and rich, with more French oak. As a gift for their 10th anniversary, Rosalba launched Andretta, a new label specializing in that style. 

The winery’s flagship Brunello di Montalcino hails from their Vigna Il Lupo (Wolf Vineyards) property, located in the Castelnuovo dell’Abate subzone. This is the warmest region of Montalcino, producing a style of wine that is big, full bodied, and dense, but still eminently approachable.

There’s no better bottle than this one to understand why Andretta’s a bona-fide Wine Access favorite.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 14.00%
• 1 hour
• Now – 2035
• % Sangiovese
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork