The Pieve Santa Restituta 2016 Brunello di Montalcino Sugarille opens to the dark, fruity intensity that defines this five-hectare site with schistous clay galestro-rich soils. Sugarille always shows more heft and density, and this impression is amplified in a balanced vintage such as 2016. But with the memory of the 2015 vintage fresh in my mind, I feel that this edition is slightly lither and more streamlined in terms of mouthfeel. The tannins are direct and linear, but the fruit padding is lessened compared to the slightly warm 2015 vintage. In most cases, I prefer 2016 to 2015, but in the case of Sugarille (a 10,000-bottle release), I give a tiny upper hand to the older vintage thanks to its increased complexity and richer textural fiber.