Il Pettirosso

Riper than the 2017 - you can see it in the glass, darker and more saturated. Perfumed, with black berries like mulberries and blackberries. Leather with cured meats, menthol or conifer notes threading through.

Charged. If the 2017 is airy and lifted, the 2016 is grounded - and I mean that descriptively, not as judgement. It's about structure and power. Good acidity, powerful tannin still asserting itself. Roasted sunflower seeds in the finish.

Very good, genuinely. Though right now, I'd rather drink the 2017. The 2016 is more wine - darker, riper, stronger - but the 2017 has this elegance and harmony that just speaks to me more at this moment. It's not that the 2016 is less; it's different. More muscular, more concentrated, perhaps still finding its balance where the 2017 has already arrived at something beautiful.

Different expressions of the same vineyard and producer. The 2016 will probably outlive the 2017, might even be "better" in some technical sense. But wine isn't always about what's objectively superior - sometimes it's about what connects with you right now.