Released with numbered bottles, the Ruffino 2016 Alauda is a blend of mostly Merlot with Cabernet Franc and Colorino in decreasing order of importance. The wine is only made in the best vintages (and I tasted bottle 1,679 of this one). It opens to an inky dark appearance that is velvety and dense. The fruit is concentrated and rich with dried blackberry, blackcurrant, spice, tar, campfire ash, iron ore and rusty nail. This vintage is compact and tight, yet the long finish adds to the significant volume and depth offered here. Alauda is a modernist wine from a land steeped in traditions.