(2024) The noble Barone Ricasoli of Chianti Classico fame makes this pale, peachy pink by blending Sangiovese and Merlot. Attractively packaged, aromas are subtle and citrussy, raspberry and a touch of rose-hip and herbs are all very delicate. On the palate that crisp and linear style might make you think this was a white wine if blindfolded, but lightly smoky berry fruits, touched by herbs and spice, move into that refreshing lemony acidity.
(2024) Lemon and herbs, a clean slightly salty / mineral character. Plenty of sour lemon fruit on the palate and the classic bitter almond finish. £19.99, but 'Angels' buy for £12.99
(2024) Of the two vintages tasted, Nicolò Carrera believes this is possibly the one that needs more patience. It certainly a classically-framed, structured wine, notes of cedar, game and a gravelly minerality give the aromas a certain density, with a rich and ripe red fruit pulp layer beneath. In the mouth that firmness suggested by the nose carries through. This is braced by tannins, but those tannins are fine and smooth, which along with a bittersweet chocolate and black cherry density of fruit, coats the mouth in a velvety but concentrated weight. This serious and structured wine does drink now, but I suspect Nicolò Carrera is right that it will show at its best given several years in the cellar. Price at time of review is for the previous vintage. Please use the wine-searcher link below for latest pricing and availability.
(2024) Quite a different blend from the Argentiera for this wine from the low-lying and sandy Villa Donoractico vineyard: 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and there's 10% Petit Verdot too. Eighty percent was aged in 500-litre French and Austrian oak tonneaux, the remainder in French oak barriques. There's a plum and cedar, quite meaty nose here, subtle notes of clove spice. In the mouth sour cherry floods the palate along with dry, fine and sandy tannins. There is sweetness here, cassis-ripe plushness of juicy black fruit emerging, but very keen acidity, that grippy tannin and the plum-skin bite of extract coats the mouth. This would benefit from some time in the cellar I think, though it unfurls in the glass.
(2024) Nicolò Carrera describes this vintage as 'complicated' and very dry and hot, with almost no rain in July and August, but September was fine and really suited their white wine grapes. This new wines is a Vermentino designed to be fresh and drinkable, but also worthy of ageing. Made in a combination of ceramic eggs and barriques. Small, creamy and nutty notes over ripe yellow apples, some interesting perfumed highlights that are floral and herbal. There's a feeling of lime and Ogen melon skins too. Lovely texture. mouth-filling, with very good freshness, lots of lemon juice and orange brightness. Pre-release sample at time of review, only 3,000 bottles produced. Please use the wine-searcher link below for prices and availability.
(2024) 48% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Cabernet Franc, this spend around 16 months in 225-litre French oak barrels plus a year in bottle. The vintage was regular and dry, with any rain events well-timed for grape maturity. It's a sumptuous wine, the colour a little more developed and structure apparent in the 2021 vintage here subsumed under a cloak of velvetty fruit density and ripeness. Those classic cedar and nutmeg spice notes are still there, and the buoyant cherry fruit, but it is dark and plush on the palate, a cassis touch leading into firm, sandy tannins that themselves have a chocolaty texture and weight. Acid is balanced in a wine that is absolutely delicious now, for drinking while the 2021 comes together perhaps?
(2024) Made in stainless steel with three months on the lees, this local grape variety was always a blending variety, but is being made as a single variety more and more. Very fruity and floral, the cherry and violet scents show a little white pepper lift. Lots of fruit on the palate too, again cherry. The tannins are fine, gentle but bone dry. Those marry with a refined acidity to make this fresh, red-fruited and finishing with just a hint of spice. The Cantina believe this variety has ageing potential too. Lovely.
(2024) The blend is Sangiovese 95%, Ciliegiolo 5%. Part of the Sangiovese is hand picked in small boxes and left to wither in refrigerated rooms, losing around 15% of its weight in a process known as Governo all’uso toscano. After about four weeks the blend is made with the fresh grapes and aged in stainless steel. Fine herbal notes, but again cherry is the overriding aromatic, a little violet lift and perhaps a small note of hessian or dried tree bark. In the mouth, buoyant, easy-drinking stuff with a lovely dry palate of plum, red berries and gentle tannins.
(2024) Made from a single vineyard of late-harvested Vermentino co-planted with 15% Viognier, harvested around three week later than normal. It spends three months on the lees. There's a delicious edge of pineapple-like tropical fruit on the nose, the Viognier perhaps enhancing that exotic and floral appeal. Luscious honeyed notes and a hint of marzipan also suggest dessert wine sweetness, and yet the wine is dry with some edge and extract, giving a much more lime skin sense of grip and waxy/saline concentration. That hint of tropical fruit gives a balance of real charm and considerable intensity.
(2024) Sangiovese spends around four months on the lees in stainless steel, then into French oak barriques for 12 months, 20% new oak. Cherry dominates the aromatics, but the oak has given a lovely tobacco and vanilla roundness, a warming chestnut character in the background too. Once again that touch of lift to the aromas. The palate has a creamy ripeness to the tannins, which along with the oak-enriched red fruits that are also ripe and fleshy, gives the wine a chocolaty texture. The juicy plum-skin grip of the acidity balances the finish with a welcome touch of bitterness.
