This has aromas of olives, black fruit, cracked pepper and dried herbs. Meaty and savory, with firm, chewy tannins. Compact and medium-to full-bodied, with excellent concentration. Sustainable. Better after 2023.
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This has aromas of olives, black fruit, cracked pepper and dried herbs. Meaty and savory, with firm, chewy tannins. Compact and medium-to full-bodied, with excellent concentration. Sustainable. Better after 2023.
A translucent ruby, the 2019 Barbaresco Roncaglie Masseria is beautiful and elegant in its perfume, with rosehip, rhubarb, and pomegranate. It is medium-bodied and a little restrained at the moment, but it has fine, present tannins and notes of sandy earth, cranberry, dried roses, and saline. Allow it another year in bottle and drink over the coming 10-15 years.
The 2017 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva Bellovedere is massive with an oak-inspired burst of mocha mixed with mentholated herbs, cedar, black currants and exotic spice forming its bouquet. However, what impresses most here are the textures, supremely elegant and pure, yet also lifted, as the 2017 balances its rich dark fruits with brisk acids and mineral tones that add liveliness, but also depth. The tannins are fine but sweet, and in need of mellowing; this finishes incredibly long through the cocoa and cinnamon-tinged finale. The Bellovedere spends eighteen months in a combination of barriques and tonneaux, yet the integration is spot on. Give this sexy beast a few years in the cellar to soften its contours and integrate some oak.
The 2019 Pinot Noir Krafuss, from a vineyard in the hills above San Michele Appiano, is impossible to ignore, with a whiff of smokey crushed stone and flowery underbrush giving way to depths of wild strawberry and shaved cedar. It’s a model of purity, seamlessly silky and lifted, with white pepper-tinged red berries and mineral underpinnings that add a distinctly savory profile toward the close. The 2019 finishes long and spicy, also lightly tannic, yet with sour citrus nuances that keep me looking back to the glass for more. Some cellaring will be required to allow all of the components here to sing in unison. What a gorgeous rendition of Krafuss.
Another brilliant expression, reflecting a culture of kaleidoscopic blending to attain a greater whole: tank and oak (no new) ferments, partly induced and spontaneous, all at once. Rapier-like precision, depth and weight, without any excess or obvious winemaking artefact perceivable. Mid-weighted, yet intense, reeling off notes of smoked almond, stone fruit allusions, pickled mango and kumquat. The finish is impressively pliant and majestically long.
With organic fruit from a vineyard planted in 1918, the Vietti 2021 Barbera d'Alba Scarrone Vigna Vecchia is super concentrated and dense. There's a lot of fruit weight to take in, yet the wine holds that volume with elegance and careful balance. The bouquet has opulent notes of baked blueberry, chocolate cream frosting, spice and black licorice. The wine's complexity rolls through a series of waves and swells. The tannins cover the entire palate, and the wine wears its 15.5% alcohol very nicely.
A complex, outstanding Chianti Rufina with savory grapefruit peel, tar, white pepper, dry earth, new leather and hints of mineral and fine musk. Pretty full-bodied and minerally on the palate with vertical, close-knit tannins extending to a long, savory finish. Drink or hold.
Packed with kirsch, the 2020 Barbera D'Alba Vigna Vecchia Scarrone has another gear, noted with lavender and black pepper. On the palate, it has a supple, silky mouthfeel, with blackberry, black cherry, crushed stones, and a floral perfume through the finish, as well as mineral persistence and ripe sweet tannins. Drink 2025-2035.
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