Creme de cassis, berries, mushrooms and some herbs on the nose. Medium-bodied with firm tannins. Balanced and flavorful with bright acidity and a focused finish with excellent length. Nebbiolo. Drink or hold.
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Creme de cassis, berries, mushrooms and some herbs on the nose. Medium-bodied with firm tannins. Balanced and flavorful with bright acidity and a focused finish with excellent length. Nebbiolo. Drink or hold.
The 2020 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Podium is youthfully inward and coy at first, with a dusty florality and hints of cardamom in the glass. Swirling unlocks nuances of sage and rosemary, ginger and hints of smoky cracked stones, yet its fruit, leaning toward apricot, is still quite shy. Today, this impresses more on the palate, deeply savory and mineral in style, with a herbal twang and sour melon which place it firmly into the green fruit spectrum, all brilliantly offset by a saturating salty sensation. The palate is left reeling with spicy tension; the 2020 finishes structured, leaving the cheeks puckered and the mouth watering thanks to a late-arriving bump of zesty acidity. This will take some time to show its best, but it will be time well spent.
Intensely spicy and complex, the 2019 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Le Caggiole smolders up from the glass with a bouquet of crushed ashen stones, dried black cherries, cedar spice box and rosemary. This is pure elegance, deep and textural, with a dense wave of ripe red and black fruits that rush across a core of salty minerals and brisk acidity. It finishes long and structured, with a lingering concentration promising steady evolution. This is the best rendition of Le Caggiole that I've ever tasted. A wine for the cellar.
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.
The 2021 Syrah is youthfully restrained, slowly opening with coaxing to reveal peppery herbs, florals, dried black cherries and camphor. It's surprisingly juicy and zesty on the palate. Vibrant acidity propels its crisp wild berry fruits as balsam herbs and hints of sour citrus add further contrast throughout. This tapers off with tension and structure, yet its tannins are sweet and rounded. Licorice hints and a cranberry concentration slowly fade. The 2021 possesses a more immediate feel than previous vintages yet also has the balance for medium-term cellaring.
Pomegranate and peach aromas and flavors. It's a fuller rosé with lots of fruit and flavor. Peach and melon with some orange-peel undertones. Slightly oily. Drink now.
The 2019 Lagone is a soft, fruity Maremma red to drink now and over the next handful of years. A burst of sweet red berry fruit, cinnamon, rose petal and new leather lends energy to this tasty, mid-weight red. Best of all, the 2019 should be a terrific value.
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