Cherry and eucalyptus flavors lend a tug between the fruit and savory elements in this fresh and complex red. Rose, tar, tobacco and leafy notes add interest as this turns dry on the finish. Best from 2027 through 2043.

The dusty and floral 2023 Susumaniello Askos offers a refined bouquet of crushed blackberries, incense and exotic spice. Silky and round, its core of tactile minerals adds form toward the close. The 2023 finishes structured and long, leaving a coating of fine tannins and a lingering resonance of polished wild berry fruit. This could use some time in the cellar to come fully into focus, but it shows the complexity that Susumaniello can deliver.

The 2022 Timorasso Boscogrosso is a new wine from Vietti. It emerges from a single parcel in Monleale. Aromatic and pliant, with terrific textural depth, the 2022 has a lot to offer. A brief period on the skins accents the natural richness of the variety. This is an especially refined Timorasso.

Brunate is also one of my favorite wines from Vietti (and, boy, is it hard to choose favorites) thanks to that playful hint of fresh mint that I usually find, especially in the best vintages. You certainly get it in the 2021 Barolo Brunate, and although I'm not sure how long it will last as the wine evolves, my experience suggests it only gets stronger and more beautiful in time. Indeed, this vintage (with 23 days of skin maceration) shows exceptional depth and precision with aromas that go beyond the mint, spanning instead to grilled rosemary and Darjeeling tea. The wine shows excellent textural support and broad shoulders, followed by tannins that are both sweet and chalky. It shows profound generosity and depth. Brunate always has an intense, dark soul. A total of 4,835 bottles were made.

Smoky and slightly reduced, this shows licorice, strawberries and cherries. The fruit character is brilliant on the palate with juicy acidity and firm yet ripe tannins, medium body and a good, tight finish. Drink now.

The 2023 Trebbiano Capezzana is youthfully coy, mixing hints of ginger with wildflowers and lime. It's round and supple with a whiplash of zesty acidity and a saline flourish offsetting nearly oily textures and depths of ripe nectarine. It finishes tense and incredibly long, tapering off with a cheek-puckering lemony concentration. The 2023 is painfully young today but full of potential.

I spent a good amount of time huddled over this fantastic bottle over the course of a few days. This is another masterpiece in a long line of masterpieces from the Villero site in Castiglione Falletto that is definitely a personal MGA favorite. The Vietti 2016 Barolo Riserva Villero can be summed up in a single word: seamless. You immediately recognize the strong personalized style of the wine despite the Vietti ownership changes, although in truth this vintage was still under the guide of Luca and Elena Penna-Currado because the estate was sold in July 2016 and they stayed on to make wines for a few more years to follow. The smoothness of the wine represents a continuum across various chapters of dark fruit, roasted chestnut, iron ore, blood orange, aniseed and white truffle. It does not have the weightlessness of some of today's top Barolo; in fact, quite the opposite: this is a wine of depth, full-bodied texture and smooth transitions. Production is exactly 5,146 bottles, 330 magnums and 15 double magnums.

This is a new submission from Tenuta Tascante. The 2022 Etna Bianco Contrada Sciaranuova reveals a tonic and fresh personality with a citrusy note that follows in step with bitter almond, crushed stone and dried ginger. These vineyards were planted in 2017 at 730 meters in elevation with northern and southern exposures on volcanic soils. The wine is fermented in Slavonian casks (with no malolactic fermentation) and aged in oak for 12 months.