Perfumed nose of lavender, plums and currants. Some tobacco. It’s full-bodied, creamy and fruity, with slightly rough, grainy tannins, but remains pure and approachable. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

The 2019 Orleto, 100% Cabernet Franc, is a new wine from Aia Vecchia. Dense and plush to the core, the 2019 is packed with blackberry, gravel, incense, licorice, espresso and sweet spice. There’s plenty of depth, that much is sure. It would be nice to see more varietal expression, as Franc can be magical on the Tuscan coast. In this tasting, the 2019 comes across as a bit hot.

A little more robust and richer on the finish, the Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Gresy 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Gaiun Martinenga offers aromas of cooked cherry and plum. This wine offers a darker fruit profile compared to the others, and it also shows greater structural support. There is a firm, mineral note of iron or rust that should dissolve beautifully as this wine continues its bottle aging. Production is 8,000 bottles.

This graceful and perfumed wine shows aromas of toast, licorice, vanilla, pomegranates, violets and cinnamon. Its restrained character is improved by fruit concentration and weight, a full body, crisp acidity and well-handled, velvety tannins. Drinkable now, but best from spring 2025.

Grown via the historic pergola method this unique vineyard produces a Soave with aromas of fleshy yellow peach, jasmine, white tea and crushed stones. The palate is structured and built to age with flavors of tart green apple, citrus and a mineral edge on the finish. Drink now-2035.

Choices, choices, choices... The Vietti 2021 Barolo Cerequio is another classic from this over-performing estate. This parcel was purchased in 2018 from the Chiarlo family (the Krause family acquired Vietti in 2016), and although the location is La Morra, the site behaves more like Sarmassa in Barolo, creating wines with a firm, tight entry and good structure. You could say that it has a nervous character now in its adolescence, and of course we expect it to smooth out and find harmony with time. Fruit was harvested on September 30th, and the wine sees 27 days of extended skin maceration. Compared to Brunate, which is always darker in character, the Cerequio is lighter and brighter with pretty primary fruit. Production is 4,890 bottles.

The 2016 Barolo Riserva Villero is a dense, packed wine. Black cherry, plum, licorice, leather and incense add to an impression of brooding, virile intensity. Readers will have to be patient, as the 2016 clearly needs time. Even so, my belief remains what it has always been—that Villero is not the best vineyard in the Vietti range. That is even more apparent today, given the new sites that have been added to the range. The logic of making the estate's Riserva, theoretically the estate's top wine, from this site has always escaped me. That is more true today than ever, given the elite sites Vietti has added to their range in recent years.

This is the baby in the bunch, representing one of the newest additions to the Vietti portfolio, with the first vintage produced in 2018. The learning curve in Monvigliero is always steep, or so most winemakers tell me, because very few can go to 100% whole-cluster fermentation. Indeed, the 2021 Barolo Monvigliero sees 60% whole clusters. The Vietti team is experienced, and this wine is pristine. This vintage was harvested on September 30th, and maceration was a bit shorter, at 20 days. The wine shows a delicate film of pink salt with garden herbs, lemon leaves and spring flowers. It is a wine of extreme elegance, but I find that this vintage is especially Mediterranean in character. Production is 8,663 bottles.