Lustrous mid ruby with orange tinges. Sweet, deep cherry nose with savoury spice touches. Supple, rich sweet-sour cherry fruit on the palate with clayey tannins. A big mouthful of juicy fruit that is nonetheless finely balanced. Ready now.

Wine Spectator 37 Brunellos from Montalcino's 2020 Vintage

A dark, distinctive version that veers toward black currant and blackberry fruit, showing fine concentration and structure. Iron, earth, eucalyptus and Mediterranean scrub notes augment the fruit, delivering an anomaly for the vintage. Almost feels more like '19 than '20. Best from 2028 through 2045.

Produced in the Italian Alps using locally sourced wheat and alpine spring water, Verità’s profile is clear, sharp, and fresh. The nose carries a crisp mineral edge with hints of stone fruit, while the palate is clean and focused with a lingering, balanced finish. This is a well-crafted vodka with subtle complexity.

Showing an especially bold bouquet and rich concentration, the Siro Pacenti 2020 Brunello di Montalcino Pelagrilli is a big expression of Sangiovese by all means, but the wine is also balanced. The intensity is played up with aromas of baked fruit, toasted spice, sweet herb and grilled rosemary, and there is a hint of redwood and cedar or barbecue smoke. To the palate, the wine is very round and fleshed out. It covers all corners of the mouth. This is a big-boned wine with powdery young tannins and a velvety finish. Aging takes place in French barrique, which has always been the stylistic choice favored by this estate. Production is 26,000 bottles.  

A round and juicy red with berry, cherry, mushroom and wet-earth character on both the nose and palate. It’s full-bodied with integrated tannins that are soft and luscious. Long, flavorful finish. Drinkable now, but better in two or three years.

Intense and almost intoxicating nose of peonies, Parma violets, bright cinnamon, earth, strawberries and touches of blood oranges and chocolate. Full-bodied and full of fruit concentration, it shows dense and velvety tannins and a lot of freshness and lifted acidity in the finish. Leesy, savory aftertaste. Drinkable now, but best from 2026.

Built to age, with concentrated flavors and lots of lip-smacking tannins, with medium weight and good acidity. It should be decanted if opened over the next few years or, if you like to see how a wine develops short term, take some time enjoying a glass or two to taste it as it develops in real time.

Deep purple in hue, the 2023 Vecchia Modena Nero opens with a bouquet of crushed blackberries, sage and orange sorbet. It’s savory within yet full of energy as vibrant acidity motivates its tart wild berry fruits and violet inner florals toward the close. This leaves chalky mineral tones to linger through the perfumed finale, tapering off with cheek-puckering tension that begs the taster to take another sip.