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.
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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.
Dark and brooding, the 2021 Le Stanze del Poliziano grumbles up with an array of grilled herbs and exotic spices before giving way to dusty black currant notes. This is silken in texture yet racy and spry, with polished red fruit tones that slowly saturate as hints of licorice and a tinge of sour citrus add lovely contrast. The 2021 tapers off with tremendous length and structure, leaving sweet tannins and a bitter blackberry concentration that pinches at the cheeks with youthful tension. Le Stanze del Poliziano comes across as very classic in feel.
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.
Mentholated herbs mix with exotic spice, tobacco and crushed ashen stones as the 2019 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva PS blossoms in the glass. This is sleek and youthfully slender, with tart wild berry fruits and hints of sour citrus that flow across a stream of cooling acidity. It finishes structured and impossibly long, leaving a pleasantly tart cranberry concentration that pinches at the cheeks. There's significantly more energy and verve embodied in the 2019 Riserva than is typical. It should be fascinating to watch it mature over time.
Plum sauce and sage combine with crushed black cherries and balsamic spice to create a darkly seductive bouquet as the 2020 Brunello di Montalcino Pelagrilli comes to life in the glass. It's silken in feel with cool-toned acidity and racy wild berry fruits that flow across the palate with ease. Incredibly long and expertly balanced, the 2020 leaves hints of black raspberry and sour cherry pits over a layer of sweet tannins. Patience will be required but also rewarded.
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.
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.
From vineyards planted in 2008, the Tenuta Tascante 2020 Etna Rosso Contrada Sciaranuova (with 5,500 bottles created) has a ruby shine that seems more luminous in this vintage. The bouquet is subtle, but there is noteworthy complexity here with ashy mineral, pressed violet and cassis. There is also an interesting note of bitter almond that leans directly into a tight tannic backbone. This contrada based in Randazzo sits at 730 meters in elevation and enjoys both northern and southern exposures. The wine ages in 25-hectoliter Slavonian oak casks for 12 months with a small percentage of 300-liter tonneaux as well.
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