This is a special wine with the words "pianeta, terra, planet, earth" painted by hand at the bottom of the bottle. The Enrico Serafino 2007 Alta Langa Metodo Classico Pas Dosé Riserva Zero 140 opens to a pale gold color and shows immediate warmness and creaminess. This sparkling blend of 85% Pinot Nero and 15% Chardonnay is very inviting. You get poached pear and peach with toasted almond and baked bread. The texture is soft and rich with fine, soft beading that keeps the wine lively and fresh to the end. It ages on the lees for a whopping 140 months, or 12 years. In fact, the winery claims that this is the longest-aging sparkling wine produced in Italy. A precious few 890 bottles were made (and my sample was disgorged at the end of January 2020).

There’s a pretty dried-clove and vanilla lift to this, which is subtly played, and lemon and apple-curd aromas lurking in the background. Taut, mineral and precise, it nevertheless manages to deliver a good deal of concentration and hearty stone fruit. Drink now.    

The Alois Lageder 2017 Alto Adige Chardonnay Löwengang is a terrific wine that delivers much of the intensity and texture you can expect of barrique-fermented Chardonnay, without any residual heaviness. In fact, the wine is tonic and bright with vivid orchard fruit, Golden Delicious apple, honey and toasted almond. Löwengang's balance is spot on, and the wine achieves nice levels of freshness, richness and length.

A generous, beautiful Vino Nobile with cherry, walnut and chocolate character. Firm, lightly chewy tannins give this wine form and verve. It’s long and lively with beautiful firmness and polish. Drinkable now, but better in 2022.

Flamboyant white with the full, Burgundy work on it, showing ripe apples, pie crust, yogurt and toasted coconut. It’s full-bodied with a dense, layered palate and so much fruit. Oily and powerful. One of the best Löwengangs I have tasted. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

With a decade of maturity now, the 2010 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Podium from Garofoli is in a wonderful place and still full of potential. Zesty yellow citrus gives way to notes of nectarine, rich exotic spices and sweet almond. It’s soft and enveloping, not showing the weight often associated with Verdicchio, but instead offering lift and precision. White orchard fruits and minerals cascade across a core of vibrant acids. This is so lively and balanced; a great example of just how beautifully the Verdicchio can age, while closing with pretty inner florals, hints of lime and hazelnut. The 2010 can be lost in the cellar for another ten years if you like, but who can resist it now?

2021 Award - Third vintage to receive the Tre Bicchieri

This is one of four new single-contrada wines from Tasca Mount Etna winery, all from Etna’s northern slope. From a section of Contrada Sciaranuova planted in 1960, it’s impressively deep and concentrated, unfolding with flavors of fresh plum and pomegranate laced together by dark, schisty tannins. Scents of roses and violets provide a refined, delicate contrast to the wine’s power. (W&S 4/20)