cult wines

In 1944, Mario Incisa della Rocchetta planted the first Cabernet Sauvignon vines in the Maremma on a one-hectare plot at the highest point of his estate in Castiglioncello di Bolgheri. It was a private experiment, intended for family and friends. Until 1967, Sassicaia was enjoyed at the Incisas' dinner table. Then, in 1968, the first vintage was released onto the market – appearing in 1971 as a Vino da Tavola. The rest is history. And not just the history of the Tenuta, but the history of Italian wine as a whole. At a blind tasting in London in 1978 – featuring 33 Cabernet wines from around the world – the 1972 Sassicaia emerged victorious. And Luigi Veronelli was the first to recognise the greatness of this wine. In 1994, Bolgheri was granted DOC status for red wines. And in 2013, the Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC was established: the only Denominazione d'Origine in Italy that is exclusively and irrevocably reserved for a single estate.

Two hands, one dream: When Elena Celli and Luca D'Attoma discovered the wild hills of Riparbella in 2000 – unploughed, stony and overgrown with macchia – they recognised the potential of this rugged terroir, situated at an altitude of between 250 and 300 metres. Here, where the salty breeze from the Tyrrhenian Sea meets Mediterranean wilderness, one of Italy's most extraordinary Cabernet Francs has been produced for over two decades. Luca D'Attoma, legendary Oenologist and creator of iconic wines such as Le Macchioles Messorio, is committed to radical purity: biodynamic cultivation in accordance with Demeter guidelines, spontaneous fermentation in conical oak barrels, and 20 months' ageing in barriques comprising 80% new oak.

It all began with friendship and a spirit of experimentation: in the mid-1980s, when a group of wine lovers led by the photographer Silvia Imparato began their first experiments at the family vineyard in the Campania hinterland. One of these friends was Riccardo Cotarella, now one of Italy's most famous Oenologist. In 1991, the first bottle of a wine was produced that would soon go down in history as the "Sassicaia of the South" – a title bestowed upon it by Robert Parker in 1995 and one that still resonates today. The vineyard is situated in the Monti Picentini Regional Park near San Cipriano Picentino, just a few kilometres from Salerno. The five hectares of vineyards lie at an altitude of 100 metres in the shadow of a medieval castle, surrounded by oak, chestnut and citrus groves. The medium-textured soils with a high proportion of coarse material, the south-west-facing aspect and the shelter provided by the Picentini Mountains create a microclimate where Mediterranean mildness meets cool nights.

There are stories that take time. This Amarone rested for ten years in a single 30-hectolitre Slavonian oak barrel – a decade of patient ageing, of slow metamorphosis, of quiet perfection. Only 2,500 numbered bottles and 200 magnums were bottled from the 2013 vintage, each in its own wooden crate, a monument to the philosophy that Carla Prospero Zenato formulates as follows: "Ci sono storie che richiedono il loro tempo" – there are stories that demand their time.

Rabajà is one of the great vineyards of Barbaresco – a gently sloping south-west-facing slope between the Asili and Martinenga crus, whose calcareous and clayey soils produce wines with unmistakable depth. The 2021 vintage is considered outstanding in Piedmont: a balanced vegetation cycle with warm days, cool nights and ideal harvest conditions produced Nebbiolo grapes of rare aromatic purity and perfect phenolic ripeness. Intense garnet red in the glass with sparkling ruby-coloured reflections. The nose opens with a precise, almost crystalline fruit of sour cherry, ripe raspberry and sloe, surrounded by violets, dried rose petals, fine cedar wood and a minerality reminiscent of graphite. On the palate, the wine is both powerful and silky, with fine, ripe tannins and a present, perfectly integrated acidity that lends freshness and tension. The finish is long, elegant and carried by a saline note that impressively reflects the character of the vineyard. A Barbaresco with great development potential and the typical noblesse of Rabajà. SUPERIORE.DE

In Andrea Cortonesi's own words, 2019 was the first vintage since the legendary 1990 that gave him the feeling that everything was in balance. A slow start to vegetation after a rainy winter, a summer without heat peaks, even ripening until September. Harvest from 25 September – clean, healthy, concentrated. Already a stroke of luck for the Annata. For the Riserva: a perfect invitation. But not every vintage becomes a Riserva. And not every grape in the best vintage. Cortonesi only uses the oldest vines for the Riserva – planted in 1975, back when the word Brunello was hardly known outside Montalcino. Seven hectares, spread over sites between 150 and 350 metres in Castelnuovo dell'Abate, calcareous-clayey soils with marl and mineral structure. What grows here has decades of life in it.

There are wines that speak of a place, and there are wines that speak of a decision. The PS Riserva is both. In the early 1970s, Siro Pacenti planted a small plot of one and a half hectares in the northern part of his Pelagrilli slope – on sandy loam, at 350 metres, within sight of Siena. These vines are still standing today. Only in the most exceptional vintages do they produce the PS – the estate's only single-vineyard wine, in a strictly limited edition, unfiltered and produced over time. The bottling process follows the same principle as all of Giancarlo's wines: fermentation in tempered steel, double manual selection before and after destemming, 24 months in customised French barriques. No intervention that is not necessary. No adjustment that is not justified.

"Sassicaia really was our house wine back then," says Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta, daughter of the president of San Guido, Marquis Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta. "It was more of a wine experiment that was only tested within the family and among friends, until we went on the market for the first time with the 1968 vintage. Today, this wine is all about elegance and balance. We like this style, which is not so much about the body. Sassicaia is a good representative of what we want to convey as a style."

There are wines that mark epochs. Gaia & Rey is undoubtedly one of them. When Angelo Gaja bottled the first bottle of this Chardonnay in 1983, it caused an outcry in Italy – and a revolution. The first Chardonnay in Piedmont, the first Italian white wine to undergo malolactic fermentation and ageing in French barriques. In a region that had exclusively produced red Nebbiolo wines for centuries, Gaja planted Chardonnay in a prime location in 1972 after a formative trip to the USA. What sounded like heresy became a legend. The name carries two generations: Gaia, Angelo's eldest daughter, and Clotilde Rey, his grandmother – the visionary matriarch who once led the winery into new dimensions. The vineyards are located in Treiso at an altitude of 460 metres, planted in 1979, supplemented by grapes from Serralunga d'Alba. Together they cover 3.6 hectares and are among the most exceptional Chardonnay vineyards in Europe. The soils are poor in potassium and nitrogen, the high planting density of 5,500 vines per hectare, drastically reduced yields to 30 hectolitres – everything is geared towards concentration.

It is by no means a given that we will once again be able to offer you a few bottles of the rare 18th edition of Ornellaia's "Vendemmia d'Artista" 2023 in 0.75-litre bottles this year. As usual, this special edition is rare and highly sought-after, as each wooden case of six contains just one bottle of this limited-edition collector's item.

It was the wine journalist Francesco Arrigoni who managed to extract a promise from Franz Haas. He had seen the beauty of these high-altitude vineyards, surrounded by meadows and woods in the municipality of Aldein, where only wild game roams, and recognised the quality that grew from this one plot: the Pònkler. Arrigoni's request was that it should be bottled separately. A promise the estate kept – even though, at first, it was impossible to know how the wine from the grapes of such a young vineyard would develop.

Powerful, very attractive wine. Smells of strawberry and cherry, spices and a hint of leather. Tastes juicy, very special and impresses with firm tannin and persistent length. SUPERIORE.DE

Duemani has just 7,000 Syrah vines – the estate's smallest plot, yet perhaps the most precious. Suisassi, this enigmatic name, which evokes the sound of the nearby surf, embodies Elena's very own vision: to create a Syrah that imitates neither the Rhône nor South Australia, but captures the Tuscan coast in all its wild beauty. Luca D'Attoma, who helped create Le Macchiole's legendary Scrio as a consultant, applies the same philosophy here: 30% of the grapes are fermented as whole bunches to enhance the aromatic complexity, spontaneous yeast fermentation in conical oak vats and small 1,Liters preserves the fruit's vibrancy, before the wine is left to rest for 20 months in French barriques.

For us, the pure Cabernet Franc from Duemani is one of the best representatives of the grape variety and the western Tuscan coastal region. The bouquet has an extraordinary clarity of dark plum, coffee and wild roses. Rich and with a perfectly integrated woody note on the palate, its strength, structure and elegance are particularly fascinating. SUPERIORE.DE

When the world-famous Oenologist Carlo Ferrini makes his own wine, you can't help but be excited. Here, he has succeeded in creating an interpretation of Sangiovese that brings all his experience from decades of working with this grape variety to the fore as if through a burning glass. The moderate use of wood through ageing in 700-litre tonneaux expresses the clarity and personality of the grape and the unique terroir (there are just 1.5 hectares of the best Brunello sites) in an archetypal way. A great harmony of dark cherries, black fruits, spices, leather and tobacco, ideally integrated tannins and great persistence will quickly make the few thousand bottles a sought-after collector's item. SUPERIORE.DE

Suisassi is rich and expressive. The bouquet convinces with aromas of sage, rosemary, wild flowers, liquorice, violets and plums. Very full and round on the palate with memories of berries, chocolate and nuts. Elegant and intellectual, still needs time. SUPERIORE.DE

Gambero Rosso named the Giodo Brunello 2020 "The best red wine in Italy in 2026", and the reasoning reads like a silent tribute: "The sum of his experience with Sangiovese, his first love." His daughter Bianca Ferrini added what is behind the wine: "It is the first vintage in the new cellar, the first chapter together with my father."

This is not a wine – this is a legend. Giuseppe "Bepi" Quintarelli, the "Maestro del Veneto", is considered the father of Amarone, the man who redefined an entire appellation over six decades and inspired generations of winemakers. His Amarone is only produced in exceptional years; in normal vintages, the "Rosso del Bepi" is produced, in weak years nothing at all. The 2018 marks one of these rare moments. The cuvée of 55% Corvina and Corvinone, 30% Rondinella and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, Nebbiolo, Croatina and Sangiovese follows a ritual that extends over many years: half of the grapes are processed fresh, while the other half dries for five months in ventilated chambers until the end of January, losing up to 30% of its water content and concentrating sugar, flavours and structure. Botrytis – noble rot – is deliberately encouraged, a risky endeavour that only masters can master. Pressing is followed by 20 days of maceration, then 45 days of slow fermentation with wild yeasts. What follows is a patience that seems almost forgotten today: seven years of ageing in large Slavonian oak barrels.

Tasting the different lots of Il Marroneto from the barrel is a fascinating task. The vines are all similarly situated at high altitude, on coarse sand of marine origin, and predominantly north-facing. While they have subtle differences, the distinct character of Madonna delle Grazie often merits a separate bottling - as the 2018 proves. The aromas take on the darkest, most heady purple florals, tangled in allspice and smoky incense. The wine is muscular with firm tannins that grip it tightly and don't let go, though it is never beefy, heavy or angular. At the moment it is still developing, but the finish already reveals a refined balsamic core and a spicy, salted plum. SUPERIORE.DE

The name says it all: wines of the slopes. Vigneti del Versante is made from grapes from the Cancello Rosso parcel and the lower part of Pian Bassolino – sites, which lie at an altitude of 350 metres and have a soil of exceptional geological diversity. Calcareous clay, slightly decomposed marl, sandstone, flysch – layers from the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, interspersed with volcanic influences from nearby Monte Amiata. In the Cancello Rosso vineyard, an increased proportion of sand in the topsoil provides the typical spicy and nutty flavours of the berries; Pian Bassolino contributes with a calcareous density. Jan Erbach sees the Vigneti del Versante as the search for a harmony that is more than the sum of its parts – like the different voices of an orchestra that only find their sound together. Spontaneous fermentation, strict selection of grapes on the table, no technological additives, maturation in large oak barrels without filtration.

Barolo Prapò comes from Serralunga d'Alba and is, as expected, the most powerful and structured of the various single-vineyard wines from this ambitious estate. At the same time, it is also the most closed at the beginning and, with its introverted nature, is made for a long ageing period. This site is one of the last where the grapes ripen, giving them plenty of time to develop slowly and carefully each year.

Sibi et paucis – for the few who understand that great wines are not in a hurry. Sandrone retains around 10 per cent of the production from each Aleste vintage and allows these bottles to mature for a full decade longer in his own cellar. What could have been released in September 2019 remains dormant until today – and is becoming something that goes beyond regular Barolo.

A few years after the release of his globally acclaimed Cuvée Luigi Moio, the quiet leader in quality from the up-and-coming wine region of Campania has followed up with a red counterpart to his white wine, setting the standard for the entire region. Luigi observes: "A great wine is a project that must first take shape in the mind and then gradually become a reality through knowledge, creativity, care and patience."  SUPERIORE.DE

Ten years. With the 2020 vintage, Appius is celebrating its first decade – and what a decade it has been. When Hans Terzer first bottled his dream wine in 2010, he had been nurturing the idea for a long time. During his walks through the vineyards, he had noticed that certain low-yielding old vines in the historic vineyards of Eppan produced a quality that demanded its own distinct identity – something distinct from the celebrated Sanct-Valentin range. Originally, the wine was to be called "Oans" – Piedmontese for "one" – but the name was already taken. So it became Appius: the Roman name for Eppan, derived from Appianum, the "estate of Appius".