Decanter

A distinctive interpretation of Chianti Classico: a sparkling ruby colour with a pronounced garnet sheen. A very inviting bouquet of cherries and delicate notes of meadow herbs, with a hint of nuts. Medium-bodied on the palate, with wonderfully juicy fruit once again, a cool, mineral style, very finely structured and balanced, with lively vigour; it has a fairly long finish and leaves you wanting another glass. The perfect accompaniment to Italian dishes. SUPERIORE.DE

It was no coincidence, but opportunity, that Roberto Voerzio embarked on a new adventure in Monferrato a few years ago. As the latest addition to his exquisite collection, he put himself to the test as a passionate Barbera lover by acquiring some plots of land near Canelli and Nizza Monferrato. These are vineyards that are around 35 years old with clay and limestone soil, which gives the wine complexity and minerality. The old planting was then greatly reduced according to his modus operandi: to 3,500 to 8,000 vines per hectare with a production of less than 1 kg (!) per plant. Fermentation and maceration take place in steel tanks using indigenous yeasts, malolactic fermentation and ageing take place in barriques (70% used) for 12 months and then in steel tanks for a few months before bottling without filtration.

Pinot Grigio Unterebner is an exceptional wine: golden yellow in colour, with elegant aromas of blossom honey, lavender and tropical fruits. Delicate, buttery notes; very well-balanced and charismatic, with a long and full-bodied finish. SUPERIORE.DE

The organically grown Etna Rosso Reseca is made from 100% Nerello Mascalese from a 1.5 hectare vineyard located at 800 metres above sea level on the blackened cone of the volcano. The wine offers both power and grace, the two contrasting qualities that characterise the great wines of Etna.

There are grape varieties that have to wait decades for a visionary to recognise their true potential. Trebbiano d'Abruzzo was one such forgotten variety until Gianni Masciarelli started a revolution in 1981 that changed the face of Abruzzo viticulture forever. He was the first producer in the region to introduce the Guyot training system and French barriques, driven by a philosophy he called "innovazione continua" – continuous innovation in the service of tradition. Today, the vineyards surrounding the historic Castello di Semivicoli combine the fruits of this vision with the poetry of a place that has itself experienced a rebirth. Here, between Gran Sasso and Majella at an altitude of 380 metres, two very special Trebbiano vineyards take root: one with vines over forty years old that still embody the original vigour of the variety, and a younger one that Gianni planted at the end of the 1990s using the modern Guyot system – a symbiosis of grown wisdom and innovative spirit.

In 1898, Christian Schrott, parish priest of Termeno and a member of the Austrian Parliament, founded a cooperative intended to bring together the winegrowers of his village. What began back then as a community based on farmers’ solidarity is now one of South Tyrol’s most renowned wine-growers’ cooperatives: 160 member families, 250 hectares of vineyards, and a commitment to quality that is unrivalled in the region. The name ‘Stoan’ is the brainchild of cellar master Willi Stürz – and is self-explanatory: ‘Stoan’ is the dialect word for ‘stone’, and the stony, limestone-rich subsoil at altitudes of up to 600 metres is what gives this wine its identity.

1976 was Paolo De Marchis's first year at Isole e Olena. He was 25; at that time, Chianti Classico was a wine that hardly anyone thought had a future, and the two medieval hamlets – Isole and Olena – were what his father Francesco had bought in 1956: two dilapidated farmsteads in the hills west of Castellina. Paolo stayed. For almost fifty years. What he made of this estate changed the history of Chianti Classico. He was one of the first to vinify Sangiovese separately, one of the first to bring the hillside terraces back into cultivation, and one of the first to take Sangiovese seriously as a single variety. His Cepparello – first bottled in 1980 – became one of Italy's benchmark wines. Emanuele Reolon, the new technical director at Isole e Olena, sums it up as follows: "Paolo brought the Piedmontese style to Tuscany. He treated Sangiovese like Nebbiolo." Back then, it was revolutionary. Today, it is dogma.

Bright silver-grey with a persistent, finesse-rich perlage. A wonderful nose of white flowers and light-coloured fruit. Full, broad and creamy elegance on the palate, supported by a delicate interplay of sweetness and acidity. A very expressive and sensual Prosecco Superiore from the top Cartizze vineyard. SUPERIORE.DE

For over 60 years, the Produttori del Barbaresco have stood for an uncompromising approach to quality, supported by over 50 winegrowers who contribute their best grapes from Barbaresco, Neive and Treiso to the community. The Barbaresco 2022 is a prime example of collective precision and classic style: the Nebbiolo grapes come from selected communal vineyards, some of which are adjacent to the crus, on chalky and clayey soils. Vinification was carried out traditionally: a long maceration period, ageing for 24 months in large Slavonian oak barrels, followed by a further resting period in the bottle.

In 1996, Elisabetta Geppetti bought a slope near Pereta. She named it Poggio Valente – the valiant hill, the brave hill. A name that says it all. The site lies at 280 metres, facing south-west, on sandy soils over sandstone rocks with clay inlays – a soil that gives the Sangiovese precision and elegance rather than weight and vigour. Elisabetta wanted something different here: a single-varietal Sangiovese cru in the Burgundian style, a wine that speaks its vineyard and nothing else. In 2014, she made a consistent decision: Poggio Valente left the Morellino appellation and has since appeared as a Toscana IGT. Not a step backwards – quite the opposite. A statement. This wine is bigger than its designation of origin, and Elisabetta did not want the lack of international recognition of an appellation to limit its ambition.

When Brigitte and Bruno Widmer bought the abandoned Brancaia estate near Castellina in Chianti in 1981, nobody could have guessed that this would become one of the defining wineries of modern Tuscany. The very first vintage in 1983 took first place in a blind tasting – the beginning of a success story that daughter Barbara Widmer is continuing today as a qualified Oenologist. The entire winery has been certified organic since 2019, a consistent development of the philosophy that has always applied here: no compromises. The Riserva combines the best Sangiovese lots from both Chianti Classico estates – brancaia in Castellina and Poppi in Radda – supplemented by twenty per cent Merlot. The sites between 230 and 400 metres above sea level bring together different soil structures: Clay in Castellina, sandy loam with a stony skeleton in Radda.

1992 was the last vintage of Boscarelli's first Riserva era. This was followed by a break of almost two decades – this was not a period of inactivity, but a lot of work and research: replanting the historic vineyards, selecting clones, researching the climatic variations of the Cervognano terroir. It was not until 2010, when the young vines of the autochthonous new plantings first showed the complexity that had been awaited, that the Riserva returned. Just like in the 1970s and 80s: exclusively from indigenous grape varieties. Prugnolo Gentile and Colorino. Vines over 20 years old from the historic core of the Boscarelli vineyards in Cervognano – calcareous, alluvial sandy soils with silt, clay, minerals and a rich stone skeleton that varies depending on the location and altitude. 6,500 vines per hectare.

The name Deimassi comes from the large stone blocks that make up the terrace wall that supports the vineyard. These were dug out of the ground during the preparatory work for the planting in 2008. The large stones and the friable clay still mark this small parcel of land, originally intended for the production of Brunello di Montalcino, the results of which are now being marketed without the longer ageing period prescribed for Brunello.

When Franco Pola bottled the first bottle of his Barbaresco Bordini in 1970, he not only marked the beginning of a family history, but also set an example of the bond between people and the vineyard that has endured for generations. The vineyard bears the same name as the street on which the estate stands – Via Bordini 15 – and this geographical coincidence holds a deeper truth: Here, where the winery building looks directly out onto the south-east-facing slope, family and terroir are inextricably intertwined. On sandy limestone-clay soil, 280 metres above sea level, Nebbiolo vines aged between 50 and 60 years are rooted – one hectare of which is even over 70 years old and ungrafted, a living link to the time when Franco's father, Secondo, still ran the estate as a farm.

"Courageous, headstrong, rebellious" – is how Arianna Occhipinti describes the wine that most resembles her. Frappato, this quintessentially Sicilian grape variety of rural origins, is rooted here in calcareous sandy soils at the foot of the Monti Iblei. Forty-year-old vines near Vittoria, at an altitude of 280 metres, cultivated biodynamically. The winemaking process follows the rhythm of nature: spontaneous fermentation in concrete, thirty days" contact with the skins, then fourteen months" ageing in large Slavonian oak barrels. Bottled unfiltered, the wine retains its vibrant authenticity.

Montalcino is a hill. To be more precise: a single large cone of limestone, marl, slate and sand that rises above the Val d'Orcia – exposed to the north, south-east and south-west, characterised by three completely different climates. Most of the producers in the appellation have access to one of these slopes. Val di Suga has all three. Vigna del Lago in the north-west, Poggio al Granchio in the south-east, Vigna Spuntali in the south-west. Three soils, three microclimates, three characters – and a single winery that unites them all under one roof. The basic Brunello is the result of this unique position: a cuvée from all three sites that does not aim for simplification, but for synthesis. Fermentation takes eight to twelve days at a controlled temperature, with maceration lasting a further two to three weeks. Maturation in traditional 50-hectolitre Slavonian oak barrels for 24 months, followed by six months in concrete and then the bottle. The 2021 vintage brought a late frost in April – the harvest was reduced, the quality concentrated. A dry summer without extreme heat, a long, even autumn. The Consorzio and a jury of eight Masters of Wine agreed on three words to characterise the vintage: fragrant, precise, vertical.

The Colline Metallifere – the Metalliferous Hills – take their name from what people have been extracting from the ground here for thousands of years: copper, iron and silver. An ancient mining landscape, part of the UNESCO Geopark since 2024, set amongst volcanic and limestone soils that bear witness to three million years of geological history. 500 metres above sea level, in the Alta Maremma, Demeter biodynamic. Elisabetta Foradori – the woman who brought Teroldego back to life in Trentino – founded Ampeleia together with Giovanni Podini and Thomas Widmann, because they believed that this place, with Cabernet Franc, could express something it has never expressed elsewhere.