Decanter

Feudo di Mezzo is more than just a vineyard – it is the historic centrepiece of viticulture on Etna. One of Pietradolce's oldest and most fascinating plots is located in the contrada of the same name, around 600 metres above sea level between the lava flows of past eruptions. The Nerello Mascalese vines are rooted here in deep black, mineral-rich lava soil with excellent drainage. The microclimate is characterised by wide temperature fluctuations, which give the wine a special depth and tension. Vinification is carried out with great sensitivity: spontaneous fermentation in traditional wooden vats, maturing for around 12 months in large tonneaux.

Il Favot bears the name of the estate that Aldo acquired in 1969: "Cascina Favot" in Bussia. It is the only wine in the portfolio that is named after the family estate, and this naming reveals the Conternos' personal attachment to this Nebbiolo. But why not call it Barolo? After all, the grapes come from the same legendary Bussia vineyards that produce Bussia and Granbussia. The answer lies in the age: Il Favot is made exclusively from vines under 15 years of age – the young vines that will one day produce the great Barolo. A baby Barolo with pedigree. The vinification is deliberately designed for earlier drinking maturity: only six to eight days of maceration to extract less tannin and more colour, followed by a few months in stainless steel tanks. The wine is then aged for 15 to 18 months in new French Allier barriques – an unusually opulent treatment for a Langhe Nebbiolo, which gives the wine depth and structure. Aldo Conterno once said: "Vanilla, toast and spice do not belong in Barolo." But in Il Favot? Please, with pleasure.

Vigna San Marcellino Gran Selezione is both youthfully fresh and ripe and complexly muscular. It contains a healthy dose of the deeply coloured Pugnitello grape, and on the nose liquorice, tarragon and broom mingle with lush plum and subtle roasted aromas that are highly seductive in their complexity. Deep, taut and lively on the palate, loaded with black cherry and rich, velvety tannins. The texture is silky, while subtle chalky notes and a salty minerality give it plenty of energy and lead it into a juicy, refreshing finish. Vigna San Marcellino is a convincing wine with enormous ageing potential every year. SUPERIORE.DE

In 1994, whilst Lodovico Antinori was searching for suitable land to expand his Tenuta dell’Ornellaia, he discovered, almost by chance, the hills of Bibbona that were to rewrite his destiny as a winemaker. What he found there was not just land – it was a revelation. The soils – a complex symphony of clay and the legendary Bolgheri conglomerate – the orientation of the slopes, the salty breezes from the Tyrrhenian Sea – —all spoke a different language to the familiar Ornellaia terroir. Too different, too wild, too full of character for a simple extension. And yet too fascinating to let go of.

In the past, the northern slope of Montalcino was not planted with vines, but was cultivated with cereals, olives and cherries. In this area influenced by the Apennines, the seasons are more pronounced, continental and the north wind significantly lowers the temperature in winter. It is therefore the coldest Brunello region at this time of year, but also the wettest. This northern slope is a gentle hill: a characteristic that is more reminiscent of the Crete Senesi area, right next door, than the two stiffer, steeper and warmer southern slopes of Montalcino.

Contrada Rampante is one of the highest and most renowned vineyards on the north-east slope of Mount Etna. At around 1,000 metres above sea level, Nerello Mascalese thrives here on volcanic sandy soils with a high lava content – a terroir of rare expressiveness that combines cool nights, long vegetation cycles and extreme slopes. The vines are over 100 years old – partly ungrafted – produce small-berried, concentrated grapes. After fermentation in cement, the wine matures for around 12 months in large wooden barrels and then for several months in the bottle.

The Nerello Mascalese vines for the Archineri Rosso are rooted deep in the terraced vineyards of Contrada Rampante – at an altitude of around 850 metres on pure volcanic rock. It is a barren, yet vital terroir which, in combination with old, ungrafted vines and strict selection, produces wines of almost ascetic precision. The grapes are fermented spontaneously, then matured for around 12 months in large, used oak barrels before being bottled without filtration.

A wine that made history. When Francesco Ricasoli presented Casalferro for the first time in 1993, it marked the beginning of a new era for the venerable Castello di Brolio and cemented Ricasoli's membership in the elite of Italian oenology. Today, almost three decades later, Casalferro 2019 is a prime example of how a French grape variety matures to exceptional perfection on Tuscan terroir. Casalferro is the essence of three exceptional individual vineyards: Vigna Casalferro, Vigna Pecchierino and Vigna Sodacci. These 13 hectares of Merlot vineyards between 400 and 500 metres above sea level are the result of decades of meticulous terroir studies. Each site has its own personality: Vigna Casalferro with its sandstone and limestone soils, Vigna Pecchierino on pure Alberese limestone and Vigna Sodacci on iron-rich sandstone soils. They all share the characteristic altitude, which gives the grapes the crystalline freshness and lively acidity that characterise the DNA of the Brolio terroir.

The parcels of La Tartufaia lie between the historic Barolo slopes of La Morra and the forests where white truffles are foraged in autumn. The soil of calcareous marl mixed with fine layers of sand gives this Nebbiolo a delicate flavour and silky structure. Giulia Negri cultivates the vineyard in a natural way, working with spontaneous fermentation and careful ageing for around 30 months in medium-sized wooden barrels to bring the terroir unadulterated into the glass. The 2021 vintage provided a perfect balance of ripe fruit and fresh acidity.

High above Sambuca Val di Pesa, just three kilometres south of the famous Tenuta Tignanello, rises the venerable Abbey of San Michele Arcangelo – a bastion of faith since the 10th century, where Giovanni Gualberto, the founder of the Vallombrosan order, once lived and died. Here, where wine of exceptional quality was already appreciated around the year 1000, only the finest Sangiovese grapes thrive on calcareous soils with a clay content at an altitude of 300 metres. The historical importance of this place is documented in hundreds of volumes in the Florentine state archives – centuries of Sangiovese cultivation and rural life, preserved for eternity.

Poggio San Polo Brunello is a selection of the best grapes from the estate's various vineyard sites. It opens very engagingly with dark fruit, including plenty of black cherry and dark plum, optimally rounded off by a fine balsamic herbal spice and notes of white pepper. The palate has an almost perfect texture, a suppleness and silkiness that is refreshed and carried by a well-proportioned, refined Sangiovese acidity. Dark berry flavours, long, deep and with a very remarkable, slightly mineral final. SUPERIORE.DE

Poggio San Polo Brunello is a selection of the best grapes from the estate's various vineyard sites. It opens very engagingly with dark fruit, including plenty of black cherry and dark plum, optimally rounded off by a fine balsamic herbal spice and notes of white pepper. The palate has an almost perfect texture, a suppleness and silkiness that is refreshed and carried by a well-proportioned, refined Sangiovese acidity. Dark berry flavours, long, deep and with a very remarkable, slightly mineral final. SUPERIORE.DE

For two decades, the white indigenous cuvée Biancosesto has represented one of the most original and stylistically distinctive interpretations of the Friulian white wine tradition – a poetic blend of Friulano and Ribolla Gialla from old vineyards around the historic settlement of Sesto al Reghena. The calcareous marl soils (Ponca) and the cool microclimate of the Colli Orientali provide this classic white wine with complexity and finesse every year.

Bianco Trinoro is made from 100% Semillon from a tiny sandy plot in the highest areas of the Trinoro vineyard. The plot is located at around 600 metres above sea level and covers approximately 5,000 square metres. The vineyard was partially planted in 2001 and completed in 2006 with vines from Bordeaux; here, as elsewhere on the estate, the vines are planted close together, one metre apart, in the Bordeaux style. Very aromatic with ripe, fruity notes balanced by a lovely freshness and acidity, great length and very good ageing potential! SUPERIORE.DE

It was Luigi Veronelli, the Italian wine revolutionary of the 60s and 70s, who convinced Francesco Giuntini that exceptional single vineyards deserve their own voice. Of all the old Poderi from the Mezzadria period, Bucerchiale has always been the best – a south-west facing amphitheatre in the cooler heights of Rufina, where Tuscany approaches the last foothills of the Apennines. Francesco took the plunge in 1979. While the law still stipulated Trebbiano in every Chianti and the wine world favoured quantity, he produced defiant resistance from pure Sangiovese. A 100 per cent Sangiovese from a single vineyard – a revolutionary act at the time that marked the beginning of the Tuscan Renaissance. In 2022, Vigneto Bucerchiale celebrates its 43rd year and embodies a perfect vision. Spontaneous fermentation in steel tanks at 30-32°C with 30 days of maceration allows every nuance of the terroir to unfold before the wine matures 50 per cent in French oak barrels of 25 hl and 50 per cent in barriques – only 15 per cent of which is new.

In 1974, a decision was made that nobody really understood at the time. Herbert Tiefenbrunner had the grapes from the Fennberg – a high plateau at 1,000 metres above sea level in the municipality of Margreid – a single-vineyard wine. Müller-Thurgau. At a time when single vineyard sites for white grape varieties were virtually unheard of in Italy. At an altitude where hardly anyone expected great wine. Named after Field Marshal Joseph von Fenner zu Fennberg, the Austrian officer who once owned this high plateau. Fifty years later, Feldmarschall is one of Italy's most iconic white wines.

This impressive Sangiovese comes from the single vineyard "Vitticciana", which was specially created for a pure Sangiovese wine by the "Godfather of Carmignano" Ugo Contini Bonacossi due to its perfect orientation. It is only produced in the best years, when it presents itself as a multi-layered wine with fine fruit and fine-grained tannins. After a few years of ageing in the bottle, it can easily hold its own with some of the best Brunello di Montalcino. SUPERIORE.DE

It was in December 1998 when a customer knocked on Giuseppe Bisci's door and asked for "vino d'annata" – a young wine, ready to drink straight away. Yet Bisci, as a matter of principle, only sold his Verdicchio after at least two years' ageing. Giuseppe turned the customer away, but the encounter stayed with him. The high-altitude calcareous clay soils of Matelica, where the Apennines rise majestically into the sky, did not produce simple everyday wines – they were capable of so much more! The continental climate, with sun-drenched days and freezing mountain nights, gave the Verdicchio an intensity, minerality and a backbone of acidity that allowed for decades of ageing – something almost unheard of in Italian white wine. That very same day, Giuseppe turned to his cellar master, Aroldo Bellelli: "Let's make a wine for the next person who asks for a young wine – so that we can tell him: "We make Riserva, and that won't be released for another seven years!""

With further bottle ageing, this Barbaresco tends to be softer and more open, with soft tannins and a broad palate, thanks to the microclimate created by the cru's proximity to the Tanaro river.

La Tartufaia is the most inviting introduction to Giulia Negri's Barolo universe – and at the same time the most complex in its origin. The grapes come from two vineyards: Serradenari and Brunate. Brunate, one of the most sought-after crus in the entire appellation, straddles the border between La Morra and the village of Barolo – facing west, on tortonian clay with a high sand content and alkaline pH. This soil chemistry is crucial: an alkaline pH means fewer available minerals, more compact vegetation, grapes with thicker skins – and ultimately a Barolo that is fruitier, more accessible and rounder than its siblings. Spontaneous fermentation in 60-hectolitre wooden vats, around 40 days of maceration on the skins – somewhat shorter than the other parcels. Then 24 months in 25-hectolitre Austrian oak barrels.