Doctor Wine

In 2001, when the Mascheroni Stianti family planted the Casanova vineyard, one of the most visionary projects in the history of Tuscan viticulture began. Between the legendary Coltassala and Balifico vineyards, on the sun-drenched south-south-east flank of Volpaia, a living museum of Sangiovese biodiversity was created – a vineyard that was to become the flagship of an entire philosophy. Il Puro is the pure essence of Chianti Classico: 100 per cent Sangiovese, 100 per cent indigenous clones, 100 per cent organic, 100 per cent Radda.

This coveted Riserva is only vinified in top vintages and comes from the highest vineyards of the winery. On the nose, the essence of dark cherries, blackberries, flowers, violets, liquorice and spices, which are then carried away on the palate by firm, structured tannins. The Brunello Riserva 2016 impresses with its remarkable fruit and a big, explosive finish. It presents itself fresh and surprisingly lively, yet very focused and balanced. A great wine that is already a real joy to drink. SUPERIORE.DE

"This is our flagship wine, a Barolo recognised the world over, which we have always nourished and cared for with greatest respect. Nothing will change. This is why I will dedicate this special wine to my grandchildren Alessia and Stefano. From now on, it will carry their names." Luciano Sandrone on his intention to rename his world-famous Barolo Cannubi Boschis "Aleste" with the 2013 vintage. This Barolo is a masterpiece from Luciano Sandrone in every respect. Not only a historic product but also the only cru of the house from the renowned Cannubi area in Barolo. Rich ruby colour, balsamic bouquet, ripe and sweet. Great suppleness on the palate, lots of fruit, dense tannins, very persistent final with Burgundian elegance. SUPERIORE.DE

Cherry accentuated bouquet with hints of violet blossoms, clove, cigar box and a pleasant spicy sweetness. Dense and expressive on the palate, it opens vibrantly and multilayered and then reveals a beautiful load of black cherry, exotic spices and a fine salty vein. The perfectly balanced tannin always provides the necessary balance and gives it a racy, very long finish with its exceedingly refined flavour components. SUPERIORE.DE

La Gioia is the pure expression of Sangiovese with fruit from the estate's best vineyards. It is a big, expressive wine every year, retaining its crisp, medium-bodied mouthfeel. Tones of cherries, wild berries, violets and spices make for an elegant and very pure bouquet. The finish is characterised by fresh acidity in the typical and very refined Riecine style. SUPERIORE.DE

The Piero selection was created as a tribute to the work of Pierluigi Talenti, who has selected and worked the Sangiovese with passion over the years. A 1.95 hectare vineyard near the centre of the winery, with unique pedoclimatic characteristics, is distinguished from all other vineyards by its consistent quality. The gently sloping terrain is surrounded by woods rich in marl, with a south-eastern exposure at an altitude of 410 metres above sea level, where Pierluigi followed and cultivated his personal clonal selection in the 1970s. It is a wine with intense and persistent character, ruby colour, fine and elegant tannins. After ageing in tonneaux for at least 24 months, it is bottled until it is released to the market. SUPERIORE.DE

A farewell and a new beginning at the same time. Cepparello 2021 marks Paolo De Marchi's final vintage as master of his life's work before the winery was transferred to the French EPI Group. After more than four decades of tireless work, the maestro from Piedmont completed his testament with this wine – a Sangiovese of paradoxical brilliance that retains an astonishing freshness and elegance despite its powerful fifteen per cent alcohol. The name Cepparello, which originates from the small stream at the highest point of the vineyards, has carried the revolutionary vision of one hundred per cent Sangiovese since 1980. What began as a rebellion against the Chianti Classico regulations – the absurd rule of adding white grapes – developed into an icon of pure Sangiovese expression.

The legendary single vineyard Mosconi in Monforte d'Alba: steep, windy slopes on calcareous and ferruginous marl, predominantly south/south-west facing. The story behind it: Pio Boffa, who died far too young, acquired the Mosconi parcel a few years before his death as a strategic addition to the family estate – a late legacy that adds the powerful mineral voice of Mosconi/Monforte to the Barolo identity of the estate. Hand-picked from parcels, fermentation in stainless steel with prolonged maceration and gentle extraction. Maturation predominantly in large Slavonian barrels, finely dosed and flanked by French oak – always for texture, not opulence. The 2019 vintage: Long, balanced growing season, large day-night amplitude and late, highly selective harvest – aromatic precision, taut acidity, fine-grained tannin.

A fruity and graceful Barbaresco. The loamy soils give it a firm backbone and strong tannins.

Chiara Boschi's Cannubi 2020 beguiles on the nose with layers of fragrant fruit. A sensual Barolo and yet quite typical in its vineyard character. Soft, silky tannins frame the long finish. A wonderful wine, characterised by its balance and above all by the sweetness of its tannins. Very full-bodied, focussed and with great length. SUPERIORE.DE

After a year's break, the new edition of the long-awaited Brunello Annata comes onto the market with the outstanding 2019 vintage. Initially restrained on the nose, with a little coaxing in the glass it reveals a beautiful blend of fragrant black cherries, mentholated spices, wild herbs, white smoke and a hint of leather. On the palate, silky, enveloping textures, contrasted by cool red and black fruits, plus lively acids that emphasise the spicier and sweeter side of the wine and glide endlessly on the final with fine tannins and minerals. We can already recognise a harmony here that makes us eagerly anticipate the further development of this wonderful wine. SUPERIORE.DE

The Piero selection was created as a tribute to the work of Pierluigi Talenti, who has selected and worked the Sangiovese with passion over the years. A 1.95 hectare vineyard near the centre of the winery, with unique pedoclimatic characteristics, stands out from all other vineyards for its consistent quality. The gently sloping terrain is surrounded by woods rich in marl, with a south-easterly exposure at an altitude of 410 metres above sea level, where Pierluigi pursued and cultivated his personal clonal selection in the 1970s. It is a wine with an intense and persistent character, ruby red colour, fine and elegant tannins. After maturing in tonneaux for at least 24 months, it is bottled until it is released onto the market. SUPERIORE.DE

The wine bears the name of its creator – and with good reason. Andrea Franchetti, the pioneer of modern Etna viticulture who sadly died far too early in 2021, dared to do the unthinkable in the early 2000s: he planted international grape varieties at extreme altitudes on a remote lava slope in Passopisciaro with the aim of producing a wine that would not adapt but set new standards. Franchetti is made from Petit Verdot and Cesanese d'Affile in one of the highest and most radiant areas of the volcano. The lava rock, the light, the altitude – everything here seems more concentrated, more intense, magical, almost supernatural.

Coltassala Gran Selezione is an impeccable representative of the royal class in Chianti Classico. The immensely fragrant bouquet shows black fruits, spices and ploughed earth. All the aromas are on the dark and spicy side, but the wine always remains fresh, dense, buoyant and very linear. Shows rich volume and a strong personality and precision. SUPERIORE.DE

When Andrea Franchetti stood on the abandoned terraces of Mount Etna in 2000, he wasn't just dreaming of the renaissance of Nerello Mascalese. He dreamed of something impossible: a wine that would capture the fire of the volcano in bottle form – deep black like cooled lava, dense like volcanic smoke, concentrated like the embers inside the earth. In the Contrada Guardiola, at an altitude of 820 metres, he planted two grape varieties in the early 2000s that never belonged there: Petit Verdot from Saint-Julien and Cesanese d'Affile from Lazio – a vine that he saved from extinction. The Sicilians thought he was crazy. The wine world was sceptical. But in 2005, when the first vintage was released, the critics fell silent. Franchetti had not only created a wine – he had materialised his vision of Etna.

Poggio Rosso Gran Selezione has an enormous abundance of fruit that is beautifully layered. A very beautiful interpretation of the Sangiovese grape with a dense core and plenty of padding around it. Rich ruby-garnet colour, very fine texture and structure on the palate, which only reveals itself fully with the necessary time in the glass. It is full of tension and power in its youth, the acidity and the well-built tannins are programmed for development, as it will only develop its full elegance and greatness in a few years. SUPERIORE.DE

Ten years. Appius celebrates its first decade with the 2020 – and what a decade it has been. When Hans Terzer first bottled his dream wine in 2010, he had already been harbouring the idea for a long time. During his vineyard inspections, he had noticed that certain low-yielding old vines in the historic vineyards of Eppan produced a quality that demanded its own framework. Something beyond the celebrated Sanct Valentin line. Originally, the wine was to be called "Oans" – piedmontese for "one" –but the name was taken. So it became Appius: the Roman name for Eppan, derived from Appianum, the "estate of Appius".

There are wines that define a family across generations, and there are those moments when a winemaker gives his life's work a name that connects the past and the future. When Luciano Sandrone decided to rename his legendary Barolo Cannubi Boschis in 2013, he did not choose just any name, but created an acronym from the first names of his grandchildren: ALEssia and STEfano. ALESTE – a word that embodies experience, continuity and the hope that what he started in 1985 with the first bottle of Cannubi Boschis will continue in the hands of the next generation. Cannubi Boschis, the sub-vineyard at the heart of the mythical Cannubi vineyard in Barolo, is the vineyard in which Luciano invested all his savings in 1977 – directly opposite the winery, on a hill whose potential he recognised from the very first moment. Here, on optimal soils in a sheltered, sun-drenched location, Nebbiolo grows into the combination of power and finesse that has made Cannubi famous worldwide.

Campo del Drago is a single vineyard of just 1.5 hectares and is located on a high plateau in the Montalcino appellation with a view of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The grapes from here are only vinified separately in the best years for the Brunello of the same name and the result is then eagerly awaited around 5 years later. Dark, concentrated colour with beautiful saturation and density. The bouquet reveals a unique minerality and complexity. The palate is intense, complex and deep. The tannins are present, but remain very elegant thanks to the Sangiovese acidity. Can still mature, but is already irresistible today. SUPERIORE.DE

The Piero selection was created as a tribute to the work of Pierluigi Talenti, who has passionately selected and cultivated Sangiovese over the years. A 1.95 hectare vineyard near the centre of the winery, with unique pedoclimatic characteristics, stands out from all other vineyards for its consistent quality. The gently sloping terrain is surrounded by woods rich in marl, with a south-easterly exposure at an altitude of 410 metres above sea level, where Pierluigi pursued and cultivated his personal clonal selection in the 1970s.

It was Eugenio Campolmi who, in 1989, plucked up the courage to give his flagship the name of a wild herb that grows on the Tuscan coast. Eugenio Campolmi (†2002) was not originally from the world of wine. He came from a family of restaurateurs and should have taken over his parents' restaurant and trading business. Instead, he and his wife Cinzia Merli took a bold leap into the unknown in 1983. Paleo – a name that stands for unbending identity and the will to achieve any goal. What began as a classic Bordeaux blend found its true destiny in 2001: 100% Cabernet Franc, a revolution in the still young Bolgheri.

There are wines that define a region. Pietra Marina is one such wine. When it became the first Etna ever to receive the Tre Bicchieri of the Gambero Rosso in 2007 – and when Benanti was named Winery of the Year in the same year –This was more than just an honour: it marked the birth of the modern Etna Bianco on the world stage. The name itself tells the story: Pietra Marina, sea stone – a word that combines volcanic landscapes, flint, minerality and a salty sea breeze. Since 1991, the first vintage, Giuseppe Benanti has conceived this wine as proof of the potential of the Carricante from Milo. Today it is recognised as one of the most typical, elegant and long-lived white wines in Italy. The grapes come from the uppermost, more porous part of the Contrada Rinazzo – the same location as Contrada Rinazzo, but from a sector with less sandy, more skeletal soil. Here, at an altitude of 800 metres, steep terraces with dry stone walls made of black lava stone look eastwards towards the Ionian Sea, just eight kilometres away. The Alberello vines, some over 90 years old, are rooted in mineral-rich volcanic sand with a sub-acidic profile. Extreme planting densities of 8,000 to 9,000 vines per hectare and yields of just 5,500 kg guarantee concentration. The climate: humid, often snowy in winter, with exceptional ventilation and marked day-night fluctuations.

The purchase of the Mosconi Cru parcels in Monforte by Pio Boffa is one of the last major decisions taken by the estate – with the aim of complementing the depth of Serralunga (Ornato) with Monforte gravity. Selective hand-picking; separate fermentation in stainless steel with a carefully extended maceration period, malolactic without haste. Classic ageing in large barrels, moderate proportion of French oak as a fine brushstroke of texture. The 2020 vintage fitted in well with the concept: a stable summer, clear nights for ripening and precise harvest – healthy, ripe harvest, polished phenolics and generous, balanced fruit were the result.