0.75 liter

The Riecine vineyard in Gaiole in Chianti has a history dating back to the 11th century. Today's vineyards grow between 430 and 600 metres above sea level on stony, alluvial limestone soils over a subsoil of pure limestone - rock that was once washed here from the Monterossi hill by the ancient Massellone river (once called "Clante", the origin of the name "Chianti"). Since 2006, La Gioia has been a pure Sangiovese, a decision that perfectly reflects the philosophy of the estate: absolute concentration on the noblest of all Tuscan grape varieties.

There are wines that speak not only of soil, climate and grapes – they also speak of light and space. Vistamare is undoubtedly one of these rare creations. Named after the sweeping view of the sea that can be seen from Bolgheri on clear days, this wine is a Mediterranean promise, fulfilled with the care and elegance with which Angelo Gaja has been setting standards for decades – only this time not in Piedmont, but on the Tuscan coast. The grapes are harvested plot by plot and deliberately staggered: Vermentino, Viognier and Fiano from coastal vineyards on sandy alluvial soil, in small batches that were vinified separately and then blended to create the final cuvée.

Historically, the vineyards of Castello di Fonterutoli are located in the areas of three neighbouring municipalities of Chianti Classico: Castellina in Chianti, Castelnuovo Berardenga and Radda in Chianti. With the 2017 vintage, the Mazzei family vinified all three large vineyards separately as Chianti Classico Gran Selezione for the first time in order to recognise the diversity of the terroir: Castello di Fonterutoli, Vicoregio 36 and Badiòla.

In 1978, the first bottle of Brunello from Casanova di Neri found its way onto the market – then still called "Vino Rosso dai Vigneti di Brunello", five years after the first harvest. Giovanni Neri had found his dream and his son Giacomo began to realise it. The white label was there from the very beginning – and still is today. The Brunello White Label comes from specially designated vineyards around Podere Fiesole to the east of Montalcino – the same vineyards from which the estate has been making its Brunello for over four decades. After a cool, slow spring, 2021 brought a balancing, dry summer and even ripening into September.

The name was finally established by the official MGA classification in 2007: Muncagota – the Piedmontese dialect term for what had been known as Moccagatta for decades. The wine, the winegrower and the soil remained the same. The vineyard is situated to the south-east of the village centre, thus facing the morning light, which reaches the grapes earlier than on the west-facing slopes. The soil is rich in limestone, the yield is modest – and the character it imparts to the Nebbiolo is unusual for a Barbaresco vineyard: floral, almost minty and herbaceous, with a freshness that holds its own even in warm vintages. The Produttori del Barbaresco have been vinifying Muncagota since 1967, using the same method as for all the cooperative's other vineyards: 28 days' maceration, thirty months or more in large Slavonian oak barrels, and a further year in the bottle. The same method is used for all wines; the differences stem solely from the terroir.

Mastrojanni's 2020 vintage has a juicy, fleshy feel that adds to the overall intensity of the wine. In the glass, rich fruit, baking spices and a hint of rum cake. The wine is dark and velvety in appearance, the mouthfeel is balanced, smooth and lingering. It is quickly accessible with its full-bodied appeal and you can enjoy this wine over the next few years without having to wait long. SUPERIORE.DE

In the early decades of the 19th century, one man shaped the landscape of Bolgheri like no other: Guidalberto della Gherardesca, an ancestor of the Incisa family, who commissioned the construction of the area's first mills and churches, laid out fields and designed the Viale dei Cipressi – that famous avenue of cypress trees immortalised by Carducci and which still marks the entrance to Tenuta San Guido today. This wine is dedicated to the pioneer of this landscape. Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta, who had long maintained that he wished to produce just one wine, recognised in the mid-1990s the potential of new plots along the Viale dei Cipressi, on clay-loam soils that proved particularly well-suited to Merlot. The first harvest was in 2000. Today: 58% Cabernet Sauvignon and 42% Merlot, from vines with an average age of 18 years. Hand-harvested, short maceration, indigenous yeasts, malolactic fermentation in stainless steel, followed by 12 months in French barriques, approx. 40% of which are new.

Andrea Franchetti discovered this tiny, terraced plot back in 2000 – a narrow strip of black sand, as fine as face powder, between 870 and 950 metres above sea level on the northern Etna slope. Here, on the highest Chardonnay vineyard in Italy, he recognised an exceptional habitat for this Burgundian grape variety. However, it was only after years of precise observation, micro-vinifications at various stages of maturation and the realisation that this site has a personality all of its own that the estate decided to bottle the wine separately as Contrada PC in 2018. 36 hours of maceration, fermentation in neutral 20-hectolitre barrels, then 17 months of ageing in large oak barrels – at least six months on the fine lees to enrich the wine and emphasise its potential. The naturally occurring malolactic fermentation in the barrel gives the wine a creamy fullness without disguising its mineral precision. Bottled unfiltered according to the cycles of the waning moon, followed by a further year of bottle ageing to reach its full potential.

The individual parcels (micro-locations) on Etna are called Contrade and the Contrada Passochianche (PC) is the Chardonnay cru from the magical hand of Andrea Franchetti. The visionary, who sadly passed away in 2021, planted high-density Chardonnay here at an altitude of around 900 metres back in 2000. The 2018 vintage marked the debut of a wine that impressively reflects Franchetti's many years of experience on Etna. Like all Contrade wines, it has its very own personality and demonstrates very clearly how a grape variety gains its very own form of expression in different locations. Just 2,660 bottles of this fresh, characterful and salty-mineral Chardonnay were filled. SUPERIORE.DE

Ruby garnet colour, fine violet note and many spices in the bouquet. Dense and compact with taut tannin and sweet fruit melt. Given time, this already very elegant red (age of the vines: 100 years, production: 4,000 bottles) is at the beginning of a long, promising development. SUPERIORE.DE

A textbook Pian delle Vigne: a full bouquet of small red berries, brown spices, mocha and tobacco, before musky cherries and sage follow. Its cool, creamy texture introduces a dense wave of ripe red and black fruits, with salty minerals and fine-grained tannins providing grip. It will show its full beauty in a few years, but with sufficient aeration it is already a pleasure today! SUPERIORE.DE

The latest addition to Vajra's Barolo line-up comes from a 1.5-hectare plot in Coste di Rose, a small MGA (Menzioni Geografiche Aggiuntive) in the Barolo region. This is a steep slope at 310 metres above sea level with a high proportion of sandy soils with good drainage, whose vines and soils are cultivated close to nature. This very accessible Barolo is straightforward, forward and impresses even at a young age with its refreshing candour. A very precise bouquet of cherry, plum, liquorice, spices and menthol, followed by a broad and multi-layered fruity palate with plenty of juice and power, supportive tannins and a full, long, mineral and minty finish. SUPERIORE.DE

With the Bòggina B, Petrolo revived an almost forgotten tradition in 2014: the great white wine of the Valdarno, as Tuscany had known it for centuries before red wine came to dominate the region. The wine takes its name from the Bòggina vineyard, where the first Trebbiano vines were planted in the 1970s; below this vineyard, the family has since replanted with the same original clones to ensure the stock for decades to come. The 2024 vintage comes from certified organic cultivation, harvested by hand into crates and sorted on the sorting table. Spontaneously fermented with indigenous yeasts in tonneaux, it matures on the fine lees for over 15 months in specially selected French oak barrels, with bâtonnage that is constant at first and gradually tapers off – the wine remains unfiltered and undisturbed until bottling.

Katia and Luigi's Brunello di Montalcino opens with dark fruits, cherries, forest herbs and dried plums. This is accompanied by a fine fruity sweetness, framed by notes of tar, smoke and exotic spices. The dark and ripe intensity of the fruit is closely interwoven with the flavours of oak and the stately proportions of the wine. The long and well-structured finish is characterised by liquorice and mint, flanked by a layer of fine tannins. What we particularly like about this Brunello is that it is already full of finesse and class and is already showing its beauty at a young age. SUPERIORE.DE

Contrada Rampante grows on the highest vineyard of Passopisciaro. The soils have a higher sand content and the harvest takes place later here. On the nose, dark red cherries, flowers, mint and liquorice. Rampante is an elegant, energetic and dynamic red with clear fruit and silky tannins. SUPERIORE.DE

In Valdarno di Sopra, where Tuscan hills meet the foothills of the Apennines and time itself seems to pause, one of the most fascinating love stories in wine is born. Carnasciale is more than just a wine – it is the legacy of a vision that began in Berlin in 1963, when Bettina Schnabel and Wolf Rogosky met. Their love led them via New York to Mercatale Valdarno, where they bought an abandoned estate in 1972 and realised a dream: to create the most unique wine in the world. The secret lies in Caberlot, an enigmatic grape variety that agronomist Remigio Bordini discovered in the late 1960s in an overgrown vineyard near Padua – a natural cross between Cabernet Franc and Merlot that is not cultivated anywhere else in the world. When a devastating frost destroyed the olive trees in 1985, Wolf Rogosky saw his chance: in their place, he planted the first Caberlot vineyard with a revolutionary 10,000 vines per hectare. Superstitiously, he buried a bottle of Sassicaia under the first vine – a ritual that was to point the way to future success.

Passopisciaro's Contrada C is an exquisite red with a dark sensual fruit bouquet. Stylistically like a great Pinot Noir or Nebbiolo, of remarkable intensity on the palate until the lingering final. A muscular and weightless wine at the same time. SUPERIORE.DE

Ruby garnet colour, fine violet and rose notes and many spices in the bouquet. Dense and compact with taut tannin and sweet fruit melt. Given time, this captivating red is at the beginning of a long, promising development. SUPERIORE.DE

Pianrosso: the red field. The name refers to iron-rich soils that give the Sangiovese a mineral depth that no winery in the world can replicate. 11.7 hectares on the south-eastern edge of Montalcino, at altitudes between 240 and 360 metres, where ancient marine deposits meet galestro schist. Giuseppe Bianchini had the vineyard replanted in the 1980s, knowing that the heart of the estate lay dormant here. Pianrosso is bottled only in exceptional vintages, following a rigorous selection of the finest grapes, and spends a whole year longer in Slavonian botti than the classic Brunello. Thirty-six months in large oak, followed by further ageing in the bottle. The result is not a wine for immediate enjoyment, but a testament to patience. In 2021, Montalcino produced one of those vintages you never forget: glorious September days, cool nights, perfect phenolic ripeness.

Carnasciale Botte Grande is a fascinating expression of that Tuscan individuality which makes the small Il Carnasciale vineyard, perched high above the Arno Valley, so unique. This single-varietal Caberlot – a rare, almost unknown variety and a cross between Cabernet and Merlot – grows on barren, stony terraced slopes at altitudes of up to 520 metres above sea level. The 2022 vintage was characterised by a warm, though not extreme, summer and cool nights in September – ideal conditions for a slow, phenolically mature harvest. 

On the estate stands a 19th-century railway station – silent, frozen in time, no longer in use. The wine produced here has something of this image about it: it does not rush; it waits. And the 2021 vintage arrived quietly anyway – no record-breaking summer, no headlines, just a cool spring, moderate heat and day-night temperature fluctuations that gave the Sangiovese exactly what it needs: space to mature. Tenuta Pian delle Vigne lies six kilometres south-west of Montalcino, on calcareous loam with a fine gravel content, facing south-west, at around 130 metres above sea level. Owned by Antinori since 1995 – and ever since then unwaveringly committed to the same principle: large wooden casks ranging from 30 to 80 hectolitres, which preserve the Sangiovese fruit rather than dominate it. No barrique dictates, no trendy embellishments. Just conviction.

The bouquet shows a phenomenal blend of pure fruit with wild berries and herbs, before further depths of floral undergrowth and smoky nuances are added. The palate is full, silky smooth, with polished red and black fruits, then savoury spices and hints of sour citrus as it progresses. A hint of liquorice and mint lingers together with a layer of ultra-fine tannins on the long and lightly structured finish. For us, the San Polino Brunello is a prime example of finesse and elegance every year and a beauty on all levels. SUPERIORE.DE

Castelnuovo dell'Abate lies in the south-easternmost corner of the Denominazione – further away from the cool northern slopes of Montalcino, and closer to Monte Amiata, the extinct volcano that moderates the climate of the area. When Gabriele Mastrojanni bought the Poderi Loreto and San Pio estates in 1975, there was hardly anyone here. The land was barren, the soils low in clay but rich in sandstone, tuff and pebbles. That was precisely the reason. Today, Andrea Machetti, as CEO, and Oenologist Maurizio Castelli continue to run the estate in the spirit of its founder – with a consistency that knows no compromise: no herbicides, no chemical interventions whatsoever since November 2022, fermentation in concrete tanks with wild yeasts, and extended ageing in large Allier oak barrels ranging from 16 to 54 hectolitres. The Brunello is crafted from a blend of different plots – varying exposures, altitudes between 180 and 420 metres, and vines of different ages – and derives its complexity from this.