0.75 liter

In the southern Arbia Valley lies one of Brolio's rarest soils: an ancient river terrace dating from the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs, shaped by water that has long since taken a different course. Francesco Ricasoli also included this site in his Cru project in 2015, through which the estate aims to reveal the character of its Sangiovese plot by plot, moving beyond any generalised narrative about Chianti. The vines are planted at an altitude of 300 metres with a south-west aspect, on silty, clay-rich soils with a low stone content, covering around 6.35 hectares with a high planting density of just under 6,000 vines per hectare, a single-varietal Sangiovese comprising three clones, each of which develops its own distinctive character on this rare terraced soil. After around two weeks of fermentation and maceration with daily punching down, the wine matures for 22 months inLiters, 30% of which are new, before being released following further bottle ageing.

Fossa di Lupo is one of the most impressive contrade in the Vittoria region – an old hillside vineyard with sandy-clay soil over a deep limestone vein. Its north-easterly exposure and the cool downdraughts at night create a microclimate that is conducive to ripening. For Arianna Occhipinti, it is a real place that has accompanied her life as a winemaker since the very beginning. In this historic contrada north-west of Vittoria, her oldest Frappato vines are rooted in sandy soil interspersed with calcareous subsoil. A site with a history that Arianna has always considered to be the centrepiece of her work – powerful and delicate, quiet and expressive at the same time. The wine comes from 100% Frappato, harvested from vines over 60 years old. Fermentation with the vineyard's own yeasts, around 35 days on the skins, no fining, no filtration. Maturation takes place over 22 months in cement – a deliberate decision not to use wood in order to reveal the pure texture and vibrant character of Frappato.

Just 3,500 bottles from the oldest vines of the Salco vineyard are only sold in the best vintages. In the glass, we are delighted by an extremely elegant Sangiovese with a very harmonious texture and very classic, earthy and spicy notes. SUPERIORE.DE

In 1991, Luigi Fabbro and Katia Nussbaum discovered an abandoned hilltop south-east of Montalcino: no water, no electricity – but 600-year-old olive trees and soil that had not seen any chemicals for decades. That was exactly what they were looking for. Gigi, a Friulian with experience in mapping biodiversity in the Amazon, and Katia, a London-based anthropologist, became pioneers of the biodynamic movement in Montalcino. All vintages have been certified organic since 2001. Of the 35 hectares, only four and a half are planted with vines. The rest: woodland, wilderness, corridors for animals and insects. "I see every bottle as a work of performance art," says Katia. "Our entire philosophy of life is embodied in the wine." The entry-level Brunello comes from the northern slopes, on loamy-marly soils. Spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts, followed by three-and-a-half years' ageing in large Slavonian oak barrels.

A Barbaresco of exceptional complexity. Rich in tannins and structured thanks to the chalky composition of the soil, it nevertheless retains a characteristic freshness and minerality that makes it a favourite with connoisseurs. Freshly cut flowers, minerals, crushed rock, rose petals and lavender. As always, Montefico is taut and angular in style. Its sense of transparency is simply beguiling. Sage, mint and sweet pipe tobacco are some of the nuances that linger. Montefico is a Barbaresco for lovers of tauter red wines, which it will delight. It combines the fruity richness of Montestefano with the vigour of Ovello. SUPERIORE.DE

The grapes come from the family's own plots throughout the Barbaresco zone – mainly in Treiso (including Il Bricco, San Stefanetto, Bongiovanni) and in San Rocco Seno d'Elvio (Rocche di Massalupo). Each vineyard is harvested and fermented separately in order to preserve its own characteristics; the lots are only combined after ripening. The wine is matured in the classic way over a long period in large Slavonian oak barrels, supplemented by a smaller proportion in French oak, enough to refine the texture without masking the origin. The 2019 vintage benefited from long, balanced vegetation with cool nights in autumn: fully ripe, aromatically dense grapes with an ideal acid structure.

"Pianrosso" – the red plain. When Giuseppe Bianchini began planting this vineyard in 1985, he knew that the heart of his heritage would beat here, on the iron-rich Galestro soils above the Orcia Valley. Eleven hectares between 240 and 360 metres, supported by the slate and marl subsoil that was once seabed before the nearby Monte Amiata left behind its volcanic minerality. Today, his son Paolo and his son Alex continue this legacy – three generations of Bianchini, who face Montalcino's hottest zone with organic cultivation and prudent restraint. The 2020 vintage demanded everything: July heat, which led to 15.5 per cent alcohol, but underneath lies the elegance for which Castelnuovo dell'Abate is famous.

On the northern edge of the Barolo zone, where Verduno towers over the Langhe hills like an outpost of elegance, lies one of the most mysterious MGAs in the entire denomination. Pisapola – a name familiar only to the initiated, but for those who know it, it holds the promise of exceptional finesse. Here, on calcareous clay and sandstone soils between 250 and 300 metres above sea level, Matteo Ascheri creates a Barolo that expresses the unique personality of Verduno in its purest form. Verduno is different from the other Barolo communes. While Serralunga stands for power and Castiglione Falletto for structure, Verduno is a refuge of elegance and flavour. The complex soil composition of limestone-clay, silt and sandstone, criss-crossed by chalky veins, gives the wines that savoury note that makes Verduno-Baroli so unmistakable. It is no coincidence that the rare Pelaverga grape variety, famous for its white pepper flavours, also thrives here – a clear sign of the aromatic intensity that these soils produce.

Sammarco occupies a special place in the history of Super Tuscans – not only as one of the first of its kind, but as a testament to a visionary rebellion against tradition. When Alceo di Napoli presented the first vintage of this extraordinary Bordeaux blend in 1980, he made wine history: with the legendary Giacomo Tachis at his side – the architect behind Sassicaia, Tignanello and Solaia – he created a wine that would change Italy forever. The name honours Marco di Napoli, the brother of the current owners Maurizia and Luca, and embodies the continuity of a family whose land has been rooted in the golden Conca d'Oro near Panzano since 1739. Here, on calcareous Galestro soils at an altitude of 360 metres, the vines thrive according to biodynamic principles – a philosophy that makes Sammarco the first fully biodynamic Super Tuscan.

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.

Chiappemacine is the lowest of the five single vineyards of Passopisciaro – only 550 metres above sea level, at the lowest foothills of the Etna lava flows. Here, where the thin layer of lava meets a limestone bed to which the roots of the 70 to 100-year-old Nerello vines penetrate, a different style emerges: fuller, rounder, more accessible than the higher-lying contrade. This small domain covers just 1.2 hectares – but what grows here has its own personality. Fermented in steel tanks, matured for 18 months in large neutral oak barrels – a minimalist vinification that lets the terroir speak for itself.

In 1987, Paolo Foradori coined a term that changed South Tyrol's wine world: "Vigna". Not as a marketing idea, but as a conviction – that a wine only shows its true character when it comes from a single, clearly defined vineyard. Barthenau Vigna S. Urbano was the first South Tyrolean winery to put this philosophy on its label. Today, a generation later, Martin Foradori-Hofstätter continues to pursue this idea with the same rigour and the term "Vigna" has found its way throughout South Tyrol. Mazon is the absolute cru location for South Tyrolean Pinot Nero – a gentle high plateau on the cooler eastern side of the Adige Valley, at 450 metres, where clay-limestone soils lie above the so-called Werfen formation: heterogeneous sedimentary rocks that give the soil a mineral depth that is unmistakably evident in the wine. The vines at Vigna San Urbano are over 65 years old – roots that reach deep enough to keep calm even in difficult years.

Where vines grow today, the sea once lay: the soils of Roncicone consist of Pliocene marine deposits, interspersed with shell fossils and lignite – a geological archive that was formed here long before the first vine was planted. In 2015, Francesco Ricasoli included this site in his 'Cru' project, which aims to showcase the diversity of the soils around Brolio on a plot-by-plot basis, with each plot telling its own geological story. At an altitude of 320 metres, facing south-east, the vines grow across almost eleven hectares, planted between 1998 and 2000, pure Sangiovese comprising two clones, densely planted at 6,600 vines per hectare, on subsoil that is unusually rich in organic matter for the region. After around two weeks of fermentation and maceration with daily punching down, the wine matures for 22 months inLiters, 30% of which are new, followed by further ageing in bottle before release.

Since summer 2023, Chianti Classico producers have been allowed to include the eleven additional geographical indications (UGA = unità geografiche aggiuntive) introduced in 2021 on the labels of the top Gran Selezione category. For Chianti Classico winegrowers, it is a logical step to produce wines that reflect the area in which they were produced as authentically as possible. And customers can thus deepen their knowledge of the relationship between the wines and their region of origin - a real added value.

When Virginie Saverys and Max De Zarobe realised that Montepulciano could only regain its historic reputation by working together, they founded Alleanza Vinum. Six prestigious estates – Salcheto, Poliziano, La Braccesca, Dei, Boscarelli and Avignonesi – joined forces in 2017 with a shared mission: Each would create its own 100% Sangiovese cru every year, embodying the rediscovery of Vino Nobile. Avignonesi's contribution comes from the legendary Caprile vineyard, planted in 1978 at an altitude of 300 metres. The soil tells a story spanning millions of years: marine sediments from the Pliocene, interlaced with deep veins of blue sodium clay, rich in silt and limestone – a terroir that lends the Sangiovese exceptional depth. After 28 days of controlled maceration with natural yeasts selected from the 'pied-de-cuve', the wine matures for 24 months in large oak casks.

The wine comes from a single, gently sloping vineyard above Rocchetta Tanaro, called Bricco dell'Uccellone, named after an elderly local woman who always kept a sharp eye on the vineyards, dressed in black. Here, old vines grow on barren, chalky soils that produce low yields but highly concentrated harvest. With tireless dedication, the Bologna family fulfils the legacy of Giacomo Bologna, who is rightly described as the father of modern Barbera d'Asti. 2021 began with a cool spring, followed by a warm, stable summer that ensured slow, even ripening. The grapes were hand-picked in perfect condition, followed by a long maceration and 12 months of ageing in French barriques.

At 618 metres above sea level, where the air already carries the coolness of the mountains and the view sweeps over the entire Chianti Valley, lies one of the most venerable vineyards in Tuscany: Coltassala – once born as a rebellious Supertuscan, today ennobled as Chianti Classico Gran Selezione from the UGA Radda, embodies the revolution and evolution of Tuscan viticulture like no other wine. In 1980, Federica Mascheroni Stianti's family took the plunge: when the DOC system was still forcing Trebbiano and Malvasia into Chianti, they pressed a pure Sangiovese wine up here in small barriques based on the French model instead of the traditional large Slavonia barrels. What was then still misjudged as Vino da Tavola heralded a new era. Today, with the new UGA rules of Chianti Classico (Unita Geografiche Aggiunte, in Germany one would say Lage, in France Cru), Coltassala is finally finding its well-deserved home – as a Gran Selezione from the Radda geographical unit, which stands for the most extreme and elegant expressions of Chianti Classico. The altitude gives the 2021 vintage that characteristic freshness that makes Radda so unique – despite the warm weather, the wine retains its crystalline acidity and vibrancy.

Mulino comes from a lower-lying vineyard with a high proportion of marine fossils in the soil. It is dark and rich in the glass, with notes of plum jam, balsamic herbs, pine shavings and cloves, but also with a mentholated freshness that centres the whole experience. On the palate, it glides like pure silk, elegant and supple, with ripe, balsamic fruit and a hint of sweet mint. Finishes with a powerful structure and persistence, leaving behind nuances of cedar wood and red plums. SUPERIORE.DE

There are wines that change a grape variety forever. Granato is one of them. The legendary Teroldego that has been convincing the wine world since 1987 that Italy's Alpine heights can produce red wines of international calibre. Its name is both programme and poetry: Granato – the pomegranate, the ancient Mediterranean fruit that, like the vine, came to Italy thousands of years ago and whose ruby-coloured seeds remind Elisabetta Foradori of the essence of perfect grapes. In the historic Noval, Regin and Pedot vineyards of Campo Rotaliano, where Teroldego vines over seventy years old sink their roots deep into the Dolomite soil, a wine of monumental proportions is created. Here, on the alluvial sediments of prehistoric times, these ancient vines have grown in complexity decade after decade. Elisabetta's biodynamic philosophy reaches its purest form with these Methuselah vines: Not to intervene, but to guide nature to its peak.

Walter Massa's single-vineyard Timorasso Montecitorio is produced through a cold maceration of approx. 40 hours, followed by a fermentation of approx. 12 months in stainless steel tanks with regular batonnage of the yeast for approx. 12 months.

Domizio Cavazza had vineyards in Ovello. When he founded the first Cantine Sociale in Barbaresco in 1894, Ovello was already part of his plan – one of the oldest and most original vineyards in this appellation. Today, with over twenty hectares, Ovello is by far the largest of the nine Produttori del Barbaresco sites and is located at the northernmost point of the municipal area, where the hill has various exposures – west-south-west and east-south-east – on a soil that is both calcareous and rich in clay. The clay is more present here than elsewhere in Barbaresco, and it gives the wine its typical opulence: plump fruit, full body, firm tannins. The Produttori del Barbaresco also vinify Ovello according to the same principle that has been maintained for decades: 28 days of maceration, at least thirty months in large Slavonian barrels, a further year in the bottle. The Riserve are bottled exclusively in exceptional vintages – and 2021 leaves no doubt about that.

The indigenous white grape variety Timorasso led a shadowy existence for many years, but today some winegrowers are already calling it the "white Barolo". This is partly due to its great complexity and finesse, and partly due to the excellent ageing potential of the wines.

A red wine with energy and contour: "Rosso del Gnemiz" combines Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon – a classic cuvée that has its very own Friulian character. The grapes come from various plots around San Giovanni al Natisone, whose Ponca soils lend depth and structure. The 2022 vintage produced ripe, healthy berries that retained their tension thanks to cool nights. Brilliant ruby red in the glass with a youthful glow. The bouquet opens with fresh black cherry, sour cherry and plum, as well as herbs, tobacco, violets and a subtle graphite note. On the palate, it shows taut, juicy fruit, concise, still youthful tannins and a lively acidity that gives it a clear contour. The barrel ageing provides additional depth, but remains discreetly in the background.

There are wines whose history is also told through their label. It used to say "Joanni" here, today it says "Ioanni" – a subtle shift that reveals more than just a preference for a particular spelling. "Merlot" used to be proudly displayed on the label, today, it simply reads "Rosso Toscana IGT". The reasons may lie in the intricacies of wine legislation or in the family's strategic considerations – yet the wine itself remains what it always was: a rarity, an experiment, a statement – a top-class Merlot! The small "Bandita" vineyard is situated in the south-eastern part of Montalcino, where the tuff and clay soils provide this international grape variety with the fertile ground it needs. Low yields, late harvest at optimal ripeness – the prerequisites for concentration and depth. Paolo Vagaggini, who has shaped Fuligni's oenological signature for decades, vinifies this Merlot with the same meticulous care that characterises the great Brunellos. Yet here he allows himself more time: the grapes mature for three years in French Allier tonneaux, followed by a further year in the bottle, before the wine leaves the estate.