6 bottles

Plot ten is the exception in the Bertinga vineyard: the only one facing north, and the one with the highest clay content. There, a Merlot is grown for Volta di Bertinga at altitude in Gaiole in Chianti, where Sangiovese otherwise reigns supreme. The soil is the same as that of the entire vineyard: Alberese, a calcareous marl that has been in place for around 50 million years, with compact stones, and is shallow to medium in depth. In this north-facing slope, it combines with a low pH level, which is the ideal combination for early-ripening varieties such as this: lively acidity coupled with fully ripe tannins. Harvested by hand, the grapes are taken to the sorting table and fermented in stainless steel. The wine is then aged for 18 months in French barriques, 30% of which are new, followed by at least one and a half years in the bottle before it is released. The year 2019 began cool and dry; growth was slightly behind schedule. The summer remained consistently warm without any extreme temperatures or heavy rain, and in September, warm days and cool nights ensured the grapes ripened fully right up to the very end.

There are vineyards named after the place where they are situated. And there are vineyards that give the place its name in the first place. Podernovi is one such example – the three hectares of Sangiovese that have been growing on this plot for over thirty years are so inextricably linked to the hill that the vineyard and the district share the same name. When San Polo bottled the first single-vineyard Brunello from this vineyard in 2015, it was less a debut than a recognition of what the soil had long known. Podernovi lies at 450 metres, facing south-east, where the view sweeps across the Val d'Orcia towards Monte Amiata. The soils are a kaleidoscope of Tuscan geology: marl and galestro – that schistose clay which lends the region’s finest Sangiovese sites their distinctive minerality – interspersed with loam that stores water and nourishes the vines even during dry summers. What sets this vineyard apart from others is not only its terroir, but the rigour with which San Polo tends it: Four to five bunches per vine, no more – 700 to 800 grams per vine, a yield reminiscent of Burgundian standards, forcing the Sangiovese to achieve a concentration it rarely attains elsewhere.

Rich, concentrated Bordeaux-style red with the unmistakable signature of top oenological consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt. Multi-layered black fruit on the nose, plus rock, liquorice, camphor and graphite. Impressively supple on the palate, the fruit is always juicy and centred, wonderful and almost perfect in structure, polish, elegance and length. SUPERIORE.DE

In the quiet of 2019, Paolo De Marchi's decades-long vision of Cabernet Sauvignon as an authentic terroir expression of the Tuscan soul came to fruition. After more than forty years of tireless viticultural revolution, the maestro proved once again that international grape varieties do not become commonplace wines on the Galestro and Alberese soils of Isole e Olena, but express their new home in every drop. Only 10,000 0.75-litre bottles and 240 magnums were produced from the south-west-facing vineyards at altitudes between 350 and 400 metres. The 2019 benefits from an almost ideal vintage: mild winters, balanced rainfall in spring and a classically dry Tuscan summer produced grapes of exceptional concentration and elegance. 24 months in French barriques, forty per cent of them new, followed by three years of bottle ageing – this patience creates a wine of impressive complexity.

Luce is the iconic wine of the estate of the same name and symbolises the harmonious balance between the elegant structure of Sangiovese and the richness of Merlot. The wine marries the tradition and terroir of the Montalcino region with a personal interpretation of this extraordinary land.

In 1977, a 34-year-old manager from Bergamo came to the Tuscan coast. Pier Mario Meletti Cavallari had had enough of balance sheets and meetings – the wine journalist Luigi Veronelli had persuaded him that his place was among the vines, not in offices. What he found: a piece of land without electricity, without running water, overgrown and forgotten. Only the name reminded him of a distant past: Grattamacco – the slag heaps of the Etruscans, who smelted iron here two and a half thousand years ago. Five years later, in 1982, Meletti Cavallari bottled his first wine – as a simple Vino da Tavola, three years before Ornellaia even existed.

There are places in this world that seem destined by a higher power to produce the extraordinary. The Oratorio di San Lorenzo is one such place – a small valley nestled in the rolling hills of the Colli Berici, where monks have lived in silent contemplation for centuries and where Stefano Inama has now completed his life's work. Here, in the shadow of a small 16th century chapel dedicated to St Laurence, only the very best vintages produce a wine that is more than any other: Oratorio di San Lorenzo – inama's red masterpiece and perhaps the purest expression of Carménère outside Chile. The story of this wine is one of vision and passion. When Stefano Inama decided to add red wines to his white empire in the late 1990s, chance led him to a sip from a nameless glass – that legendary moment of "love at first taste" that changed his life. The wine came from Carménère grapes, the almost forgotten Bordeaux variety that had been brought to the iron-rich red soils of the Colli Berici by French emigrants in the mid-19th century. Stefano immediately recognised the potential of this grape variety on this special terroir and acquired the twelve-hectare valley around the Oratorio in two tranches – an investment in the future that proved to be brilliant.

In 1994, an unusually large number of Bolgheri figures gathered at once beneath the holm oak at Grattamacco: among them were Michele Satta, Piero and Lodovico Antinori, as well as the host, Piermario Meletti Cavallari. A photograph captures the gathering. Meletti Cavallari, a wine connoisseur and close friend of Veronelli, had taken over the estate in 1977. He had the orchards cleared and planted vines in white, barren soil that was difficult to work: Vermentino, a rarity in the area at the time, along with Sangiovese and Bordeaux varieties. The first vintage was released in 1982; in 1994, shortly after the rules for the appellation were introduced, Grattamacco became the first estate to bottle a Bolgheri Rosso. It has been owned by Claudio Tipa since 2002 and is now part of the ColleMassari group.

Mazzei's top wine Siepi is not only an outstanding Tuscan wine every year, but also a 6-hectare vineyard in the middle of dense oak forests with an ideal altitude and a unique climate. The sunshine is optimal throughout the day and a constant breeze from the west prevents excessive heat and creates a mild, Mediterranean climate. The oak forests also provide an ideal protective barrier against extreme weather conditions. Rocky soils of marl, limestone and clay from the Pliocene period ensure a special balance of elements in this geological complex.

Romano Dal Forno started out in 1983 with a proposition that he has proven every vintage since: a Valpolicella can compete with the greatest wines in the world. He learnt this from Giuseppe Quintarelli. He internalised it in the Val d'Illasi, where his vines grow on alluvial gravel and clay, at up to 450 metres, with a planting density that makes every yield a rarity. Valpolicella Superiore does not begin fermentation – it begins with six weeks of appassimento. Corvina, Corvinone, Croatina, Oseleta and Rondinella dry slowly in the air of the lodoletta, losing water and gaining soul. Then: controlled fermentation in steel tanks, 36 months in new French and American oak barriques, years of ageing in the bottle.

Three generations bear this name: The grandfather, who always encouraged Giampaolo Motta in his wine dreams. The son who carries on the torch. And in between, this wine, the highest expression of a man who left the leather goods business of his Neapolitan family to create his Bordeaux in the Conca d'Oro of Panzano. The "Golden Basin" – cultivated since 1490, planted with Merlot and Cabernet for almost 400 years – became Motta's stage in 1992. He experimented with Chianti Classico for ten years, then the break: he left the Consorzio because the rules stood in the way of his vision. "I wasn't really happy with the result after ten years of work," he explained laconically. What followed was pure consistency – and, since 2008, a partnership with Stéphane Derenoncourt, perhaps the most influential consultant on the right bank of Bordeaux.

Mazzei's top wine Siepi is not only an outstanding Tuscan wine every year, but also a 6-hectare vineyard in the middle of dense oak forests with an ideal altitude and a unique climate. The sunshine is optimal throughout the day and a constant breeze from the west prevents excessive heat and creates a mild, Mediterranean climate. The oak forests also provide an ideal protective barrier against extreme weather conditions. Rocky soils of marl, limestone and clay from the Pliocene period ensure a special balance of elements in this geological complex.

Not every year gets a name. 2016 has earned it – and Montalcino does not award such honours lightly. A mild winter, a spring with heavy rainfall that got the growing season back on track. Then, from the second decade of June, a gradual, gentle rise in temperatures throughout July. And finally an August that brought everything together: large daily temperature fluctuations, no rain, perfect ripening conditions. The Consorzio called 2016 one of its best vintages in decades. And Col d'Orcia turned the best site into a Riserva. The Poggio al Vento vineyard is located in the heart of the Tenuta, halfway up the hill above the Orcia Valley, at 350 metres. Planted since 1974. The name – "hill in the wind" – is the programme: constantly ventilated, south-facing, on calcareous, skeleton-rich soils. Grapes are grown here that Col d'Orcia reserves for the most demanding category in the cellar, and even then only when the vintage poses the question: Is this more than a Brunello annata? Can this wine last for decades? In 2016, the answer was yes.

Masari only brings its famous Merlot to the cellar and bottle in the best years. Dark, deep garnet red in colour. Aromas of black, ripe fruit with spices, balsamic herbs, aniseed and liquorice on the nose. Well and firmly structured on the palate with silky tannins and a wonderful mouthfeel. Despite its maturity, it appears much younger as it has a harmonious acid wire on the finish. 100% Merlot - 100% terroir. SUPERIORE.DE

Cepparello – named after the small stream that rises at the highest point of the Isole e Olena vineyards. Since 1980, this name has embodied Paolo De Marchis's revolutionary vision, at a time when 100% Sangiovese was still taboo in Chianti Classico. With this wine, the Piedmontese visionary not only created one of the first Super Tuscans, but also what is arguably the most authentic portrait of the Sangiovese grape – pure, uncompromising, unadulterated. The Sangiovese vines grow on the estate's finest plots, facing south-west at an altitude of 400 to 480 metres, on the characteristic Galestro soils. These schist-rich clay soils lend the wine its unmistakable minerality and elegance. The 2020 vintage embodies De Marchi's signature style in its purest form. Following a mild, dry winter and a sudden drop in temperature in March – which required the utmost vigilance against frost damage – a classic Tuscan summer ensued. Dry and mild until the end of August, followed by scattered showers before the weather settled in September – ideal conditions for grapes of exceptional quality and quantity.

A beautiful, very sensual, feminine wine that is only vinified in the best vintages. Exquisitely flavoured with dark fruit, elegant and fine on the palate with plenty of fruit and length. It was named after the nickname once given to the young wild Clerico by his father: Aeroplan Servaj - wild aeroplane. And the labelling of the six bottles is just as wild and creative, but see for yourself! SUPERIORE.DE

The single vineyard Il Bricco, situated on both sides of the hilltop, the highest point is about 410 metres above sea level. Family-owned since the 1970s, you can expect great things every year. 2020 brought a stable summer, with a precise cooling in September and cool nights until the harvest. The result is very healthy, aromatically ripe grapes with clear fruit and balanced acidity – charming on the palate, yet precise and persistent. After separate fermentation of the batches in stainless steel, the wine is matured traditionally in large barrels and a moderate proportion of barrique is used for texture.

In the year 994, the son of the Lombard king Berengario presented what is now Gagliole to his bride – a token of love whose legacy lives on in the vineyards to this day. The Pecchia, named after the Old Tuscan word for "bee", embodies the essence of this legendary terroir from Panzano's Conca d'Oro. Here, at an altitude of 500 metres on the north-western edge of the golden valley, the purest Sangiovese thrives on that rare Pietraforte limestone which lends Gagliole's wines their unmistakable minerality. "Vinificazione integrale" – a process developed in 2002 by Baron, France's oldest cooperage – is what makes this wine so special. Whole bunches of grapes ferment in specially designed barriques with enlarged openings, allowing every hint of aroma from the hand-picked berries to infuse the wine. Eighteen months in French oak, followed by a further eight months in concrete tanks and at least one year's bottle ageing, create a depth and complexity that is only possible in the very best vintages.

The fruit for this top-class Barolo, which is exceptional not only because of its six different labels, comes from the MGA Baudana in Serralunga d'Alba, whose vines were planted in 1994. Aeroplan Servaj (little aeroplane) is the affectionate nickname that Domenico Clerico's father gave his young, free-spirited son. Exciting bouquet of wild cherry, candied orange peel, ploughed earth and rusty nails. There is a subtle sweetness in the primary fruit, but the wine is mainly defined by its very refined, rich and savoury side. As it progresses into an impressive finish, it offers impeccable balance and straightforwardness. SUPERIORE.DE

Podernovi is San Polo's great single-vineyard Brunello. Ruby red colour with light garnet reflections. On the nose, floral aromas of violets, cyclamen and jasmine, notes of fresh fruit and spicy notes. In the mouth, round, full of harmony and with a good structure and acidity, as well as very soft tannins that show excellent persistence overall. A wine of almost endless length, depth and with a distinct character that lingers in the memory. SUPERIORE.DE

Barolo Ornato is a great wine every year. With its wild herbs, minerals and ferrous notes, it captures the true character of Serralunga. Its bouquet shows small berry fruits and cassis, framed by gravel, forest floor, blue flowers and candied orange peel. The wine also has a dusty, mineral note and is very intense both on the nose and on the palate. Ornato starts with finely integrated tannins and an acidity that sustains all these fruit flavours. A wine that is consistently vertical, straightforward and frontal. SUPERIORE.DE