Veronelli

Within the walls of history. The Castello di Bolgheri, built in 1796 and thus the oldest winery in Bolgheri, sits enthroned in the heart of the medieval village like a stone witness to great wine culture. While the world of wine underwent its revolutionary transformation around the Castello – sassicaia and Ornellaia wrote their legendary stories –a treasure lay dormant here that only awoke to its true destiny under Count Federico Zileri Dal Verme. The blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc and 5% Merlot not only represents the art of blending, but also the philosophy of the house: finesse over power, elegance over opulence. While the best parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon underwent an exceptionally long maceration of 30 days – only possible in exceptional vintages –the wine matured for 20 months in traditional Italian vats and Liters barrels. This choice of large wooden barrels, a deliberate departure from the small barriques of its neighbours, gives the wine the crystalline purity and mineral depth that makes the Castello the "Château Margaux of Bolgheri".

The name is history. Sapaio – an old Tuscan grape variety, long forgotten, but not its memory. When Massimo Piccin founded his winery in 1999, he chose this name as a sign of his deep connection to the terroir. A tribute to what was and a promise of what was to come. The vineyards extend over the municipalities of Bibbona and Castagneto Carducci, 40 hectares on quaternary deposits, from loose, coarse-grained sand deposits to alluvial soils with calcareous subsoil. Just ten kilometres from the sea, a microclimate that brings Bordeaux varieties to life. Since 2015, Piccin has been going his own way: instead of the prestigious Bolgheri Superiore DOCG, he deliberately chooses the free IGT Toscana, just to be able to add the handful of grapes from Bibbona that make Sapaio what it is today. Sometimes greatness means renouncing titles and regulations.

Like a precious legacy, this wine rests in the history of the patrician Serristori family, who acquired the land of Donoratico in 1512 and built the magnificent villa in 1660. Today, from the shadow of these historic walls springs a wine that bears the soul of the Tuscan Maremma – where the salty whisper of the Tyrrhenian Sea meets the warm hills of Bolgheri. In the vineyards of Argentiera, the DOC Bolgheri estate closest to the coast and at the same time the highest, the grapes ripen between the Mediterranean scrub and the endless blue of the archipelago. Here, on just twelve hectares of the Villa Donoratico site, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot take root in sandy and rocky soils, while the subsoil is criss-crossed by marine flysch rock, a geological memory of seas long past.

Sauvignon Bianco Rachtl comes from a small micro-location of just 0.4 hectares. It gets its fine flint and graphite nose from the porphyry soils near Unteraicha in the municipality of Völs. Very subtle on the palate with fine saline acidity, fresh fruit and a long-lasting finish. If you can call one of the 2,000 bottles of this vintage your own, you can count yourself lucky! SUPERIORE.DE

This is the top wine from Il Poggione, and it is a must for anyone who collects wines from this famous vineyard. The estate's oldest parcel, Vigna Paganelli, is a 12-hectare vineyard that was planted back in 1964. It boasts a rich variety of old Sangiovese clones, which are used for the newer plantings.

Sauvignon Bianco Rachtl comes from a small micro-location of just 0.4 hectares. It gets its fine flint and graphite nose from the porphyry soils near Unteraicha in the municipality of Völs. Very subtle on the palate with fine saline acidity, fresh fruit and a long-lasting finish. If you can call one of the 2,000 bottles of this vintage your own, you can count yourself lucky! SUPERIORE.DE

Querciabella's Riserva, with an annual production of 10,000 bottles, is a selection of the best lots. It blends fruit from Greve, where the vineyards lie between 350 and 550 metres above sea level, with grapes from the stony high altitudes of Radda and the chalky soils of Gaiole. Tantalising aromas of spring flowers, cranberries and potting soil are accompanied by vanilla and smoke. On the palate, it is polished and pure, with a delicious, tangy acidity and sinewy tannins. As every year, one of the most refined wines of the appellation. SUPERIORE.DE

Vernaccia di Oristano Antico Gregori Riserva was not only named dessert wine of the year in Gambero Rosso 2021 (1976 vintage), but was also bottled in this 1979 vintage edition. As it was possible to bottle a little more this year than in other years, the usual assemblage of the best vintages of the last century was dispensed with this year. Nonetheless, or perhaps precisely because of this, it is, as always, a breathtaking wine that leaves nothing to be desired in terms of intensity, maturity and depth! SUPERIORE.DE

Crosara Breganze 2017 is a textbook Merlot: full of ripe dark fruits, blackberry pie, liquorice, chocolate, toasted oak and grilled herbs. Offering superb inner sweetness, it is both powerful and elegant, with a lush, super-soft mouthfeel. Pleasingly, a wonderfully focused mineral component saves the wine from ever being overdone. SUPERIORE.DE

Gabbro, produced in small quantities of just 2,500 bottles each year, is the essence of Montepeloso's finest Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, the vines are over 40 years old. Impressively complex bouquet of dark fruits, smoke and grilled vegetables. Powerful and muscular on the palate, revealing its pedigree and great class. Exquisite, complex, nuanced, persistent, long ... Gabbro really does offer everything you need for an unforgettable wine experience at world-class Cabernet level. SUPERIORE.DE

Gewürztraminer is named after Tramin. This is not a marketing story – this is etymology. The name of the world's most famous aromatic grape variety bears the village itself, where Hofstätter has been based since 1907. And the Kolbenhof plot is located above Tramin, in the hamlet of Söll, on an eastern slope between 360 and 420 metres above sea level – one of the most historic estates in the entire village. This is where the Bolzano quartz porphyry slab meets the limestone of the Mendelzug. A geological interface that does not exist in this form anywhere else in the South Tyrolean wine-growing region. The soils with a high clay content absorb the warmth of the morning sun – the Kolbenhof is exposed to the east, protected from the midday heat – and slowly release it again. Cool, structured, elegant. This is the opposite of a sweetish mass-produced spiced Traminer: dryness with character.

Troy – in the language of the South Tyrolean ancestors, it means ‘path’ – the path that Cantina Tramin has followed over decades to create one of Italy’s most exceptional Chardonnays. A path of exploration, experimentation and patience. For complex Chardonnays from high-altitude Alpine vineyards are a rarity – and that is precisely where the appeal lies; that is precisely where the challenge begins. At altitudes of 500 to 550 metres, where the Mediterranean heat of the day and cold downdrafts from the mountains clash in stark contrast, 25-year-old Chardonnay vines take root in calcareous gravel and loam over porphyry. South-east-facing slopes, Guyot and pergola training systems, just 38 hectolitres per hectare – each berry is inspected individually during the hand-harvest in October. This is followed by whole-bunch pressing: the grapes are gently pressed together with their stems and stalks, an archaic method that lends structure and depth. Both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation take place in French barriques. The wine rests on its fine lees in the wood for eleven months before being transferred to small stainless-steel tanks, where it spends a further 22 months on the lees – a total of 33 months’ ageing, before four months’ bottle ageing completes the process.

Some wines embody the history of an entire movement. Camartina is one of that handful of Tuscan icons that changed everything in the early 1980s – those rebellious Super Tuscans that paid no heed to the strict rules of Chianti Classico and instead pursued their own vision of greatness. 1981 saw the birth of Camartina, and with this wine, Querciabella not only laid the foundations for its own success but also made Italian wine history. The name itself says it all: a fusion of "Casaocci" – the first office on the first hectare of vineyard – and "Martina", the younger daughter of Giuseppe Castiglioni, the visionary founder. What began as a Sangiovese-dominated blend has undergone a fascinating evolution over the decades. Today, Cabernet Sauvignon is the clear protagonist, accounting for seventy per cent, whilst Sangiovese, at thirty per cent, contributes that elegant Tuscan linearity which sets Camartina apart from other Super Tuscans. The reason lies in the vineyards of Ruffoli near Greve in Chianti, where Cabernet has found a home on the arid sandstone soils that lend it an unusual finesse – lighter, more refined and sophisticated than elsewhere.

Pajana - most modern wine of the entire Clerico range - presents itself closed, compressed and with great potential. Rich ruby with a light garnet rim. Compact nose, showing rich notes of blackberry, dark cherries, a little cinchona bark in the background. Explodes literally on the palate, lots of ripe, present fruit, then opens up with lots of fine-meshed tannin, salty depth, rich pressure. SUPERIORE.DE

Impressive, very complex aroma of tar, smoke, liquorice, scorched earth, dark fruits and pebbles. With some aeration, dark, rich red fruits, exotic spices and smoked bacon. Very virile, dark and muscular on the palate, with an exciting contrast of austerity and extract sweetness. The opulence and intensity of the flavours and the still monumental tannins give an idea of what a great red with a strong personality is maturing here in the bottle. SUPERIORE.DE

Deep in the south-east of Monforte d'Alba is the historic Mosconi vineyard, whose reputation was already recognised by experts in the 19th century. It is one of the oldest known cru parcels in the Barolo region and was noted in early vineyard maps of the region as being particularly suitable for long-lasting, full-bodied wines. Its steep, south-west facing slopes have always been known for concentrated, powerful Nebbiolo wines. On a subsoil of compact, calcareous marl, criss-crossed by iron-rich veins, the vines are deeply rooted – a terroir that gives the grapes structure, warmth and distinctive flavour. The 2021 vintage showed its best face here: sunny days and cool nights ensured slow, complete ripening, while a dry autumn made hand-picking possible under ideal conditions. The grapes arrived in the cellar in perfect health, where they were vinified with respect for their origin. Around 24 months of ageing in French oak polished the structure without overshadowing the clear fruit character.

A wine of remarkable aromatic complexity. Amarone aficionados know how many allusions these wines are capable of evoking, and it is not difficult to discern mushrooms, forest undergrowth, truffles, Havana leaves and even wild violets in this wine's aromatic profile, as well as the usual confit cherries and plums. In the mouth, the wine is remarkably concentrated yet elegant, carrying this bundle of allusions effortlessly and seamlessly through the palate. The fine pearly tannins give it support and the concentration of fruit is so great that the acidity almost fades into the background. A dense, polished and stately wine of the highest calibre. SUPERIORE.DE

Tasca got involved in Etna early on and the latest result of these years of experience are four new single vineyard wines from the Tascante estate: Contrada Rampante, Pianodario, Sciaranuova and Sciaranuova Vigna Vecchia (V.V.). The wines are delicate and profound, and despite their power, acidity and taut tannin, very elegant, finesse-rich and light-footed on the palate. Each of the four plots brings a slightly different style and personality to the wine - due to the altitude, soil composition and morphology of the historic lava flows. A high annual rainfall ensures that the soil has all the water it needs, and the temperature fluctuations between day and night support the aromatic diversity of the grapes and ultimately the ripening potential.

Contrada Sciaranuova Vecchie Vigne is the most concentrated, broodingvoice from the Sciaranuova vineyard - a Nerello Mascalese from vines over 80 years old, grown at an altitude of 730 metres on the northern flank of Mount Etna. The ungrafted vines stand in an amphitheatre of dark, sandy volcanic ash, interspersed with basalt rock and characterised by enormous day-night amplitude. The 2019 vintage was one of the most balanced of the decade: a rainy spring was followed by a moderately warm summer and a dry autumn, which allowed for a late, very differentiated harvest.

Sergio Zenato died in 2004. In the 1960s, he founded a winery on Lake Garda that gave the Turbiana grapes of Lugana a platform they had never known before – and then, step by step, expanded into the hills of Valpolicella Classico. This Riserva bears his name because it embodies the very best that Sergio Zenato strove for. It is produced only in the finest vintages, from a rigorous selection of the oldest vines in the municipality of Sant'Ambrogio, in the heart of Valpolicella Classico. Sant'Ambrogio lies at the south-western tip of the Classico zone, near Lake Garda. The lake's waters temper the climate, slow down ripening and give the vines a balance not found on the more distant hills. Corvina and Rondinella, complemented by Oseleta, that almost forgotten indigenous Valpolicella variety which was only saved from extinction in the 1990s.

Elena Fucci's exceptional Titolo wine is already built for the long haul in its "basic version". It will continue its steady development for at least the next 20 years, which is why it is particularly enjoyable when aged in magnum format. Dark ruby red in colour, the bouquet has aromas of ripe red fruit and a fine woody spice. The wine is assembled with enormous precision, offering a balanced intensity and a beautiful degree of fruit purity that speaks both in favour of the Aglianico grape and the extreme region that produces it. Titolo impresses with its fine texture and elegantly integrated tannins. This is the kind of masterful Aglianico performance we love. SUPERIORE.DE

Ginestra is a large and beautiful vineyard site in Monforte d'Alba, bathed in morning light and offering a panoramic view of the castle of Serralunga d'Alba. The flagship wine of the house with great personality and balance. The bouquet is multi-layered and multi-dimensional with dark purple, balsamic fruit on the one hand and impressive notes of spices, tar and tobacco on the other. In the glass, the Sori Ginestra is characterised by a pronounced, strong backbone of taut tannins and an acidity that leaves nothing to be desired for this cru in terms of structure, completeness and longevity. SUPERIORE.DE

The Vigna Sorì Ginestra cru parcel stands proudly overlooking the rolling hills of Monforte d'Alba – one of the vineyards on which Conterno Fantino bases his entire winemaking art, true to the motto: "Il Barolo è il vino che ha fatto la nostra storia." (Barolo is the wine that made our history). The 2021 vintage, widely celebrated as one of the best of the decade, brought ideal conditions: a balanced ripening climate, cool nights paired with sun-drenched days. Hand-picking was carried out in mid-October – carefully selected, absolutely ripe. The ageing – around 24 months in French oak – was carefully chosen to anchor depth and elegance without masking the typical freshness of this unique Ginestra site.

1,900 bottles of this 0.8 ha Cabernet Franc single vineyard "Campo di Tenaglia" (at an altitude of approx. 550m, mainly limestone) reach the specialised trade and the menus of the best restaurants worldwide. Impenetrable, dark wine with a bouquet of flint, crushed minerals and some chalk. The texture is rich and opulent, but always supple with a hint of minerality. Campo di Tenaglia is one of the juiciest Cabernet Francs we have ever had in the glass. Beautiful, long final and certainly great Storage potential. SUPERIORE.DE