VINOUS

Barolo Cerretta Vigna Bricco Riserva 2018 comes from an exposed, high-altitude parcel in Serralunga d'Alba. The soils here are characterised by calcareous marl with iron- and manganese-rich inclusions, which give the wine an unmistakable, cool radiance and distinctive tannin structure. The south-east orientation ensures even sunshine, while cool night winds preserve the aromatic precision of the grapes. The 2018 vintage was characterised by a mild spring, followed by a warm but not extremely hot summer, which allowed the Nebbiolo to ripen gently and evenly. The harvest was not carried out until October, selectively and by hand, in order to bring in only perfectly ripe harvest. The wine was matured for 30 months in barriques, a small proportion of which were new, followed by several years of ageing in the bottle, as required by the Riserva status.

Barolo Ornato is a great wine every year. It captures the true character of Serralunga with its wild herbs, minerals and ferruginous notes. 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 intense on both the nose and palate. Ornato sets in with finely integrated tannins and an acidity that sustains all these fruit flavours. A wine that is consistently vertical, straightforward and frontal. SUPERIORE.DE

Filo di Seta is produced in small batches and is an impressive wine. With only 4,000 bottles produced, it reflects the extreme power and depth that can be achieved in this cooler microclimate of Montalcino. The vineyards are located on steep slopes and surrounded by dense forest and vegetation. One cannot help but detect a wild and thorny element in this wine, reminiscent of forest floor, truffles and autumnal foliage. These pretty accents add complexity to the solid core of dark fruit. The powerful mouthfeel is polished and dense. SUPERIORE.DE

Bright, powerful ruby colour, aromas of cherry, redcurrant, cocoa and tar. Juicy, spicy and bright, with firm acidity and taut tannins that give it definition and lift to the flavours. Very fresh and precise, persistent and smooth. It has outstanding potential. If you taste the decades-old wines from Mastroberardino (dating back to 1928), it becomes clear: these wines are monumental, immortal or at least for eternity. SUPERIORE.DE

A wine with origin and signature: The grapes come from the renowned Scarrone vineyard directly below Castiglione Falletto – a warm south-east exposure with calcareous marl soils. Vietti cultivates the vineyard organically and vinifies the Vigna Scarrone with respect for the grape variety and terroir. Temperature-controlled maceration is followed by ageing in large barrels and used barriques – an approach that promotes both structure and elegance.

Dark ruby purple in colour, with a blackcurrant aroma and an outstanding length, firm tannins, fine extract sweetness and a pronounced spicy note on the final. We are excited to see what elegant heights this great Tuscan Merlot will reach in the coming years.

"This is probably not ONE Valpolicella, but THE Valpolicella", wrote one critic about this wine – and hit the nail on the head. Giuseppe Quintarelli has created a monument from a DOC that was often dismissed as a light everyday wine. His method is radical: half of the grapes – corvina, Rondinella and Corvinone grapes from the vineyards in Negrar – in wooden crates for two months, as with Amarone. The other half is processed fresh. After the harvest, a three-day maceration with wild yeasts takes place, then the wine rests on the fine lees and undergoes a second fermentation. What follows is a patience that seems almost forgotten today: six years of ageing in large Slavonian oak barrels. Quintarelli only releases his wines when they are truly ready – never before.

Volpaia – the foxhole. High above Radda in Chianti, at 450 to 650 metres above sea level, the vineyards of Castello di Volpaia are located on the highest slopes of the appellation. The medieval borgo, first mentioned in a document in 1172, has belonged to the Mascheroni-Stianti family since 1966, who consistently farm organically here. The altitude shapes the character: sandstone soils, cool nights and long ripening periods give the Sangiovese (supplemented by 10% Merlot) a freshness and elegance that would be hard to achieve in warmer locations. Fermented with indigenous yeasts, matured for twelve months in large oak barrels.

The St. Michael-Eppan winery began crowning selected varietal wines for the first time with the 2015 vintage. Only just over 3,000 bottles of these top selections are sold worldwide each year. In 2019, the choice again fell on a single-varietal Sauvignon Bianco from the best grapes from selected micro-locations. Gentle pressing with 3 days of skin contact, followed by 12 months of fermentation in tonneau and a further 15 months on the fine lees in stainless steel tanks give it a unique depth and finesse. After a further 9 months in the bottle, it is released for sale.

The fact that one of Italy's most fascinating white wines is produced in the kingdom of Nebbiolo is one of the most beautiful paradoxes of Piedmont. Even more paradoxical: it grows on Pira, the legendary monopoly position that is actually reserved for monumental Barolo. Luca Roagna has planted Chardonnay here, not far from the new winery – a statement of freedom in the midst of tradition. 80% Chardonnay and 20% white Nebbiolo make up the cuvée in the 2023. The vinification follows old European principles: Pre-fermentative oxidation, then spontaneous fermentation in wooden vats with the vineyard's own yeasts for ten days. Matured for two years on the fine lees in neutral oak – without any racking.

Il Bricco rises above Treiso to an altitude of around 400 metres. The vines are on average around four decades old. Selective hand-picking, parcel-by-parcel fermentation in stainless steel, patient malolactic fermentation. Maturation takes place predominantly in large oak barrels, accompanied by a smaller proportion of French oak for additional polish. 2019 is considered a textbook year in Barbaresco: a moderate summer, large day-night amplitudes and a long, dry autumn led to a late harvest and fully mature phenolics. The wines show density and vertical tension with excellent freshness – a profile with staying power.

Brilliant, dark ruby colour. Deep bouquet of rich blackberry and cherry flavours with mentholated herbal notes that give it lift, while notes of cedar and clove develop in the glass. On the palate, the wine is a pure silk that slowly lays over the palate, with an admirable density and weight balanced by bright acidity and minerality. This still very young wine is full of potential with a core of dark primary fruit that already offers a good foretaste of the charm of later years. A finely woven tannin structure on the long final. Wonderful ageing potential. SUPERIORE.DE

In just a few years, Alessandro Mori's wines have made Il Marroneto one of Montalcino's most famous wineries. Today, he runs the company together with his son Jacopo. The wines reflect their passionate, simple and outspoken character, which appears reserved and austere at first glance, but slowly opens up to reveal a harmonious synthesis of elegance and power. In 2019, he decided to produce a selection from some of his best grapes - named after his son Jacopo - and in such small quantities that we are the only ones on the German market to be allocated a few cases. SUPERIORE.DE

The grapes come from the historic single vineyard Ornato in Serralunga d'Alba: steep, windy slopes on calcareous marl with ferruginous inclusions, at an altitude of around 350-400 metres, predominantly south/south-west facing. Each parcel is harvested separately and fermented in stainless steel; long maceration with gentle extraction. Maturation takes place classically in large Slavonian barrels, with a finely dosed proportion of French oak for texture and lustre. The typically long autumn of 2019 brought fully ripe, aromatically dense grapes with a cool acidity.

In the Montebuoni vineyard, high above the hills between Gaiole and Radda, a wine is produced whose name embodies a poetic philosophy. Haiku – the traditional Japanese verse form in three lines, whose power lies in its allusion to nature and which requires clear thinking and imagination. Marco Pallanti and Lorenza Sebasti did not choose this name by chance: like a perfect haiku, their wine combines three elements into a harmonious whole that captures the essence of Tuscan nature in its conciseness. The story of Haiku begins in 2009 with the acquisition of the Montebuoni vineyard, the replanting of which had already been completed in 2001. Three noble grape varieties found their ideal expression on these calcareous soils at an altitude of around 500 metres: 50 percent Sangiovese as Tuscan soul, 25 percent Cabernet Franc as Burgundian elegance and 25 percent Merlot as Bordeaux opulence. This tripartite division not only reflects the classic Haiku structure, but also Marco Pallanti's vision of a perfect balance between regional authenticity and international flair.

First bottled in 1967, Roncaglie (formerly Barbaresco Masseria) comes from a vineyard in Bricco di Neive and is essentially vinified and aged like a Barolo. Since the 2018 vintage, it now comes from a small parcel that used to belong to the Socré Barbaresco winery and is now deliberately released a year later to ensure greater harmony and balance. Floral and spicy notes merge with a core of rich, generous fruit in a generous Barbaresco based on pure resonance. Barbaresco Roncaglie is vinified and matured in the same way as Vietti's single-vineyard Barolos. This means long fermentation, six months in French oak and more than two years in barrique. This, together with the broad shoulders of Neive, results in a noble Nebbiolo with clear hints of Barolo and impressive depth. SUPERIORE.DE

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.

The 1.6-hectare Loreto vineyard is located on a slope right next to the winery and has an ideal south-east exposure. Vigna Loreto is only vinified in the best vintages and is an even more intense interpretation of the Sangiovese grape. On the palate, the texture is both creamy and robust, with a depth and fullness that make it very rich and exceptional. With further aeration, beautiful notes of black fruits, tobacco and spices. Aristocratic, powerful and very long. SUPERIORE.DE

In the vineyards of Torano Nuovo, where the hills of northern Abruzzo lie between the Gran Sasso and the Adriatic Sea, the pepfamily's Trebbiano vines are over 50 years old. Their roots burrow down through the top 40 centimetres of loamy soil into the massive limestone rock that gives this area its mineral character. The temperature fluctuations between day and night, guaranteed by the proximity to the mountain massif, promote the development of intense flavours, while the sea breezes from the Adriatic give the Trebbiano the minerality and saltiness that make it so unmistakable. This Trebbiano Abruzzese – a unique clone that is clearly different from the inferior Trebbiano Toscano – delivers in this "Selezione Vecchie Vigne" the pure essence of what the Abruzzo terroir can produce in white wine.

The single-vineyard Barbaresco Riserva Ovello is, as always, one of the outstanding wines in this series. It shows the energy and tension so typical of this site, but with a slightly more mature profile than is the norm. Ovello dives straight into the volatile Nebbiolo aromas, with a focus on liquorice, tar, blue flowers and campfire ash. The palate is full-bodied, with flavours of crushed raspberries, juicy Marasca cherries, liquorice and nutmeg as well as firm, tight-knit tannins. The fresh acidity provides tension and balance. Looking at the timeline of Riserva wines, this wine reaches the magical threshold at which Nebbiolo begins to unfold its unique aromatic appeal and mystique ... SUPERIORE.DE

The Romanesque Pieve di San Marcellino was built in the year 1000. It still stands today – in the middle of the vineyards of Rocca di Montegrossi, seven kilometres south of Gaiole, at the southern tip of the Chianti Classico. The vineyard bears its name. And the vines that surround it are older than most of the appellations that appear on labels today. Marco Ricasoli-Firidolfi is a descendant of Baron Bettino Ricasoli – the "Iron Baron" who defined the formula for Chianti Classico in the 19th century. Not as a marketing idea, but as a genetic link to this soil. The vineyard has been certified organic since 2010 and has been planted with Pugnitello alongside Sangiovese since 2006 – an autochthonous Tuscan grape variety that was almost extinct in the 1980s. Pugnitello deepens the colour, thickens the structure and sharpens the profile of the Sangiovese grape. Hand-picked, separate fermentation of both varieties on wild yeasts in upright wooden tanks, 24 months in Allier barriques and tonneau, bottled unfiltered. Only produced in outstanding vintages – the 2020 is one of them.

When Sergio Rossi took over Podere Colombaio from the Biondi-Santi family in 1976, nobody could have guessed that the Milanese advertising expert would become one of the architects of modern Montalcino. He was one of the 24 founders of the Consorzio, one of the first 35 Brunello bottlers of an appellation that will number over 250 by 2024. What he brought with him: the legendary Sangiovese clones of Biondi-Santi, planted on marl and limestone in Canalicchio – vines that are now over forty years old. Brunello 2020 unites two souls: the cool elegance of the north from the historic Canalicchio parcels and the sun-kissed vigour of Castelnuovo dell'Abate in the south. The wine rests for three years in large Slavonian barrels and a further eight months in the bottle – time that you can taste.

Vigna San Marcellino Gran Selezione is both youthfully fresh and ripe and complexly muscular. It contains a healthy dose of the deeply coloured Pugnitello grape, and on the nose liquorice, tarragon and broom mingle with lush plum and subtle roasted aromas that are highly seductive in their complexity. Deep, taut and lively on the palate, loaded with black cherry and rich, velvety tannins. The texture is silky, while subtle chalky notes and a salty minerality give it plenty of energy and lead it into a juicy, refreshing finish. Vigna San Marcellino is a convincing wine with enormous ageing potential every year. SUPERIORE.DE

As always, Castiglione is mainly based on grapes from Ravera, with smaller portions from Ginestra, Mosconi, Bricco Ravera (in Monforte), Le Coste, Costabelle, Meriame, Briccolina and Codana. Every year it is a dazzling wine that shows how convincing even an "entry-level wine" from a top producer can be. Rich, voluptuous and explosive, it has enormous fullness and resonance from the very first sip. On the nose, bright red cherry and plum fruit, wild flowers, mint, blood orange and spices. Its silky tannins are accompanied by a beautiful, mentholated brightness. A real charmer! SUPERIORE.DE