Wine

Now in its 30th vintage, it has long been an icon of modern Sicilian winemaking: Planeta’s Chardonnay combines the tradition of French grape varieties with the sun-drenched terroir of the south, producing one of Italy’s most distinctive white wines year after year. The grapes come from two different altitudes: Ulmo at 250 metres and Maroccoli at 415 metres above sea level. In the glass, it is a radiant golden yellow with slightly greenish highlights. The aroma is intense and refined: yellow tropical fruits, toasted almonds, citrus blossom, vanilla, wet stone and a hint of salty butter. On the palate, it is dense and full-bodied, with ripe fruit, a perfect balance between freshness and creaminess, subtle spice and a long, elegant finish. A cult wine that combines Mediterranean richness with Burgundian nobility. Ideal with lobster, fried fish, poultry in butter sauce, or on its own as a great white wine with real character. SUPERIORE.DE

In 1967, Sergio Manetti, a Milanese industrialist and passionate art collector, bought an abandoned estate in the hills of Radda in Chianti. He knew little about wine. He knew a great deal about quality. And he decided early on that his wine would make no compromises – —not even those demanded by the appellation. When the Chianti Classico DOCG stipulated that white grapes must be blended in, Manetti refused. From then on, his wine was called Toscana IGT. Not for lack of pride in Chianti – but because he had too much of it. What grows at Montevertine are the three indigenous reds of Chianti: Sangiovese as the soul, Canaiolo for elegance, Colorino for colour and structure. No additions, no international compromises. Martino Manetti, Sergio’s son, runs the estate with the same conviction: “Simplicity, respect, care for every detail and savoir-faire” – is how the estate itself describes its philosophy. Words that sound simple, yet are so difficult to put into practice.

The famous Castello della Sala is situated on a hill above Orvieto – a medieval stronghold surrounded by woods and olive groves, deep in the Umbrian silence. The Marchesi Antinori have owned it for generations, but what made it a wine legend was the first Cervaro della Sala in 1985: a white wine that was conceived as a red wine – barrique fermentation, malolactic fermentation, long breath. Making a white wine that would last for decades was not a matter of course in Italy at the time. But it became one. The vinification follows a principle that Renzo Cotarella once formulated and that still applies today: as little intervention as possible. The Castello winery works with gravity – no mechanical pumps, no unnecessary stress for the grapes. The harvest begins in the early hours of the morning when the temperatures are still cool. The Chardonnay macerates on the skins for four hours at 10 degrees, then ferments in barriques and matures in partial BSA. The Grechetto remains consistently in steel – it provides the tension that Chardonnay alone cannot deliver. The two come together in February.

La Villa needs time to fully develop. The interplay of the 40% Barbera fruit with the flavours and structure of the 60% Nebbiolo once again proves to be seductive. Sweet floral notes merge with cedar wood, aniseed and bright red fruit. On the palate, La Villa is simply beguilingly silky, yet energetic and always full of freshness as it progresses. For all its well-dosed opulence, it always remains elegant and once it has unfolded, it is irresistibly good. SUPERIORE.DE

Giarborina is not only another breathtaking wine from Altare, but also actually a Barolo that comes to market just one year earlier and is therefore more open and accessible. Its dramatic aromatics and finely interwoven fruit are the hallmarks of the exceptional 2021 vintage, in which the Altare family has captured the full potential of the year. Giarborina is a regal, aristocratic wine that packs a punch and its polished tannins add to the wine's appeal. SUPERIORE.DE

At the centre of the Via Bolgherese, that legendary wine route where the Tuscan dream and the Bordeaux vision merge into an indelible myth, lies a small kingdom of just 5.5 hectares. Here, nestled between the giants Ornellaia to the right and Sassicaia to the left, Antonio Moretti Cuseri and his sons Alberto and Amedeo tell a story of unbridled passion, a story called Orma. Orma means footprint. And this 2021 truly leaves one in the soul of the taster. The purest expression of an exceptional vintage, this organically certified Bordeaux blend of 50% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc unfolds like a symphony in purple and garnet. The Mediterranean sun of Bolgheri, tempered by the salty breezes of the Tyrrhenian Sea, gave the grapes that unique ripeness that only a few terroirs in the world are capable of producing.

Perlé Zero is a purist Trento Doc, which is concentrated on the essentials without any dosage. It embodies the essence of Chardonnay from the foothills of the Alps like no other sparkling wine in Trentino. Refined perlage with golden, luminous reflections. Clean, straightforward aroma of grapefruit, ginger and fresh pineapple, with hints of cumin and delicate herbs as it progresses. Dry, racy mouthfeel, very precise, then opens up with a fine spectrum of aromas, leading into a never-ending finish. The essence of a dry noble spumante and great Ferrari cinema from the first to the last glass! SUPERIORE.DE

Deep, bright ruby red in colour. This 100% Nero d'Avola is a captivating wine with its full-bodied, fruity and spicy aroma of blackcurrants, cherries, undergrowth, liquorice and dark chocolate. The soft but firm, multi-layered and warm flavour of ripe berries, the fine spice and the fine tannins are very appealing. SUPERIORE.DE

Deep dark ruby-purple colour. On the nose, cassis, blackcurrants and a strong herbal spice with a good dose of pipe tobacco, tar and crushed gravel. On the palate, dark berries, chocolate and a cornucopia of herbs define the full-bodied palate. This juicy wine monument has precisely integrated tannins, an enormous silkiness and an almost endless finish. SUPERIORE.DE

Poggio ai Merli is a single-varietal Merlot that relies entirely on the terroir of central Tuscany and consistently embodies the Castellare style. Deep ruby garnet. Pure, clear, with refinement, the wood well integrated, elegant and free of fashionable monotony. Great ageing potential. SUPERIORE.DE

Helichrysum is a selection of the best grapes from the highest parcel of the estate, where the soils are both clayey and of volcanic origin.

On the "hill of the blackbirds" – is the poetic translation of Poggio ai Merli – has been producing one of the most impressive interpretations of the Merlot grape variety in Tuscany since 1999. Here, where Paolo Panerai expresses his vision of international grape varieties on Tuscan terroir, Merlot vines grow on calcareous soils between 350 and 400 metres above sea level, developing a personality that is rarely found even in the best international appellations thanks to their unique location. The name deliberately plays on the ambiguity between "Merli" (blackbirds) and Merlot – a play on words that emphasises the close connection between this terroir and the birdlife that Castellare has always protected and celebrated. Each bottle is labelled with a bird that nests in the estate's pesticide-free vineyards – a symbol of the estate's sustainable philosophy.

1992 was the year in which Tua Rita launched its first wine on the market – not the legendary Redigaffi, but Giusto di Notri, named after the patron saint of Suvereto and the exact location of the winery. A homage to the village church, to one of the oldest vineyard parcels, to the beginnings. Cabernet Sauvignon dominates with eighty per cent, Cabernet Franc and Merlot complement – a composition that has evolved over the decades, away from Merlot and towards more Franc, for flavour and finesse. The vineyards are situated on loamy soils with a high proportion of skeleton, the higher plots are stonier, the deeper ones more silty, the Merlot in the centre on clay. Long maceration over twenty-five to thirty days to gain concentration and depth. Eighteen months in French barriques, half new, half second passage – then months in the bottle before the wine leaves the estate.

Bright garnet red with a copper-coloured rim. Fine olfactory cinema of red fruits and sea buckthorn. In addition, forest earth paired with a hint of tobacco and bitter almond. In the glass still young, initially loud tannins, with some air then softer tones and a powerful, lasting final. An elegant, aristocratic wine that leaves a lasting impression not only on the first glass. SUPERIORE.DE

Ogrà, named after the family's grandmother, is the result of many years of experimentation and experience with the interaction of microclimate and terroir on the best possible development of the Syrah grape. Finally, the family vineyard Castiglione in Teverina was chosen, from whose volcanic soils the grapes for the just 3,000 bottles of this rare exceptional Syrah come.