Wine

Animanaturale from vines over 60 years old is the lightest and freshest wine from the new Animaetna line of the small garage winery Contrada Santa Spirito, which belongs to Feudo Maccari. Matured almost entirely in amphorae, the Nerello Mascalese grape presents itself here in all its fruitiness and freshness, completely unadulterated and pure. The grapes are foot-pressed, spontaneous fermentation is carried out using the grapes' own yeasts, racking and bottling take place according to the phases of the moon. On the palate, the flavours of red fruits and berries are tangy and vibrant with a precise and very mineral finish. SUPERIORE.DE

Here comes Guido Berlucchi's fine vintage Franciacorta, which does not require any dosage (zero) and thus perfectly rounds off the top end of the 61 collection. The "61" line stands for the birth year of the first Franciacorta, which was created in 1961 in the centuries-old Berlucchi vineyards. The grapes come from four vineyards between Corte Franca and Provaglio d'Iseo. In its purity, the cuvée perfectly embodies the expression of the terroir and shows the fascination of Chardonnay. Despite its 0 grams of residual sugar, it is rich and full-bodied on the palate. Very big! SUPERIORE.DE

Deep ruby red in colour. Pinot Nero Case Via exudes a typical varietal bouquet of wild berries and pipe tobacco, which blends harmoniously with the barrel spice. The soft, characterful flavour is based on the strength of the tannins and the excellent aromatic structure of Pinot Noir. SUPERIORE.DE

50 years of Grande Annata! The Grande Annata by Mattia Vezzola seduces you with a beautiful blend of ripe apples, pears, candied ginger and subtle nuances of blood oranges. This outstanding Metodo Classico from Lake Garda is both round and perfectly structured as well as vibrant with its bright acidity and salty minerals clearly taking centre stage. A hint of raw almonds and sour apples lingers on the final, along with a subtle hint of lime that literally tickles the cheeks. Every year, Grande Annata brut is a top sparkling wine of great complexity and with a wonderful arc of tension! SUPERIORE.DE

On the Colli Berici near Lonigo, where the clay-limestone soils give the international grape varieties a Venetian home, the harvest always starts last. At the end of September, beginning of October – when most other vineyards have long since harvested. For Celestino Gaspari, this is no coincidence: "Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc need their time on these soils. Merlot even more so – although it leaves the vineyard at the same time, it then spends 20 to 30 days in shallow crates in the Fruttaio. Appassimento for a Bordeaux blend: a decidedly Venetian decision. After a cool, unsettled spring, 2021 brought a summer of distinct elegance in the Veneto – moderate warmth, good temperature fluctuations, healthy grapes. The manual harvest yielded aromatically clear, structured fruit. 40 days of fermentation in cement with indigenous yeasts, at least 24 months in new French barriques, one year in the bottle.

Deep ruby red colour, lush notes of cherries, strawberries and sweet oak spice, vanilla and black pepper. The Sangiovese gives the blend great freshness and is in perfect balance with the silky and soft tannins of the Merlot. Overall rich, but always elegant and with great persistence. A complex, excellently structured red wine in absolute Super Tuscan quality and produced in a limited edition of just under 3,000 bottles. SUPERIORE.DE

A Burgundian soul in the Tuscan terroir: Giovanni Manetti vinifies this single-varietal Pinot Nero from the west-facing Case Via vineyard in the heart of the Conca d'Oro. The hand-picked grapes from 4,000 to 6,000 vines per hectare undergo a two-week spontaneous fermentation in cone-shaped Allier wooden vats with indigenous yeasts and manual racking. Twelve months of ageing in French Troncais barriques give the organically certified Pinot Noir its characteristic elegance.

In the Barolo world, Serralunga d'Alba stands for strength, depth and remarkable longevity. The Nebbiolo grapes come from selected plots in the municipality, characterised by barren, iron-rich clay-marl soils with veins of sand from the Helvetic formation. These soils give the wines their characteristic tannic structure, while the altitude of 320 to 400 metres ensures cool nights and slow, even ripening. The 2021 vintage provided ideal conditions. Sunny, clear days and fresh nights harmonised fruit precision and aromatic depth. Each parcel was harvested separately, gently fermented and then matured for around 30 months in large Slavonian oak barrels to preserve the typicality of the terroir while developing supple, multi-layered tannins.

2022 was a vintage of concentration: dry winter, hot summer – small yields, but outstanding quality. The Tiefenbrunner family demonstrates this intensity in the Linticlarus cuvée in an impressive way. The classic Bordeaux assemblage of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in equal parts grows on the south-southeast-facing slopes of Entiklar, at an altitude of 260 to 300 metres. The broodingmoraine soil – loamy sand with a high lime content – stores the heat of the day and slowly releases it at night. The result: perfect phenolic ripeness with preserved freshness. Mash fermentation in concrete is followed by 12 months in barriques, 6 months in large wooden barrels and a further year of bottle ageing.

The same contrada, a completely different wine: while the Bianco from Cavaliere impresses with its freshness and saltiness, the Rosso reveals the other side of this extraordinary terroir: Burgundian elegance, volcanic depth and a tannin structure of silky precision. At an altitude of 900 metres on the south-western slope of Etna – higher than most Etna vineyards – 50-year-old Nerello Mascalese vines grow in the Guyot system. The skeleton-rich volcanic sands with a sub-acid profile and excellent drainage force the roots deep into the soil. Little rainfall, abundant light and dramatic day-night fluctuations characterise a microclimate that gives the grapes unusual aromatic complexity. Hand-picked in mid-October, destemmed, then fermented on the skins for 21 days at a controlled temperature with our own Etna yeasts – the result of years of research. The wine matures for twelve months in French tonneaux, then in stainless steel, followed by ten months in the bottle.

Filippo Fanti bottled his first Brunello in 1980. He had taken over the winery in the early 1970s, replanted the vineyards, studied the soil in detail and then waited for the first harvest that he considered worthy – and then waited for the first harvest that he deemed worthy. This first vintage was not a test run. It was a commitment. Since then, Tenuta Fanti has not missed a single vintage. Castelnuovo dell'Abate is the southernmost part of Montalcino – closer to the sea, warmer, more Mediterranean than the northern sites, watched over by the Abbey of Sant'Antimo like a silent witness to centuries of history. Fanti owns 10 hectares of Sangiovese here, spread over various slopes between 350 and 430 metres above sea level. Slate, galestro, clay, tuff – the soils change from plot to plot and give the Brunello the complexity that has always characterised the estate. Elisa Fanti, on board since 2007, has fine-tuned the style: less intrusive wood, clearer fruit, more transparency. 2021 was a year of great harmony in Montalcino: even ripeness, pronounced structure, elegant tannins.

Satèn – the name alone promises what this Franciacorta delivers: silky-soft texture, reduced perlage intensity, pure elegance. Bellavista vinifies this exclusive category exclusively in outstanding years from pure Chardonnay from the higher vineyards that catch the first morning light. The 2020 vintage shows what Vittorio Moretti's vision of perfection means: hand-picked grapes, vinified in small oak barrels, then matured on the lees for at least four years in the bottle – time that you can taste.

"In 2012, I bought the small vineyard Le Gonnare and began to cultivate it. It represents the excellence of the Bolgheri terroir. The soil is clayey and rich in skeleton, which allows for very gradual ripening, a particularly important aspect for Merlot. The character of the wine is therefore Mediterranean, but balanced." Fabio Motta

Pietra nera – black stone. This is the name of the introduction to the world of Piaggia, the small winery in Carmignano founded by Mauro Vannucci in the 1970s and now run by his daughter Silvia. Carmignano, the forgotten DOCG at the gates of Florence, where Cabernet has been permitted in blends since the Medici era – centuries before the Super Tuscans were invented. Pietranera shows this tradition in small format: 80% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Franc. Fermented with natural yeasts, eighteen to twenty days on the skins, then only three months in used barriques – just enough to smooth the edges, not enough to let the wood taste.

Every year, Istine's Chianti Classico is one of the most racy and authentic representatives of its genre. Its weightlessness and at the same time precision make up a large part of its appeal. A finely knit bouquet of red berries, flowers, chalk and white pepper. Medium-bodied on the palate, its fine fruit, creamy tannins and plenty of personality come to light with further aeration. A red wine that takes hearts by storm with its lively, dancing and extremely fine nerve! SUPERIORE.DE

When the morning mist rises from the hills near Orvieto in late October and covers the vineyards of Castello della Sala like a silken veil, one of the most mysterious transformations in the world of wine begins. The grapes – sauvignon Blanc, Grechetto, Traminer, Sémillon and Riesling – are attacked by Botrytis Cinerea, the noble rot that has produced the world's greatest sweet wines for centuries. The fungus penetrates the grape skin with invisible precision, extracts the water from the pulp and concentrates sugars and flavours into an essence that would not be accessible to any cellar technology. In several patient passes, the harvesters pick only those berries that have reached the ideal degree of botrytisation – a process that requires connoisseurship and timing, as the right moment is fleeting. After gentle pressing, the must ferments for 18 days at a controlled cool 17 degrees before the still sweet wine is transferred to French barriques. Here it matures for months, absorbing delicate wood nuances while the aromas and structure harmonise, before ageing in stainless steel completes the work.

Tasca became 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 brooding, and despite their strength, acidity and firm tannins, they are very elegant, full of finesse and light on the palate. Each of the four parcels brings a slightly different style and personality to the wine - due to the altitude, soil conditions and morphology of the historic lava flows. A high annual rainfall ensures that the soil has all its water reserves, and the temperature fluctuations between day and night support the variety of flavours in the grapes and ultimately the ripening potential.