Italy

I recall picking La Serra in 2009 as if it were yesterday! The sun was just up, flooding the ESE facing, cliff-like face of the white La Serra with bursting orange light. Davide’s father Giovanni had had a bad night (he died the following January) so there had been a slight delay, even though their house lies close to the vineyard. They were one of the very last to harvest. The result: an uplifting, soaring wine, the emphasis on the high tone redcurrant notes, exhibiting both pulpy grasso and saline flavours. A joyful wine despite the sad circumstances.

David Berry Green

These vines are planted at 300 metres altitude on a mix of clay, sand and galestro. This 2019 is excellent: bright, serious and charming. Long, slow fermentation in steel, followed by 12 months in large oak, gives a floral nose with high-toned cherry and some wood spice. The palate is berry-laden and gleaming, with fleshy Sangiovese chew; the finish is vibrant.

Drink 2022 - 2030

Davy Żyw, Senior Wine Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd (February 2022)

Gloriously scented with a lightness of touchy that belies its ageworthy staying power. Rose petal, red fruit and assam overlay taut tannins and fresh acidity. Incredibly mineral on the finish. More subtle than the Brunate, but no less delicious. Drink from 2023+.
Katherine Dart MW, Wine Buyer 

Bibi Graetz considers his new-and-improved 2022 a true renaissance of Casamatta – becoming “a little Testamatta”. From around 420 metres above sea level, the Sangiovese used here comes from Bibi’s Vincigliata and Olmo vineyards in Fiesole. This is bright and energetic, vinified entirely in stainless steel to protect that character. Leaping with perfume, the wine flows with red berries and sweet dried violets. This is followed by glistening red cherries, fresh cranberries and supreme balance on the palate. This is one for the true Bibi fans.

Charlie Leech, Buying Assistant, Berry Bros. & Rudd (June 2024)

Le Volte is consistently one of the best-value drinking reds you can find anywhere in the world, and the 2022 is no different. Bright, fresh fruit adorns the palate alongside nice levels of acidity, making this incredibly moreish. Whilst high-toned and perfumed, the palate has a lovely texture to it. There aren't many better options for mid-week drinking than this.

Liam Mckeown, Account Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd (February 2024)

Le Serre Nuove may be known as Ornellaia’s little brother but it certainly does punch above its weight. The magical bouquet envelops your senses into a frenzy, such is the array of juicy red fruit and floral complexity here. The palate forms layers of dark red berry fruit, cedar, leather and exotic spice.

There’s a lovely opulence to the fruit whilst also exuding elegance and freshness which is particularly impressive. The velvety tannins melt in your mouth, leading to an immensely satisfying and lingering finish. This is an extraordinary wine, which should find a home in all cellars.

Hugo Dale, Account Manger, Berry Bros. & Rudd (August 2023)

Possessing more overt fruit and body than the 2012, this Brunate, layers toasted nuts with cherry and savoury graphite and tar notes. Amazing grip and clean acidity underpin the dense, ripe fruit on the core of the wine. Contained power. Drink from 2025+.
Katherine Dart MW, Wine Buyer

Calcareous soils, with smaller and paler red berries compared to the Cerretta. Dark cherry, blackberry and bramble, and crushed petals on the nose. Mineral and saline on the palate, with a juicy red fruit core, tightly woven tannins, wonderful tension and poise. Linear and precise, with outstanding potential to age. drink 2023+
Katherine Dart MW, Wine Buyer

The 2018 Chianti Classico Riserva is floral, ethereal and nicely lifted. Sweet pipe tobacco, cedar, mint, dried flowers and leather give the 2018 terrific aromatic presence. This mid-weight Riserva drinks well now, but also has enough energy to develop positively in bottle for at least a handful of years.

Drink 2022 - 2028

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (June 2022)

This comes from the estate’s younger vines, many planted in albarelli “bush” style. Cool fermentation and short maceration aid aromatics and drinkability. Nine months in old tonneau and terracotta amphorae retain fruit purity without sweet oak influence and give a pleasing suppleness to the tannins. This is a bright expression of Rosso, but not without complexity. Floral high notes, spice, wild mint, fresh currents, dried cranberry and cherry flesh tannins are framed by a tangy freshness and earthy Tuscan charm.

Drink 2023 - 2030

Berry Bros. & Rudd

While most vineyards in Bolgheri lie on flat alluvial plains, Grattamacco’s are on slopes, some reaching up to 200 metres’ altitude. This gives the wines of this organic estate more energy and freshness. The 2020 Bolgheri Rosso has an attractive and distinctive Mediterranean nose of wild herbs, bell pepper, cassis, rosemary and peppery smoke. The palate is silky and vibrant: black cherry layered with spice, with supple tannins and tangy fruit charm. This is a testament to the expert winemaking of Luca Marrone and the exceptional terroir of Grattamacco.

Drink 2024 - 2030

Davy Żyw, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd

This is the baby Testamatta Bianco. It is produced using the youngest vines on the island of Giglio. The grapes are hand harvested and vinified entirely in stainless steel. The fermentation temperatures are kept low, protecting the wine’s fresh, crisp brilliance. The coastal fingerprint is unmistakable, the palate awash with grapefruit peel and lemon peel. Also present is the signature salty, fennel-like refreshment and complexity typical of Bibi Graetz’s whites. You may not have heard of Ansonica (the dominant grape), but you will certainly be pleased you found it.

Charlie Leech, Buying Assistant, Berry Bros. & Rudd (June 2024)

The 2006 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva emerges from the glass with freshly cut flowers, sweet red berries, liquorice and spices, all wrapped around a sensual, elegant frame of the notable class. Considerable aeration is needed to bring out the wine’s depth and textural richness. This is an excellent wine, but more often than not I am attracted more to the straight Brunello here, as is the case again in 2006. Costanti gave the 2006 Riserva 36 months in oak, 18 months in medium-sized barrels, followed by 18 months in cask.

Drink 2016 - 2026

Antonio Galloni, Wine Advocate (April 2012)

The 2015 Barolo Monvigliero is a wine of pure and total seduction. The warm vintage has filled out the wine's frame beautifully. The interplay of ripe, succulent 2015 fruit and aromatic intensity from the whole clusters yields a positively stunning, breathtaking wine of the very highest level. Once again, Burlotto's Barolo Monvigliero takes a place among the most compelling wines of the vintage. Readers who can find it should not hesitate!

Drink 2023 - 2055

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (February 2019)

Definitely more savoury, more mysterious, with a darker hue, earthier even, than the playful fruitiness of (baby sister) Villero. Tasted from barrel just prior to bottling in July 2014, Monprivato 2010 displays an intense spicy incense character; the palate suggests essential oils, together with exquisite balance and composure. Great.
David Berry Green

The Roagna 2015 Barbaresco Pajè Vecchie Viti opens to a light garnet color and a deep glossy shine. Fruit from old vines manages to intercept that impossible meeting point between power and elegance. This wine shows a delicately lifted and bright bouquet, yet it also reveals compact fruit and long persistence. You feel that extra richness on the finish. Production is a mere 2,418 bottles. - The Wine Advocate

Solaia is derived exclusively from its namesake vineyard, Solaia—meaning sunny one—a 10-hectare, southwest-facing site that is comprised principally of marl soils and albarese rock.. The Marchesi Antinori firm produced this wine for the first time in the 1978 vintage with an initial blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc, a blend repeated again in 1979.

Solaia is a 50 acre (20 hectare), southwest-exposed vineyard of the Tignanello estate situated between 1150 and 1320 feet (350-400 meters) above sea level on stony soils consisting of calcareous clays and limestone rock. The Marchesi Antinori produced this wine for the first time in the 1978 vintage with a blend consisting of 80% Cbernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc, repeating the initial production in 1979. In the following vintages 20% of Sangiovese became part of the blend and certain corrections in the ratio of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc were made as well until the current composition of the blend was defined and became definitive. Solaia is produced only in high level vintages and was not produced in 1980, 1981, 1983,1984, and 1992.

Maturing mid-ruby with only a very narrow, orange-tinged rim. This is what Barolo is about: cherry, earth undergrowth and hints of dried fruit, which do not take the upper hand. Lovely supple, tangy fruit that hasn’t lost any of its lustre, perfectly balanced with chewy tannins. Already impossible to resist, but not nearly at its peak.

Drink 2020 - 2046

Walter Speller, JancisRobinson.com (November 2015)

The 2009 Flaccianello della Pieve is a bit of a shock to the palate after 20+ older vintages. Still, it is impossible to miss the wine’s striking purity and finesse. Today the 2009 is a bit of a brute, but it should mellow out over the next 5-7 years as the tannins start to soften. Firm tannins frame layers of ripe, juicy fruit in this young, extroverted Flaccianello.

Antonio Galloni - Wine Advocate - Issue#201 Jun 2012

The 1994 Masseto is not a wine I have had often, but it is so compelling tonight. The aromatics alone are totally beguiling. A whole range of floral, savory and spice notes are woven throughout a core of red-toned fruit. Delicate and nuanced, the 1994 is utterly beguiling. I absolutely loved it. Readers who own it should be thrilled. The growing season was marked by an early flowering but normal harvest time, which means the cycle was on the longer side. Maybe that explains why the 1994 is such a complete and alluring wine.

Drink 2018-2028

Antonio Galloni, Vinous (Jan 2018)

Since the 2010 vintage, this wine is named Francia (not Cascina Francia) to keep with the new Menzioni Geografiche Aggiuntive (or official cru naming) in Barolo and Barbaresco. The 2012 Barolo Francia is a seductive and silky expression that flows gracefully over the palate with power and determination.

The nose is expressive, and decidedly more articulate than many of the more muted wines made by neighboring estates in this warm vintage. The quality of the mouthfeel is of special interest. This beautiful Barolo already shows stunning texture, richness and integrity, despite this very early preview tasting.

I tasted this wine in barrel shortly before bottling.

Drink 2020 - 2050

Monica Larner, Wine Advocate (June 2016)

Unlike the previous 2007 vintage, Mascarello Bartolo’s 2008 Nebbiolo fruit was harvested with more bunches (as no hail damage), more acidity, a lower pH and a lower level of alcohol. In 2008 Maria Teresa held her nerve until after the September rains and harvested the rewards under the October sun. Almost ruby in colour, there is emphatic loganberry and currant fruit, ripeness, distilled kirsch and griottine fruit.
(David Berry Green, BBR Italian Buyer)

Perfumed, composed and pure, this is a heady medley of intense fruit, bay, lavender and savoury spices. The palate pulses with energy and tangy charm, with notes of dried roses and creamy espresso. The finish is long, mouth-coating and mineral. This is unmistakably Santa Restituta. It’s a triumph, testament to the legendary vintage – but it needs time.

Drink 2024 - 2040

Davy Żyw, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd (Feb 2022)

Mild and refreshing and exciting with real raciness and freshness. Lovely balance and a dry finish. Lip-smacking, great fruit and purity.

Jancis Robinson MW, jancisrobinson.com (May 2017)

Production is 11,000 bottles, 1,500 magnums and 200 Jeroboams.

Packaged in its distinctive red label, the 2016 Barbaresco Riserva Asili is a rich and profound wine with incredible depth and dimension. Bruna Giacosa skipped over the 2015 vintage because she felt that the fruit was not poised for long aging. From the 2014 vintage, we jump to this 2016 expression, a wine that Bruna says reminds her of the epic 2001 and 2004 vintages. She also loves the 2017 vintage, which I look forward to tasting next year.

This wine is incredibly precise and sharp; however, the volume and generous fruit weight promises a long aging future. The aromas veer toward red berry, cherry and cassis, and the darker black fruit tones that you might expect are less prominent in the Asili. The wine majestically captures the elegance and the power of this iconic vintage.

Drink 2025 - 2050

Monica Larner, Wine Advocate (September 2021)