Twenty-four mind-blowing wines of 2024

Dec27

‘Tis an exercise performed year after year, a word processor’s per annum distillation to say thank you and recognize game. To consistently act as messenger, be conscious of hard work filed and to celebrate that excellence. The first list was conceived more than 10 years ago, now peaking at its current number with twenty-four mind-blowing wines chosen for 2024. Travels to fluctuating destinations mean from year to year wine regions will carry different weight and the list abides by the variance. In 2023 Bordeaux played a significant role, as did South Africa and Washington in 2022, Bourgogne in 2019, and so on. The rules of engagement never change but evolution plays its part, priorities pivot and you never can say or tell what sorts of matters will strike deep into the heart.

Last one standing (sitting and tasting) at the Chianti Classico Collection 2024

Godello needs to make a confession, shed some honesty, clear the air. He admits to a love for writing tasting notes and needing to do it, especially when a potentially mind-blowing wine is in the glass and what follows flows forth as a stream of consciousness, ending only when the creative tap closes naturally. When these notes are edited weeks or even months later there is the incredulous feeling of “how did this get written – where did these words come from?” They just did, from right out of the wellspring of creativity, but Godello does not know how he came to write those notes – as if they were magically written. Paragraphs woven from dots and thoughts for unsuspecting connections between writings and wine, such as “Ribelle è colui che si distingue.” Translated as, or better yet in reference to “the rebel is the one who recognizes the unjust law and breaks free from it,” from Ernst Jünger’s 1951 “The Rebel’s Treatise.” The German philosopher, essayist and WWII captain was once called die Burgunderszene because he watched a bombing raid in Paris while sipping Burgundy. The stylish supervillain of twentieth-century German literature’s disquisition shared dire and prophetic words on what a future world would be, in what he called the “Age of the Titans.”

Godello beneath a massive Tuscan Mazza di Tamburo/Parasol Mushroom

Or this. “The label represents the position of the vines in coordinates, echoed in the machicolations of a sangiovese that drops all the stones on unsuspecting palates through fruit openings between supporting acid corbels of a projecting tannic parapet.” Where did that come from? Or simply, “who needs fruit when you have rocks?”

ColleMassari

More than rugs tie rooms together – lyrics, song titles, movie quotes, literary passages, exchanges between a journalist and a poet, thinker, writer, actor or composer – they are all a part of the masala. Reminds of a 2021 interview with a reluctant prophet. “Try to sit down and write something like that – there’s a magic to that and it’s not Siegfried & Roy kinda magic you know, it’s a different kind of penetrating magic.” All kidding comparisons aside with Bob Dylan’s answers to Ed Bradley in that famous 60 minutes exchange, but they may just be artistic words to live by. And why Godello? “You call yourself what you want to call yourself. This is the land of the free.” As for the relevance of wine tasting notes, sure it feels like being “a wordsmith from bygone days,” but it still feels right. And necessary. And unavoidable. A bottomless pit of cultural oblivion? No, not that. Tasting notes tell stories that need to be told. Relayed by messengers fulfilling a destiny to visit and break bread with good people making great wines and in turn agreeing to relay their tales. Tasting notes are the chronicles, expressed as narrative, of anecdotes woven through prose. If there is a better way to say what needs to be said it has not yet been found.

Chianti Classico’s Cento Anni

As of today’s date and the publishing of this year-end list Godello has reviewed 4,225 wines. If the origins of said wines were to be separated into categories than the breakdown would be as follows. Thirty percent would be from the LCBO’s VINTAGES release program, 24 percent for WineAlign Exchange curation and wine reviewing service, (12) Chianti Classico, (8) Piemonte, (6) Montalcino, (6) Sicilia and the remaining (14) from travels to other parts of Italy and around the world. A smaller part of one percent would be from wines enjoyed with friends, tasting groups, wine agent reps, visiting winemakers and at home. It all adds up to one great pool from which to create this list of 24, a number to represent just slightly more than half of one percent of the wines tasted by Godello in 2024. Here are his twenty-four mind-blowing wines of 2024.

Angelina Franzen – Weingut Franzen

Weingut Franzen Riesling Sterneberg Großes Gewächs 2020, Große Lagen, Mosel

Killian and Angelina Franzen’s best plot in the Neefer Frauenberg is called Sterneberg. Vines were planted in 1938 on grey slate for a different, next level mineral quality and quotient for Mosel riesling. These are own-rooted vines, old, experienced and wise, their resulting dry wine coming away like the desert because sugar and acids near-equal come together seamlessly. The most viscosity and texture of the Franzen rieslings, from a hot vintage and so concentration, unctuousness, flesh, pulp and glissade are all at peak performance. Glorious and confident, outspoken but only to make sure we understand its origins and Franzen abides by its voice. Drink 2024-2033. Tasted March 2024

Caroline Diel – Schlossgut Diel

Schlossgut Diel Dry Riesling Pittermännchen GG 2022, Vdp. Grosses Gewächs

The tiny one hectare cru Pittermännchen is a name that dates to the middle ages with a connection to the people of Köln and Düsseldorf. Grand cru site of weathered grey (Devonian) slate atop Rotliegend conglomerate that dates back several million years. The geo-agricultural texture is small decomposed particles as opposed to the larger stones of the Mosel. Expressive flint stone aromatics undeniably soil related and not much fruit to discuss, save for some variegate currants but you really have to conjure imagination. There is a mille-feuille density to this riesling that peels away and delivers waves in layers without boundaries. Complexities are revealed without pause and dryness results because purity and grip replace the necessity for sugar-acid balance. So stony, long and our palates are held captive. Top shelf riesling within the idiom. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted March 2024

Adega Do Vulcáo (c) entrevinhas.com

Adega Do Vulcáo Ameixâmbar 2022, Açores IG

A seriously volcanic blend of native grapes from two areas, first the ash of the Capelinhos and second the basalt of the Criaçào Velha. Add in the cold Atlantic influence and the result is something extraordinary to potentially mind-blowing. That depends on how much flint struck rock, mineral mouthfuls and deepening trajectories you may or not desire in your endemically-formulated white wines. Ameixambar is just such an animal and the profile, especially noted with verve and lashes upon the palate, is well, remarkable. Nothing else feels or tastes like this wine. Truly salty and there are notes that imagine powder created by crushing many different shells, inclusive of oyster, calm and mussel. You may ask yourself what is this, but you can answer with a simple word, or place. Açores. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted July 2024

Inama I Palchi Grande Cuvée Foscarino Soave Classico DOC 2021

I Palchi, as in the “stages,” a geographical term for a series of wide terraces aboard Monte Foscarino lined with pergolas of old garganega vines. In this case Inama’s highest level of Soave Classico meant to celebrate the ancients. As a surname it belonged to a cleric but also Antonio Foscarini (c. 1570 in Venice – 22 April 1622), member of the Venetian nobility, ambassador to Paris, London and later sentenced to death for high treason by the Council of Ten and executed. Yikes! This Foscarino ode is intended towards grapes and volcanic terroir for a bloody incredible garganega of substance and style. The ’21’s ability to attract and engage the taster’s attention is at the top of the Soave game. Fresh, flinty and wholly engaging. Mind-blowing actually. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted December 2024

Marqués De Murrieta Capellanía Reserva Blanco 2018, Rioja DOCa

Only viura grapes are chosen from a six hectare calcareous clay plot off of 70 year-old vines located at the highest elevation of the Marqués De Murrieta Ygay Estate. The winemaking might well be working with sauvignon blanc and sémillon but with viura the ageing in French barrels takes a turn for the unexpected ethereal. The flinty smoulder is an intoxicant of the most hypnotizing order. The effect upon the palate and all the senes is extraordinary – mesmerizing. So what is Capellanía? In Spain it was a chantry or ecclesiastical endowment, one of several pious works commonly founded during the colonial period. A foundation in which certain assets are subject to the fulfillment of masses and other pious charges. Imaginatively speaking Capellanía is a rarity, monoceros, symbol of grace purity, power and transcendence. Not to mention healing powers and freedom. A unicorn. Drink 2024-2033. Tasted June 2024

Vanessa Cherruau
(c) media.ouest-france.fr

Château De Plaisance Sur La Butte 2021, Anjou AOP

A wildly aromatic two cabernet blend from the Butte de Chaume where some of the finest wines made anywhere come from Chaume, Quarts de Chaume and Savennières. The curiosity and modernist approach is made two-fold by the presence of cabernet sauvignon to stride effortlessly alongside the usual franc. Yes this smells like the Loire but the aromas deliver so much more, in curiosity and intriguing sensations. Anjou in place and temperament but in design this may as well be a contemporary, abstract or Pop Art piece by François Morellet. The two related varieties form an almost intricate geometric pattern in the way they line the palate, so cleanly drawn with mathematical clarity. Yes this is serious Loire red wine but it’s also traceable, pre-minimalist and post conceptual by design. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted April 2024

Godello and Giuseppe Russo

Girolamo Russo Etna Bianco DOC San Lorenzo 2023

San Lorenzo as Bianco from Giuseppe Russo is not like other Etna Bianco because well, San Lorenzo. Wow is the operative because no other EB gives like this. Beyond flesh and stone but something that defines what the two can effect, layered so invisibly and magically together. It seems impossible to believe that extract and conversions could come together this way, urged and supported buy some of the mountain’s finest quality of acidity and white grape tannins. This must be the place, eh? Carricante with 10 percent catarratto and grecanico makes it happen. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted May 2024

With Alphonse Potel – Domaine de Bellene

Domaine De Bellene Vosne Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots Bourgogne AOC 2022

In the woods as they say, “souches” or here “Suchots,” a 0.2159 hectare block in Vosne-Romanée that hangs a little longer, likely because the forest asks it to. Fresher, high spirited and savoury Bourgogne comes from the vineyard, picked on September 5th, coming away with more phenolic grip and aromatic volume because of the place. Less defined in 2022 perhaps because of a vintage’s great munificence but as far as plots in this area are concerned there are few that will speak as clearly as Les Suchots. Seamless and focused, unique as they come in an era of technical proficiency and expertise. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted August 2024

Marc de Grazia – Tenuta delle Terre Nere

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso DOC Calderara Sottana 2022

What Marc de Grazia considers to be the finest contrada on the north slope and yet there are micro plots within the eight parcels that can only be made into Rosato in humid vintages. This comes from the oldest vines, more than 80 years old and just one look sees a brightness and transparency inciting the senses as they take in a bouquet not having yet nosed in the other Rossi. Calderara Sottana is the most demure, the finest of sound and vision, the one you take in slowest, without haste, to allow unfurling and length to travel as far as it wishes, evocatively so. “It asks delicate questions,” says de Grazia. “Rose petal perfume and tannins that don’t cut off your palate.” Even more is this elastic meander, not aimless but with purpose and our palates follow every step. Like Giuseppe Russo’s (though de Grazia sees little comparison) this provides the exception to so many Etna Rosso rules. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted September 2024

Collina Serragrilli Barbaresco DOCG Sorì Serragrilli 2021, Neive

Lovely aromatic presence, richly defined fruit of purity and expressiveness, fine and open. Exotic spicing and truly floral of a perfume that keeps one from needing to rush into a sip. The palate does not disappoint in fact it carries off and forward with equal ability to hold attention for as long as a participant is willing to hang around. These are tannins as fine as the sweet and supportive acids that precede them. A really impressive Barbaresco, forthright and a test of qualities held in reserve that can be counted upon for a decade and a half more time. Drink 2026-2037. Tasted blind at Nebbiolo Prima January 2024

With Michela Morris, Nadia and Walter Fissore – Elvio Cogno

Elvio Cogno Barolo DOCG Ravera Bricco Pernice 2019, Novello

The hill within the hill, Bricco Pernice upon Ravera, isolated, insulated and encapsulated for nebbiolo of an insular and implosive intensity that’s likely unparalleled anywhere else in Novello. Closed and not because of vintage but due to time and really that’s about it A broad shouldered and muscular nebbiolo that must be given as much bottle time as it spent in cask, or double that for even better results. That means check back in 2026 or later to see if any part of the tannins have unfolded, unfurled or stretched out for some exercise. Likely not but then some parts will finally have as the decade unwinds. Also it’s normal in January for Pernice to be tight and a bit closed. Oh, by the way this was made with 100 PERCENT WHOLE BUNCH NEBBIOLO. For Barolo. Single vineyard Barolo from a storied MGA. Walter’s mid-life crisis begins right here and it’s glorious. Drink 2029-2045. Tasted January 2024

Nebbiolo Prima 2024

Cavallotto Tenuta Bricco Boschis Barolo DOCG Bricco Boschis 2010, Castiglione Falletto

A top echelon cru, a producer that gets it as well as if not better than the rest and an eponymous label out of a relationship that develops longevity without equal. That would be the thrilling isosceles trilogy of Cavallotto Tenuta Bricco Boschis, Bricco Boschis and Barolo. Their 2010 is as youthful as any nebbiolo of this age, striking, rising, invigorating and still working through its operations. A performance piece of varietal for landscape as the most terroir driven Barolo as any of the best in the land can be. A triangle of Castiglione Falletto that speaks in unequivocal terms, fruit, acid and tannin intertwined, five years of this life still laid out ahead, 10 further for curiosity and interest beyond. Truth. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted January 2024

Poggio Lombrone, Tenuta di Montecucco

Collemassari Montecucco Sangiovese Riserva DOCG Poggio Lombrone 2018

I walked this vineyard only recently upon arriving to the Castello di Montecucco at the advent of a blue-lit twilight on the second Sunday in November. The impression was a captivating one, from the site, its undulating slopes casting a strong and forceful presence. Poggio Lombrone was first made in 2007 and ColleMassari’s voice was instrumental in securing the DOCG for Montecucco sangiovese. A special vineyard with older plant material than just about anywhere in Montecucco, upwards of 60 years now and THE place to promote the authenticity, but also to preserve the local savoir-faire that distinguishes Montecucco sangiovese. Longest ager in Riserva togs because of potential, a wine of località Cinigiano fermented for at least 30 days (and 45 in 2016) in open Gamba casks with daily (hand) punchdowns to realize a production of 9,000-10,000 bottles. Ages in only two or three year-old grandi botti but not in really old casks. French of a few years are ideal to seek and attain the desired elegance. The 2018 is a strong version of varietal independence off of the Lombrone hillside, upright and linear yet never found to be awkward, though it is a wine of tannic charge. Fine tannins in fact with good energetic pulse, still needing more integration, its ceiling set ultra high. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Michael Schmelzer – Monte Bernardi, Panzano

Monte Bernardi Chianti Classico DOCG MB1933 2021, Panzano

From the 90 year-old vigorous vineyard and insists Michael Schmelzer, “it would be insane to make it not the way it was planted.” Ten grapes which add up to a 100 percent field blend that may include sangiovese, colorino rosso, colorino bianco, malvasia nera, canaiolo and ciliegiolo. Once again the respect to agricultural heritage and long maceration conspire for complexities and flavours that most people don’t associate with Chianti Classico. If this is what the old farmers were producing then quality was actually a thing, at least in 1933. MB is Marcello Bartolini, teacher and mentor who just retired in December 2023. Crunchy, tart, red citrus intensity and a char of herbs. Perhaps not quite a unicorn but surely one of the most singular wines made in the entirety of the Chianti Classico territory. If classic is also a thing than this would be it but what it is not is Riserva, or Gran Selezione. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted February 2024

Monsanto, San Donato in Poggio

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 1982

One of the great vintages for Chianti Classico, in all of Tuscany, most of Italy and as everyone knows, also Bordeaux. At this point the 100 percent large Slavonian cask aging is in full swing for wood with which Fabrizio Bianchi began replacing his old chestnut barrels back in the early 1970s. This would have been a bomb when it first went to bottle, so massively structured and immovable in its first 15-20 years. Possibly up until 10 years ago but is now so crunchy and giving so that all is forgiven. About as ideal as a sangiovese can be, resolved, cool and impossibly fresh. Laura feels a connection looking forward to 2015. This remains to be seen. Come back after 10 minutes and the clove can’t be missed. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2024

Luca Martini di Cigala and nephew Federico

Fattoria San Giusto A Rentennano Percarlo 2019, Toscana IGT

The 100 percent sangiovese that lives for itself and yet Luca Martini always feels that the wine shows the truest character of the place. Percarlo holds a higher percentage of grapes grown on Tufo soil (non volcanic sediment left behind by the water that was here three to four million years ago), a soil of sandy quality and pebbles. Results in a salty quality, a mineral quotient, a stream of airy brightness within a very structured and powerful sangiovese. Great saltiness and also fruit, a minty or mirto sensation that creates a cool, salt licked feeling. There is no other wine like this. Amazing freshness incarnate. Drink 2024-2034. Tasted February 2024

Montevertine Le Pergole Torte 2021, Toscana IGT

As expected Le Pergole Torte expresses more volume and aromatic concentration than Montervertine mainly because its source are the oldest vines, namely the 1968 and 1972 original blocks. Twenty to 25 days of maceration with pump-overs, followed by a racking off and then a return to the concrete vats for another few months for malolactic fermentation. A year in barriques (on average 15-20 percent new) and another year in Garbellotto Slavonian cask, maximum 18 hL size. Martino Manetti is reminded of 2007, a vintage that acted closed early with the requiem of a minimum four to five years to be released from its tannic chains. And yet these days Manetti’s wines open sooner – it’s just a fact of change, maturity, growing and mapping out better sangiovese. The floral meets Macigno mineral expressiveness is present from the start yet without the intensity of 2017, nor is 2021 showy with the power of 2018. This 2021 resides right there in the balanced middle wheelhouse and should rightfully begin to give generously of itself starting in 2026. Some sangiovese are just in another league. Drink 2026-2040. Tasted May 2024

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Montosoli 2020

Montosoli the northerly Montalcino mound, the hill of freshness, the knoll where sangiovese gains grip, savour and elegance, where Canalicchio di Sopra’s Vigna designate Brunello from six hectares delivers approximately five into this wine. The precision and fluidity of this ’20 is just about as fine and graceful as the Ripaccioli have ever produced. Literally the juice or blood of Montosoli’s Galestro, a clay-schist flaking at the surface bleeding back down into the earth, acquired by the roots, vacuumed back up into the vines and gifted to the bunches. Sapidity is similar to 2018 and that year was cold(er) which explains how soil is such the driver, especially for Montosoli. This tastes as you might expect, concentrated, texturally full and without pause. Incredible Brunello. Poised, seemingly ready but not, looking ahead two decades, maybe more. With thanks to perfectly restrained cellar work, timing and decision making. In this moment, at least in terms of clarity, 2020 is a Montosoli vintage. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted November 2024

Sesti Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Phenomena 2019

There are normal, standard Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, there are proper and representative examples, also exceptional versions and then there are the ones of ephemeral beauty. Fleeting in part because of their natural perfumes, scents that come from the fruiting bodies alone, mostly from the skins and yet like people there are some whose scents you never forget. Such is the case with Phenomena, a silent and measured creature of sangiovese but one that comes back to your thoughts and senses long after you are no longer in contact with the wine. Phenomena is also a Brunello of feeling, which means something ethereal, tactile and conclusive. Not seductive mind you, but suggestive and this 2019 will carry on, for some impossibly calculated infinite amount of time, as close to forever as could justifiably be imagined. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted November 2024

With Giacomo Neri

Casanova Di Neri Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Cerretalto 2019

The Cerretalto canyon is this singular Brunello’s origin, the place defined by Giacomo Neri as a “plintite,” of quartz, iron and magnesium elements residing next to and bleeding into the four hectare vineyard, which is incidentally a cooler località for Montalcino and very special place. Rare in the world, of an elemental-geological symbiosis found in parts of Australia, Brazil, China and here, in Montalcino. “It’s another planet” insists Giacomo Neri. You will smell blood and flint (a.k.a. gunpowder) because of the mineral personality. This is Brunello di Montalcino from sangiovese something altogether incomparable. A sangiovese wearing the terroir of a Tuscan trough on its sleeve, having spent two and a half years in tonneaux (more or less 20 percent new) and the same amount of time in bottle ahead of its much anticipated release. Yes the aromatics are concerned with trace metals and ingredients of the “canalone” of Torrenieri, but do not sleep on the purity and modernity of red to black fruit, or at least the perception brought forth because of the minerals involved. Sweetness of acidity is classic Casanova di Neri for 2020 but in Cerretalto they are near perfect and the tannins move from those noted out of Tenuta Nuova multiplied by the Giovanni Nero fineness to now enter into the arena of higher love. For the first time this estate’s Brunello di Montalcino should be given an absurd amount of time. Observing it change in the glass over 30 minutes explains much of what is needed to be known. Drink 2028-2043. Tasted November 2024

Contrada Chiesa, Emidio Pepe

Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOCG 2021, Colline Teramane, Torano Nuova

Nothing else noses like this montepulciano and what is also perceived is the extreme youth of such an example. Gifts with shadowy hints and generous ideas but the sensations yet to come are manyfold, if quite possibly infinite. Fruit source just feels tops and selection so much more stringent than just about any in the appellation. Tannins are about as tight as any in all of Abruzzo and the interplay between fruit and structure is both playful but also gripped by an intensity of tension. A few sips gathers the swarthiness of the vintage but time will elasticize and disperse the parts. The potential here is great and if this is not looked upon as a top vintage today there will be times over the next 25 years where that opinion is challenged. Drink 2027-2039. Tasted March 2024

Feudo Montoni Sandwich – Between Fabio Sireci and Melissa Muller

Feudo Montoni Nero d’Avola Vrucara 2020, Sicilia DOC

Increasingly the use of sun-dried stems are added back in after some time, like sweet wood notes that alter Vrucara’s physiology for the best. The number is 20-25 percent in 2020. If there are weak vintages of Feudo Montoni’s Vrucara they are yet to be revealed and this 2020 resides near the top of the island’s nero d’Avola chain. Just walk the vineyard, in fact just hear the history and explanations from Fabio Sireci’s mouth and you will understand. Richness meets structure for balance at the vanishing point as if we sit at the bottom of the hill looking upwards from the vineyard, up to the Baglio and then the sky. The fruit is special from 2020, already showing the first subtle hints of maturity and the tannins are perhaps the sweetest ever designed. When Vrucara hits the five year mark it will entrench itself as one of Sicily’s finest drinking red wines for five more. It’s abilities transcend grape and island to last for five more after that before starting its slow five to ten year declension. Is there better value in top grade nero d’Avola from Sicilia? Drink 2025-2035. Tasted May 2024

Vineyards in Ulmo

Planeta Cabernet Franc Didacus 2020, Sicilia Menfi DOC

Should there be a finer and more appropriate place to plant and raise cabernet franc on the entirety of Sicily that information should immediately be made public. Planeta’s Ulmo vineyard brings the grape to singular light, here 25 years after its introduction and it has become abundantly clear how it resides at the pinnacle and signature for reds out of Menfi. The 2020 is just now settling in and acting perfectly comfortable in its skin, fruit still swelling and always with the potential to burst free at any time. These are near perfect acids, sweet and sumptuous, allowing for movement and at this ideal stage, also development. There are hints at secondary character in the chiaroscuro shadows slow to reveal themselves. Sumac and pomegranate, a lightly browning and caramelizing eggplant before finishing with a wood encouraged dusting, as if by cocoa and clove. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted September 2024

Yalumba The Menzies Cabernet Sauvignon 2017, Coonawarra, South Australia

From vines planted in 1994 and 1996 right there where it matters within Coonawarra’s terra rossa strip. The Menzies, as in the name of the estate where the Hill-Smith family saw the future back in 1992, there on a flat plain, approximately 70 km from the coast. The cooling Bonney upwelling is an influence and the red soil is, well everything. That said 2017 was a wet and cool season by Coonawarra standards and harvest required many passes over a 10-day period in April. Climate being what climate has become translates as a special cabernet sauvignon because the cool factor, for gelid fruit and sweet savour, not to mention more complex notions of herbs, spices and seasoning than you could seemingly fit into one bottle of cabernet sauvignon. Complexity be glory, as they say and the rest will be history. Drink 2024-2034. Tasted October 2024

Good to go!

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Twenty-four Canadian wines that rocked in 2024

Dec23

Godello and Hare

Composing a best of list is something that takes a sedulous amount of time, a year’s accumulation of thought and above all else, ultra careful consideration. When more than 1,000 Canadian wines are tasted in a calendar year, narrowing it down to 24 feels like a profound task and weighty sense of responsibility. These twenty-four Canadian wines that rocked in 2024 represent the twelfth consecutive such register first published in 2013, annually iterated and guaranteed, never gratuitously settled upon and always as a show of Canada’s highest level of quality. Integrity too, which will become clear by the time you finish reading this exercise.

Godello at Dobbin Estate

Seven out of 24 (that’s nearly 30 percent for those scoring at home) are sparkling wines, a number that will only come as a shocking surprise to those who haven’t been paying attention. The math is really quite simple. Cool climate viticulture means longer growing seasons for more developed, therefore riper phenolics matched dutifully by kept acidities. Climates have changed but Canadian growing areas have not yet lost their edge and besides, extreme events are more likely and increasingly the culprit when it comes to extenuating snafu circumstances like crazy cold snaps that take out wide swaths of grapevines. For the most part this country can still hang a wide variety of grapes to create killer sparkling wines. Seven sparklers are here, from five growing areas in three provinces.

WineAlign dines at Hidden Bench

Six of Godello’s 2024s are chardonnay, if for no other good reason than it always being on Canadian minds. What’s the best way to go about growing and making wines of the highest quality? Is chardonnay a victim of its own ubiquity and adaptability? What makes it so special then, as an expression of place, as well as production and technique? Chardonnay should taste like it has come from a place, but also from a time. No one said it was easy but one thing is certain, it’s a hell of a lot easier to make great chardonnay that has been planted in the right location. Still the endeavour is puzzling, like getting lost and running through a maze, fraught with wrong turns and dead-ends. It’s about hunch work, gauging probabilities, accounting for what has come before and extrapolating towards what might be. In Canada trying to find locations that gift the sweet spot is, as if at midnight, where sugar ripeness, acid structure, phenolic ripeness and fruit character will probably meet for optimum results. We who feel like this and nod at one another knowingly are lovers of chardonnay; eager and desperate to be one with its varietal psyche, to imagine it synched in sycophant fixation with our own. Yet all the salient facts and aspects of a wine’s journey, in viticulture, pH, residual sugar, total acidity, élevage and in tasting, are really nothing if we are unable to find the theory of the wine and by extension, the winemaker who made it happen. Fortunately for us the top six Canadian chardonnays chosen here (and the list does not stop at that number), have all made it happen.

Flight #1 at the 2024 School of Cool
(c) i4C

A reminder that “Chardonnay is never too cool for school.” The article published after i4C 2024 had this to say. “Will fully admit to having seriously considered not using the word “cool” in the title for this latest exposé on i4C, Niagara’s annual International Cool Climate Chardonnay Conference. Then good conscience and reality set in because the original dub for Canada’s most important and successful wine congress will always be too good to dismiss. They coined it, built it and people have most certainly come. To foresee and then to consummate this collective pursuit of excellence inscribes Cool Chardonnay into the lexicon of wine forever. Hard to predict just how many more of these joyous to potentially annual profound (four-day) weekends there will be, but were this the last then hundreds upon hundreds of producers, winemakers, media, influencers and consumers over the years will have walked away happy, better for it and with memories to last a lifetime. The extraordinary 2024 edition of i4C went deeper still, to deliver the coolest quality and finest balance between information, socialization, revelry, society and of course, chardonnay. Cool as ever, gotta be cool, relax and never too cool for school.”

Twenty Mile Bench

It was a very good year for tasting pinot noir and thus the grape is also well represented with five on the list. No other grape causes more of a stir, is responsible for more hair to fall and breaks more hearts. Does not play well with others, refuses to share, to be blended, to give anything less than 100 per cent. For many, there is no other grape variety. How often does a conversation begin with “what is your favourite wine” and end invidiously with “Burgundy?” While Bourgogne certainly persists as the historic locale possessive of the title “when it’s great, it’s the best,” pinot noir has found immense global success and Canadian soils are largely responsible for that. Thoughts with doubts about pinot noir’s viability in Canadian vineyards have long been laid to rest with proof arranged and clarified after yet another edition of the 2024 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada. The judging week saw the fourth most number of flights, all intriguing and arguably the finest collective showing of bottles poured from the fickle grape. From lithe, transparent, high-toned, red berry charmers to darker, brooding, seriously ripe and often tannic iterations. As it has been said, “beauties and beasts, belles et bêtes,” pinot noir the good can succeed one way or another, with harmony and in balance.

With Magdalena Kaiser

So what is the number one takeaway with regards to Canadian pinot noir? The answer lies in the way winemakers approach their product. Lowest of low cropping to achieve density and concentration is no longer the launching point towards making great pinot noir. Aggressive pressing, intense macerations and long wood aging, especially in newer (and smaller) vessels all lead to astringency and imbalance. All of these things are fading into the rear-view mirror, slowly but surely being replaced by first and foremost, sustainable and regenerative agriculture resulting in healthier vines. In the winery there is less handling, more finesse and attention paid to detail leading to more purity and also clarity in the wines. This is what pinot noir needs. If the most suitable and only the most suitable sites are used, the future will move from optimistic to auspicious. The number one takeaway? Canadian pinot noir has long been searching for and is now beginning to find inner peace. Let’s just hope it keeps on this path, despite and in spite of climate change.

Godello’s annual best of bundle feels easier to create because with each passing year there are so many more wines of wonderment tasted and yet, and yet the jumble is harder to defend. Great wines are not left off the list for reasons of inferiority, deficiency or lack of character. The game is one of numbers and the pool from which to choose grows exponentially every year. These are the twenty-four Canadian wines that rocked in 2024.

With Heather Rankin – Obladee, Halifax

Benjamin Bridge Nova 7 Sparkling 2023, Nova Scotia

Benjamin Bridge is indeed correct and fully justified in self-proclaiming Nova 7 as “Nova Scotia’s favourite wine” because, well it just is. The blend for this resilient, magical, a decade and a half in the making, lightly effervescent and low alcohol sparkler is muscat, ortega, riesling, geisenheim, l’Acadie, vidal and petite pearl. The latter is a cold-hardy hybrid cultivar bred using a cross between MN 1094 and E.S. 4-7-26, grown in 25 US states and four provinces of Canada. The acidity for Nova 7 at 9 g/L integrates with ease and swirls 49 g/L of residual sugar into a comfort zone like a balanced Spätlese, with the peachiest of flavours and a refreshing, thirst-quenching and salty iced tea finish. A throwback in many ways and yet the 2023 is quite frankly as good as any Nova 7 there has ever been. Age a bottle three or four years to see what happens. What could go wrong? Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2024

Blue Mountain Reserve Brut R.D. 2014, BC VQA Okanagan Valley

Aromatic complexity, a chardonnay and pinot noir (55-45) sear of raging citrus but never lean because there is flesh all over the palate. The lemon segments are ripe and delicious, the red fruit character compliments with added spice, the persistence endless and the winemaking clearly coming from a place of experience and respect to place. Last tasted blind at i4C, July 2024

Always pleased to welcome the BR R.D. into a glass and here is an old but a proverbial goody, that being 2014 and consumers must be reminded just how special this research and development is to determine the excellence of Blue Mountain’s indagative sparkling wine. A blend of chardonnay and pinot noir, the first 10 percent more than the last with some of the most restrained, reserved and demure aromatics in the Okanagan Valley. All ways to say this is lovely, quietly generous and so settled to gift pleasure above all else. A most complex game of citrus and orchard fruit, distillate by nature, expertly seasoned with fine sea salt, white pepper and lemongrass powder. Such a gift nine years after vintage at a ridiculously reasonable price. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted November 2023

Last House Joie De Vivre Blanc De Blanc 2021, VQA Prince Edward County

No dosage, categorically Brut Zero sparkling wine of leesy significance and gentlest positive oxidation. A bubble set up this way from the start and carrying the torch forward on a justifiably sound plateau that should see no significant changes for the next few years. Only chardonnay and no vintage heat to set its trajectory hastily forward, with full orchard and citrus fruit flavours on a sturdy frame backed by bedrock as backbone PEC limestone intensity. You need to try this – it represents a significant style and profound bottle of sparkling wine. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2024

The Senchuks – Leaning Post

Leaning Post Blanc De Blanc Traditional Method Sparkling 2019, VQA Beamsville Bench

Old (35 year-old) chardonnay Hemeris Vineyard vines are the source for the LP traditional method Blanc de Blanc that sees four-plus years on the lees. The sugar is not quite zero but to be honest, nine-plus grams of acidity renders three g/L of RS essentially obsolete. And yet the mouthfeel is full, substantial and acting gregarious. Packed with aromas and flavours, seemingly impossible and so this from a less than heat-cumulate Niagara vintage (that would have made for seriously piqued and biting still chardonnays) is almost a sparkling oxymoron. As far from severe as B de B will be, instead generous and celebratory. Unexpected and mind-blowing in many ways. What sorcery is this pray tell, Senchuk and Senchuk? Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Dean Stoyka and J-J Groux – Stratus

Stratus Brut Nature Zero Dosage 2013, VQA Niagara-on-the Lake

J-L Groux explains that the main factor for making this kind of sparkling wine is PH, “because the aromatics will be built upon six to seven years of lees aging time.” J-L feels this ’13 is going to be the winner now, and for 20 years. Not far off it would seem because of the “partial disgorgement” method, well within VQA rules and thus you arrive at a toasty smoulder unlike any other sparkling wine. The lees are the thing, in fact they are everything. They prevent the aromas and the wine from oxidizing. Amazing. Last tasted July 2024

Comes across a bit cloudy, at least as compared to the B de B with thanks to the natural, lees left intact style. The citrus component is so pronounced, as is the taut, direct, lean and intense manifold destiny of what is truly a singular Sparkling wine. That being a living, breathing, inhaling and exhaling wine, slowly releasing proteins, acids and realizing its B de B Nature dream. Just amazing what lees can do for sparkling wine. Tasted July 2021

Released side by each with the Stratus Blanc de Blanc 2013 and while vintage and grape are the same, the similarities almost seemingly, ostensibly and allegedly end there. Yes in fact this 100 per cent chardonnay is a child of the most excellent varietal vintage and like the B de B spent six years on the lees. Comparisons cast aside it is the very fact that because much of the lees were transferred to bottle by a minimalist’s disgorging that this cloudy bubble with a Canadian artist’s series set of labels can’t help but elicit another memory. The Lilies of Monet and their clouds represent neither the horizon, nor the top or the bottom. Nor does a bottle of this Zéro Dosage Brut. The elements of water, air, sky and earth become intertwined in a composition without perspective, or so it goes in this hazy, opaque and dry as the desert sparkling wine. So many layers of lemon can be peeled, juiced and scraped away. If a Stratus wine could be a a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma then here it is. The texture here is palpable and the intrigue factor surely high, so it should be imagined that longevity will be this wine’s calling card. It’s more austere than the Blanc de Blanc but I think in fact it will. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted November 2020

Tasting The Old Third at White Oaks

The Old Third Pinot Noir Sparkling À La Volée 2011, Prince Edward County

First bottle opened since last tasting this unicorn of a PEC sparkling wine back in October of 2015. Now in a state of settled grace, of a collected, stored and persistent slow release of energy that keeps on keeping on. Every County maker using pinot noir for a Brut zero (or near zero) style should find a bottle of À La Volée 2011 as a reference point because as interpreters they must translate still wines to become bubbles “on the fly,” without waiting for the end to begin, acting with hindsight. Last tasted December 2024

“On the fly” is not exactly what comes to mind from this 100 per cent Pinot Noir, first Sparkling wine made by Bruno Francois. Calculated, attention to detail and intensity of ideation more like it. Three years on the lees, no dosage and from a vintage to speak in more than whispered voices, of acidity that announces its arrival with immediacy and a summons to contest. The nose does yeast, toast, citrus and ginger. A first release revelation as ever graced Ontario’s waves, as dry as the desert and lingering with switch back traces of its yeasty, toasty self. A single vineyard can be this way, equally and in opposition of natural and oxidative, with a hue less than Pinot Noir, though unrequited as a triumph when you get a ripe white from such Pinot. The production of 1200 bottles is relatively house high in a stunner that needs no sugar to draw up its flavours. Drink 2015-2023. Tasted twice, July and October 2015

Marty Werner – York Vineyards

York Vineyards Reserve Brut, VQA Niagara-on-the Lake

York Vineyards’ Brut is a two-thirds to one-third chardonnay-pinot noir joint that sees 72 months on the lees. A sparkling sensation taking the country and apparently also the world by storm. The attention to detail, focus and determination are credible, felt with palpable energy and there is no doubt as to how much trial, experimentation and consideration went into making this and other York Vineyards wines. The Reserve moniker may at times feel like an add on but here one can imagine the assessment of base wines and the selection being both a stringent and anticipatory one. This is richness off the proverbial Ontario charts with a toasty-autolytic complex character that defies regularity. Toned, defined and appreciable because the flesh is yet to fully develop. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Emma Garner – Thirty Bench

Thirty Bench Steel Post Vineyard Small Lot Riesling 2020, VQA Beamsville Bench, Niagara Escarpment

An Ontario legend in terms of riesling and the one from Emma Garner at Thirty Bench that defies logic with a magical spell cast upon the grapes put to bottle. Probably the driest of the Small Lot series at just 11 g/L of residual sugar, impossibly converted and qualified by just 11.2 percent alcohol with what must be an acidity number that’s just about as high as the sweeter rieslings in the portfolio. The energy and vitality are exceptional, the warmth of the vintage delivers top quality, if absolutely pristine fruit and then there are the qualities of extract and tannin cohabitating at this highest level of composure. The potential here is unlimited. One of the finest rieslings ever made in Ontario and this one goes up to 11. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted March 2024

Charles Baker Picone Vineyard Riesling 2021, VQA Vinemount Ridge

The word “tannic” does not often first (second or third) come to mind when riesling is the subject but ’21 and Picone from Charles Baker strikes that way from the first sip. This after a most unique aromatic begin, dried herbals for one thing and exotic spicing in a cumin-coriander masala way. Even more so fenugreek leaf and wait for it…maple syrup. Hard to say why ’21 emits this way but when these scents give way to the riesling’s body politic the effect is both exotic and promising. Baker himself says that the “2021 CB from Picone is true to form and represents the vintage properly. Elegant, refined, absorbs the richness with fine acidity. Long floral green toned finish. Will age beyond me.” Indeed this may just turn out to be Charles Baker’s longest lived of the Picones, right up there with the ’06, ’11 and ’16. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted October 2024

Morgan Juniper – 16 Mile

16 Mile Cellar Civility Chardonnay Single Vineyard 2020, VQA Creek Shores

From a block called Susan’s Vineyard, wild ferment, full malolactic, raised in oak puncheons of light toast. The growing location may be the lower Escarpment’s steppe of Creek Shores but who would not feel, see and recognize this 2020 as truly Bench chardonnay. No ambivalence in the method, execution or design, ample and plush, of an all in lemony curd to speak of the finest and cleanest lees. Truly singular style and without a doubt winemaker Morgan Juniper’s most comprehensive chardonnay to date. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted June 2024

Maenad Wine Co.

Maenad Wine Co. Chardonnay Unfiltered And Bottled With Lees 2021, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore

From the young vines of Grimsby Hillside Vineyard and while this label shall remain nameless, the block is actually 295. “A wild terroir exploration” says the winemaking show that is Yvonne Irving, a winemaker used to making a full bodied style of chardonnay from the Queenston Mile Vineyard. Unmistakably GVH and if you’ve tasted a Senchuk or Bachelder iteration than you’d know the vineyard wins every time. The richesse is belied by this specificity of intensity that is unequivocally GVH. This northern spot produces the most brightness against the backdrop of ripeness, barrel fermentation and oak-aging. Full malolactic but always beneath the fruit, full on lees and amazing crunch. So full up the middle and yet vertical. Real deal, whole package and so much more to come. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted March 2024

Henry Of Pelham Speck Family Reserve Chardonnay 2022, VQA Short Hills Bench

There is some truth to the advantage of tasting a stellar ’22 like this from Henry of Pelham when a great deal of other chardonnay being poured alongside are ‘21s, but letting chardonnays be chardonnay it matters less than we should actually be talking about. The SFR ’22 lives up to its blind billing and thrills without a moment’s hesitation. End of story. Last tasted August 2024

The only reductive chardonnay in this flight of nine which speaks to an overall change in winemaking and in fact there have only been three like this, out of let’s say 50 tasted these days. Reductive as much as any chardonnay though the fruit can stand up and hang tightly on the upright frame. Notable style, bit of pyrazine, Behind the veil is most excellent and concentrated varietal fruit that to this mind celebrates a very specific sense of place. A Bench on a step up against a hillside or escarpment and its maker’s care is more than evident. Tastes akin to high end Marlborough chardonnay. Well thought out, serious intention and should age well. A seriously structured and balanced wine that drinks well now but will only improve over the next two years. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted blind at #NWACS24, June 2024

Jessica Otting – Tawse

Tawse Chardonnay Quarry Road Vineyard 2021, VQA Vinemount Ridge

No shock or surprise that Quarry Road ’21 is a mineral bomb, coming away on that rocky side of the 50-50 fruit to stone compendium. Forget everything you’ve heard or read about this arch-cool Vinemount Ridge chardonnay, but also ignore all the noise about unmitigated disaster by vintage. Niagara winemakers should always make quality cool chardonnay these days and Tawse holds more water and responsibility than most. Jessica Otting is ten times equal to the task with a Quarry so precise and focused it may just make a tooth or two feel the mineral pain. A chardonnay chillingly representative of its vineyard yet, rewriting the jazz because of the shall not be named vintage. The naysayers can run away and hide in their holes because history will be kind to these wines, especially when they shine on in tastings ten years forward. No crutch or apology, sorry not sorry. Remember 2011 and 2013. Now forget them and only speak of 2021. Just great chardonnay. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted at i4C, July 2024

Alex Baines – Hidden Bench

Hidden Bench Chardonnay Felseck Vineyard Unfiltered 2021, VQA Beamsville Bench

My goodness this is special chardonnay, coming as no surprise and if your thoughts and emotions for 2021 Niagara chardonnay need buoying than begin the bob right here. Precise aromas, immediate and echoing, more fruit than frankly necessity should expect as the mother of invention because mineral and saltness demand our utmost attention. Yet the fruit stands firm and even pulpy in the face of the crushed stone infiltrate from a vineyard stop on the grandest of Niagara cru tours. Exemplary to speak on behalf of a vintage that separates wheat from chaff, pinpointed location from just anywhere and adults from the gambling trials of youth. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted July 2024

Wade Dobbin, David Lawrason and Peter Gamble

Dobbin Estate Chardonnay 2019, VQA Twenty Mile Bench

Not labeled as such but essentially a Reserve wine taken from a single barrel housing all estate fruit. High level of concentration and richness in the face of a vintage considered cool and challenging, but when you take a smallest of small lot wines like this that just does not apply. Everything about this is classic, basket pressed, natural ferment, full natural malolactic, 22 months maximum for oak aging, Burgundian obviously and medium of toast. “We come to barrel turbid – we like density,” notes Peter Gamble. (Peter) and Ann Sperling really liked this one particular barrel and decided to put it to magnums only. From late September and early October picks, finished at 14.5 percent alcohol and ultimately mouthfeel that rivals some pretty warm wine growing regions. A chardonnay that moves beyond Bourgogne to offer up its very own definition of Niagara’s Twenty Mile Bench. Last tasted July 2024

This may be just the first stages of Dobbin’s tenure making high end wines from the Twenty Mile Bench but auspicious does not begin to describe the level of sophistication marking these beginnings. The erudite oenological consulting team of Ann Sperling and Peter Gamble have taken chardonnay into territory they are quite familiar with but always keep in mind that top terroir, vineyard conditioning and uncompromising preparation are what collectively set this up for success. This 2019 is from a cool climate vintage out of a cool climate place and recent history tells us that these are chardonnay that live good, long and healthy varietal lives. Luxe yet still crunchy, high quality wood used generously if judiciously and in the end this kind of rocks the world. In a chardonnay way. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted April 2024

Spearhead Pommard Clone Pinot Noir 2022, BC VQA Okanagan Valley

A bit of aromatic restraint from a pinot noir keeping some secrets and what scents as some whole bunch percentage inclusive style. Good palate richness and berry to citrus emulsion like a fluid smoothie of reds, greens and acidity. Plenty of understated depth, so ample, focused and really well defined. Brightest of the flight, red fruit in flight, breathing easier, acids also up there and structure never too demanding. Could always drink a glass. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted blind at #NWACS24, June 2024

Thomas Bachelder in the wilds of the Twenty Mile Bench

Bachelder Wild West End Wismer Parke Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022, VQA Twenty Mile Bench

For Thomas Bachelder Wild West End, Wismer Parke Vineyard and pinot noir started out as the one of the most mystery, namely because Wismer could not name the clone and the first wine was even more sanguine than that of the Wismer Parke. Which says that the West End’s soil affects the clonal material in exaggerated ways and the question has always been, to tame or not to tame. The answer is vintage and not needing “a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Bachleder had to hang loose, stay cautious and learn about the vineyard’s situation, take other’s opinions into account and then proceed with action. This vintage feels like a culmination of necessity, a varietal mother of invention, a reality on display of full capabilities realized. The height of an epoch acceded by a grower and a winemaker on the same page. A wine of intelligence and acceptance because the ferric meets hematic parts oversee and tell fruit what to be and how to act. The people have learned how not to get in the way and the degree has been earned. The question is what’s next? Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Kerri Crawford – Le Clos Jordanne

Le Clos Jordanne Le Grand Clos Pinot Noir 2021, VQA Twenty Mile Bench

As with Claystone Terrace the Grand Clos Vineyard blocks running from west to east move through this fruit gradation from structured and austere through to soft and amenable. For 2021 the middle ground is duly noted with a signature and arch classic Jordan/Twenty Mile Bench pinot noir that sings in youthful life as early as it ever has. The team (Thomas Bachelder, Kerri Crawford and Phillip Brown) have coaxed out the sweetest natural fruit. While it flows with ease it’s also equipped to slow down, reflect, and then re-emerge a few years thereafter, post pause and not atypical varietal dumb phase. Th3 2021 is found to be chic, suave and stylish as ever, fruit in a dark red cherry state and acidity meeting texture for mouthfeel of a most finessed kind. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted July 2024

Carrying Place, Prince Edward County

Trail Estate Winery Pinot Noir Revival 2020, VQA Prince Edward County

Has to be the top of the top drop for Trail Estate but also for PEC, not to mention perched up there at the precipice of breaching the Provincial price rubicon for all wines. Some are one dimensional, others expressed in two and then there is Trail’s, which most definitely incorporates a third. Reductive and diesel fuelled with almost no precedence towards understanding just exactly what this aromatic unfamiliarity is all about. Confounding and yet a sip quickly adjusts the viewpoint because layers of recognizable fruit glide over the palate. The vintage is worth waiting for, the phenolics so ripe that not a stem should be wasted, while the savoury pastry of said whole bunches makes sure no holes are left unfilled. When the lowest yields and the most stringent selection meet risk-reward winemaking techniques there can be something special to come from all these hopes and dreams. If revival speaks to the human condition, a.k.a. struggles with sin, forgiveness and redemption, well then this pinot noir may just be the answer to a winemaker’s struggle, quest and renewal. Now let’s see her repeat this every vintage, or at least one here and there deemed worthy of the pain, journey and prize. Oh, and please give this at least another year to find its way so that the enigmatic behaviour should wane and eventually subside. Those who can afford the cost will then see the forest for the trees and be granted some personal form of immediate gratification. In the end the question begs as to how we value Revival as a three-dimensional pinot noir? By definition three coordinates are required to determine the position of a point (and a pinot), namely those you can pick up, touch, and move around. But in the end the simple answer is depth, which is what Revival and all great wines simply have. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted April 2024

Jonas Newman – The Grange

The Grange Of Prince Edward Aurelia Pinot Noir 2023, VQA Prince Edward County

The golden one, Aurelia, from the Latin Aurelius and if you want to delve deeper, the name for Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Roman emperor from 161 to 180. Even deeper still the character portrayed by Richard Harris in Gladiator. Also the top of the opus pinot noir at The Grange and what a golden one it surely is. Needs to be because it is bloody expensive but just 98 cases were made of a varietal harbinger that gets the full on spa treatment. Double sorted, first in the vineyard, then at the table. Whole cluster fermented, including carbonic for five days and then foot trodden. Ten days of délestage before being pressed off and blended to finish ferment in tank. Ages in the most expensive wood for 10 months, 33 percent new. Burgundy anyone? Yes this is the idea and the result is a pretty good approximation, all the while tended to by that County high life in acidity with a generous amount of volatile compound effect. Yet the fruit and that acidity are in cahoots, sweet, inviting and enlivening. At nearly $75 there is a whole lot of swagger, ambition and confidence but if money were no object I’d happily drink through a few bottles. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted December 2024

Roche Wines Amulet Syrah 2021, BC VQA Okanagan Valley

Semi-serious syrah, surely built upon an upright skeletal frame with flesh hanging on its bones and acids piquing through the supple textures of that flesh. Also floral and the meatiness seems to increase with every sip. Iron bloodiness and tannins also grow as you work with what is now becoming a fully serious wine. Chocolate melting and coating the back end with the same function as the tannins of the wine. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted blind at #NWACS24, June 2024

Phantom Creek Kobau Vineyard Syrah 2020, BC VQA Golden Mile Bench

Here is the syrah bomb that means serious business. Smoked meat, iodine, sanguine and that classic black olive tapenade. A veritable hematoma of red, black and blue, fruit, acid and tannic intensity. If it’s showing some volatility that’s just because of rebellious youth and unresolved structure. This is very serious wine. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted blind at #NWACS24, June 2024

Okanagan Valley

LaStella Cabernet Sauvignon La Sophia 2019, BC VQA Okanagan Valley

When you look at the last 10 years of Okanagan wine-growing there is no doubt that 2019 resides near the peak and is a vintage that should be filling collector’s cellars. La Sophia is one of those wines, a cabernet sauvignon with a track record that speaks to consistency and excellence. Imminently recognizable as both La Stella and their extension of Black Sage Bench terroir in Oliver. If any local cabernet will resonate with the Oliver equivalent of the Tuscan coast’s Macchia Mediterranea than La Sophia would be it. Not exactly balsamico or garrigue but yes something Italianate, of rich dark fruit set against fine-grained tannin and that brushy, herbal, vinous and resinous scents of the terrain. Black Sage Bench issue, nothing standard about it and it needs a name. Like Okanagan Briar or Chaparral, but regardless you can’t miss the outback in this wine. Yes the 50 percent new wood needs to integrate further and it will, given the requiem necessary, in air and also time. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted May 2024

Two Sisters Riesling Icewine 2023, VQA Niagara-on-the Lake (375ml)

Spicy waft from the 2023 riesling and a level of viscosity to speak of Icewine made in the most serious of ways. The haute and cultured fragrance makes one wonder why $89 should be the price when three times that amount might make sense, after consideration is taken for the time, effort and work required to make such a wine even possible. The fruit is extraordinary, the acidity at a high level for the vintage and Icewine in general. This is the what, how and why for the category to be celebrated, wines exulted, performance perpetuated and raison d’être defined. Give this two more years to fully see the riesling respond in the way it surely can. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted June 2024

Good to go!

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Harvest report 2024: Retro Chianti Classico

Dec12

Sangiovese 2024, Chianti Classico

In Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1976 film 1900, an epic tale of class struggle in twentieth century northern Italy is told through the relationship between two childhood friends. One is of a proletariat family, the other born into the bourgeois and through their friendship the movie explores the struggle between socialism and capitalism. Sitting in a pub, Alfredo Berlinghieri (played by Robert de Niro) says to to Ada Fiastri Paulhan (Dominique Sanda), “November is the cruelest month of the year.” This may have been true for farmers struggling to survive in post-war Italy and through the era that saw the collapse of the mezzadria system. A climatic evolution over the last 50 years might just alter the argument to say that November is no longer the most troubling month. Take Chianti Classico as an example. In frost years there is April and the rains of May to June bring downy mildew, both potentially devastating issues that attack vines and reduce yields – very bad for business. Easter time can be cruel and the late Spring Perenospera an umitigated Oomycetes disaster, but when it rains heavily in September and October, an entirely new set of adversarial circumstances can occur. Grape rot becomes a real factor, grapes swell to increase their volume and the harvest can last forever. Welcome to la vendemmia 2024.

Sangiovese fermentation 2024 – Terreno

The age of freezing cold winters is but a memory now for growers in the territory where the Gallo Nero are produced and 2024 saw another stretch of new age warmth. Even if January and February nights drew temperatures dropping near zero, the daytime highs were often pushing into double digits. Milder days in the latter half of February meant you could bask in the sunlight of a Sunday afternoon, on the terrace with a glass of Rosato or in the thermal baths just outside Castelnuovo Berardenga’s southern border. You could count the coldest days with temperatures typical of winter seasons’ past “on the fingers of two hands,” so said Marco Ricasoli Firidolfi. Rainfall was ample and so 2024 would see no repetition in terms of drought, nor would frost become an issue, as was seen in 2017 and 2021. Precipitation was intermittently constant, upwards or more of 70 millilitres fell in January, 180 in February and 120 during March, which meant for saturated forests and vineyards across the whole of the Classico region.

Sangiovese – Lamole

What to expect from 2024 Chianti Classico?

The summer of ’24 was typically hot and dry but all that changed after September 7th because in some parts of the region nearly 400 ml of rain fell over the following seven weeks. Unprecedented amounts of water, well at least if you look back at the previous 30 years. August of 1995 saw rain like that and previous to that there was plenty of precipitation and cool harvest temperatures in 1991 and 1993. Fast forward again to 2024 and the the constant deluge of mid-September through to late October ends up becoming the cruelest stretch. Days on end when tractors are unable to enter the vineyards, harvest crews repeatedly pause on stand by because picking wet grapes is a cardinal sin and prayers are made for two straight days of sunshine to happen anytime and anywhere. From Greve to Castellina, San Donato in Poggio to Castelnuovo Berardenga, Vagliagli to Gaiole, San Casciano to Radda, in Montefioralle, Panzano and Lamole. Bunches are dropped because tight sangiovese clusters encourage the development of mold from within and the waiting game is excruciating for many. Patience is the greatest virtue and yet sugars are developing slowly, like the old days, piano-piano, as they like to say. In the end a classic vintage in the ways of days of old is declared, with phenolic ripeness achieved because of the longest hang-time since 1993, the same year Juventus’ Roberto Baggio scores five goals in seven international matches for Italy. Drinkable sangiovese, elegant, ripe, low alcohol and a good number blessed with sneaky structure. Producers are pleased with the freshness and ethereal beauty. The tank samples are bloody delicious. Pure sangiovese. Retro Chianti Classico.

La Squadra Canadese in Firenze

First and foremost on so many producers minds are the alcohol levels topping out at 13.5 percent. If you see 14.0 abv on a bottle in 2026 or beyond you can bet the actual number is just above that 13.5 Mason-Dixon line and in some cases 13.5 could in actuality be just a shade above 13.0. Lighter wines as a general rule, but age-worthy because of phenolic ripeness, at least in cases where producers waited, waited some more and picked as late as possible. Expect to see straight through the transparent hues of Chianti Classico sangiovese for 2024, to sense, taste and feel the brightest and potentially sweetest acidities, then finally the silkiest if also most elastic tannins. The 2024 acids will be the catalyst for aging these sangiovese. Anyone under the age of 50 will have likely never experienced a Chianti Classico vintage like 2024 and potentially never will again.

La Squadra Canadese – Piazza del Campo, Siena

Just two months ago La Squadra Canadese of seven sommeliers and Godello as their chaperone went all in for a mid-October excursion through the 11 UGAs with estate visits, tastings and round-table discussions in classic Chianti Classico boot-camp fashion. The theme could not help but concentrate on the 2024 harvest because first timing, but also its omnipresence as an all-consuming affair, on the minds and in the daily planning of every producer. The group’s seven members: Christian Perreault Hamel – Harbour60, Toronto, Lauren Hall – Scale Hospitality, Toronto, Ashleigh Forster – DaNico, Toronto, Jessamyn Box – Major Tom, Calgary, Lisa Baran – Savio Volpe, Vancouver, Heather Rankin – Obladee Wine Bar, Halifax and Montréal’s Elyse Lambert M.S. – Ritz-Carlton, Toronto. A tradition initiated by the legend Jeremy Bonia was carried on, to play a game aboard Enzo’s bus with music themes chosen by the leader (Godello) and each sommelier picking songs to be played throughout the course of a travelling day. Please feel free to peruse and listen to La Squadra Canadese Radio:

La Squadra Canadese Radio – First song you remember singing along to

La Squadra Canadese Radio – Pre-2000 Hip-Hop

La Squadra Canadese Radio – Country

La Squadra Canadese Radio – 80s and 90s jams

La Squadra Canadese Radio – Headphones on a beach

La Squadra Canadese Radio – Wedding Songs

La Squadra Canadese Radio – Dancing by Myself

La Squadra Canadese Radio – When you have a Hangover

La Squadra Canadese Radio – Non North American artists

La Squadra Canadese Radio – Favourite movie soundtrack song

La Squadra Canadese Radio – To play at your Celebration of Life

La Squadra Canadese Radio – Pairs with Chianti Classico

La Squadra Canadese – Panzano

There was an extensive Gran Selezione UGA Tasting at Casa Chianti Classico in Radda, 15 estate visits, an aperitivo with President Giovanni Manetti at Enoteca Baldi in Panzano, unforgettable dinners at Panzano’s Antica Macelleria Cecchini, in Siena and also Florence. As always, the planning and support from the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico’s Carlotta Gori, Silvia Fiorentini, Christine Lechner, Caterina Mori, Laura Cavalleri and Simone Fabbrini. La Squadra came, they conquered and the Gallo Nero left an indelible stamp on their collective emozioni – forever. As for Godello, here are his 125 tasting notes from the trip – expected and as per usual, abided.

Gran Selezione Tasting – Casa Chianti Classico, Radda

Gran Selezione tasting at Casa Chianti Classico

Marchesi Antinori Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Badia A Passignano 2021, San Casciano

If it looks like, smells like and tastes like Badia a Passignano, well then it must be Badia a Passignano. Then again as a 2021 the fullness, generosity and natural phenolic grip meeting sweetness is unparalleled. Yes the underlying verdant savour is always there, always the Badia’s corner of San Donato in Poggio, but honestly the pulchritude of substance feels extant, furthered and extra level for Passignano. For Antinori. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February and October 2024

Arillo In Terrabianca Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Terrabianca 2019, Radda

All sangiovese and nothing but the sangiovese in one of the first iterations of Gran Selezione under the guidance of new and improved ownership. Brightest of red fruit for a concept and work in progress that seeks to deliver utter transparency for lower (relatively speaking) elevation out of Radda. Firm enough though the tannins are anything but austere. Drink early GS, again, relatively speaking. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2023, February and October 2024

Banfi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Fonte alla Selva 2020, Castellina

Fonte Alla Selva, “fountain in the forest,” though there is less bosco influence in Castellina than say Radda, Gaiole or Panzano. That said the clay and Alberese soils of alluvial origin breathe freshness into a Gran Selezione with 40 hectares of vineyards from which to choose from. The 2020 is a big wine from a warm season though here cool, liquid smoky and glycerin textured sangiovese with the smooth consistency made whole by the “other” non-specifically declared varieties. Though by rule as of next vintage they must be local and make up no more than 10 percent of the whole. Tight, tart and chalky, surprisingly tannic, not sharp mind you but with a noted pointillism in its brush. The vanilla and lavender may be distracting but as far from over the top. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2024

Bindi Sergardi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Mocenni ’89 2019, Vagliagli

Mocenni 89 is a special Gran Selezione, open, ethereal and generous. And it is just now entering its window of beauty with new surprise at every turn. Last tasted October 2024

Tenuta Mocenni presides at one of the higher points in the Vagliagli UGA at 500m with vineyard blocks impounded with great Alberese stones and outcroppings of Galestro. The south facing amphitheater is one of Chianti Classico’s most impressive sites and sights. The latest vintage is not yet released and there is no shock how youthful and tightly wound you will find this 2019 to be. The one that follows will proudly display the UGA on the front label. More than just a few years of time in more than one kind of vessel has equipped this major potion of fruit with ample layers of structure in a Gran Selezione so bloody big, substantial and beautiful. Will most definitely require five to seven years of unwinding. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Borgo Salcetino Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG I Salci 2016, Radda

Wildly perfumed and built upon a foundation of aromatic volume for a 2016 that needed all the time it has been given to come and express itself this way. Still tannic by way of a combination of chalky and austere, a crisp Gran Selezione and one needing food alongside to tame its drying second half. When will it fully resolve and what will the fruit be up to at that time? Remains to be seen but waiting two more two years will not make for the best result, or joy. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted October 2024

Borgo Scopeto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2017, Vagliagli

Settling in, arriving near to its fruition and frankly this represents the most elegant side of 2017. A surprising vintage considering what was expected and Borgo Scopeto’s is much brighter and fluid than many. Surely a Gran Selezione that needed time, to soften the edges and allow freshness to shine through. This is the time to drink a ’17 that will work for its dinner. Hard to fathom how it came to be but this works at 13.5 percent abv. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2024

Brancaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2021, Castellina

Fine, fine Brancaia, luxe and stylish while restrained in any needed way. The epitome of modern Gran Selezione, understated and always giving, with confidence and the understanding of why the appellation was conceived. Crunchy and savoury, still highly tannic and so make sure to concentrate on the beauty of perfume in this early stage of its tenure. Last tasted October 2024

The aromas and perfumes are so much more prevalent and open for 2021 with stoniness and Castellina as the instigator for how this Gran Selezione is want to express itself. Crispy, savoury and the sort to really bite down and sink your teeth into. Tasted April 2024

New label not yet printed that likely indicated this has not been in bottle long and as a 2021 Gran Selezione that must surely be the case. Keep this in mind when you feel just how implosive and locked in the fruit is kept behind the wall of tannic sound. The freight is loaded in the compartments but the train has yet to leave the station – though as a 2021 there will be joy at the end of the line. With stops along the way because the vintage does not demand too much nor will it crash and burn. Brancaia’s 2021 is a ripe and primed GS to live out the decade and then for a few more years in the next. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted February 2024

Cantina Castelvecchi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Madonnino Della Pieve 2017, Radda

Well-aged (and held back two to three years) Gran Selezione from Castelvecchi out of mid-elevation Radda and a sangiovese paying tribute to La Madonna of her church. From the warm and veritably dry 2017 season but there is both flesh and also acidity riding high in this Gran Selezione. A top vintage for this appellative category because the healthiest fruit destined for the top wine did well to create promise. Still a bit austere and this was pressed just a bit heavy so the wine will always show a certain level of verdancy and tightness. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted October 2023 and 2024

Capannelle Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Gaiole

Seriously rich and liquid chalky sangiovese, concentrated as a Gran Selezione level example should be expected to be. Full and layering vintage, ripe in terzetto respect, including tannins and so this says drink sooner rather than later. Not quite yet mind you but the coming winter and a long-simmered stew will benefit well alongside. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted October 2024

Carpineta Fontalpino Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Dofana 2019, Vagliagli

A preview of 2019 that will shown at the Chianti Classico Collection in February of 2024 that are now finished wines “but to me they are young,” shrugs Filippo Cresti. The dried balsamic quality of 2018 is here replaced but more freshness and spirit. A richer wine in 2019 as compared to Montaperto with the wood more involved – while the wine this young is trying to figure out its way through adolescence. The clay is fully involved in just how textured and fruity Dofana acts in this inimitably generous vintage. Flesh will come, with time. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted October 2023, February and October 2024

With Dario Cecchini – Panzano

Carpineto Gran Selezione Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Greve

There is nothing about this Gran Selezione that is not Carpineto and so kudos to the Greve estate for unyielding consistency, no matter the time or place. In fact this also represents a look through the mirror of a vintage, never overbearing or overpowering and just a snapshot of cool, herbal and brushy, like taking a long walk though a dry forest, air crisp with fresh air. The 2020 GS has matured some already so drink this while some others work through their issues. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted February 2023 and October 2024

Carus Vini Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Gaudio 2018, San Casciano

Proper austerity and the yet to fully descry intention are what define this style of the Carus San Casciano Gran Selezione. The fruit combines that pitch of red and sway to speak of savour but as of yet never the twain shall yet meet. Two or three more years are needed, to get them together but tension needs to subside before anything meaningful can happen. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted October 2024

Casale dello Sparviero Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Paronza 2019, Castellina

Unique example with aromatics unlike any other but for now they are mostly caused by the stay in wood. Vanilla yes but also what feels like the effects of American oak. Coconut like Rioja mixed with Napa Valley but sangiovese is rendered “different” because, well sangiovese. Needs two years to come fully together and will outlive many, darkening and thickening as it matures. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted October 2024

Castelli Del Grevepesa Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Panzano

The Grevepesa cooperative (out of San Casciano) grabs and works with fruit from Panzano and they have chosen to put the UGA front and centre on their label. This they do with Lamole as well. In both cases the Gran Selezione is written vertically, boxed and smaller in font. Celebrating an adjunctive location is most curious and when you think about it, quite clever. Their 2019 is clearly Panzano in origin with that notable combination of glycerin fruit matched by Galestro-Pietraforte mineral swirls. There is some astringency here – yet more importantly bright red fruit. Needs a year to further settle in. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2023 and 2024

Castello Della Paneretta Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Torre A Destra 2016, San Donato In Poggio

Unbelievable how tannic and unrelenting this persists as a 2016 Gran Selezione. Crisp, crunchy, savoury and spicy, wood still a major factor and fruit continues to be hold back. How long will this take? At last two more years it seems. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted October 2024

Castello Di Ama Gran Selezione Chianti Classico DOCG San Lorenzo 2019, Gaiole

A reminder and to be clear – San Lorenzo comes from the San Lorenzo vineyard and also Montebuoni but not only. The Gran Selezione is both a name of fantasy but also connected to the vineyard that lends this top tier appellative wine its name. The step up in quality and precision from Montebuoni Riserva is really quite obvious though each are wines respective of their appellation and style. A very important vintage because there are times when Gran Selezione must be accessible early with unequivocal structure allowing it to age. This is 2019 from Ama as a personification of its maker. Marco Pallanti as Gran Selezione. Has a nice ring to it don’t you think? Drink 2024-2032. Tasted October 2023 and 2024

Castello Di Bossi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019

Ultra professional, concentrated and fruit layered example of Gran Selezione, all parts sweet and tanned, from fruit through acid to tannin. A paced and measured 2020, plenty of warmth and wood seasoning, though all is liquid, elastic and fluid. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2024

Castello Di Fonterutoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, Castellina

Clean, advanced to a finer point and really showing the sweetness of fruit at this stage. Open whenever you are ready yet can also be kept for four-plus years. Last tasted February and October 2024

Castello di Fonterutoli’s 2020 is Gran Selezione like looking in the Castellina mirror because the purity of red, red, red fruit is the crux and at the core of what this wine wants to say. Hyper indicative of the vintage, clear and transparent, never too weighty or adamant and Fonterutoli puts everything in its rightful place. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February and October 2023

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigneto Il Poggio 2019, San Donato In Poggio

The arrival of an Il Poggio is greeted with great anticipation because luxury and fortune have beget tastings of several recent and also older vintages. So imagine what Monsanto’s 2019 will surely bring to the table out of San Donato in Poggio. No ordinary moment, but one likely to get frozen into time. Open heart and mind, dig into deeper understanding and intuitive possibility. Gran Selezione 2019 from the Bianchi family’s hilltop vineyard is sublime. Concentrated, understated, refined, precise and giving. Nurturing if edgy but always gracious and unselfish. A touch reductive, protected and of course stylish. A moment so vivid it causes ache, awe and longing. Too much waxing for a bottle of wine? Actually no but another Il Poggio for the ages. Drink 2026-2039. Tasted October 2023, February and October 2024

Castello Di Querceto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG La Corte 2020, Greve

La Corte is “the court,” second of two Gran Selezione out of The Dudda Valley by Greve’s Castello di Querceto. The one with more precision and refinement (as compared to Il Picchio) and it is this warm vintage 2020 that really captures the sunshine as manifested in true sangiovese concentration. The complexity comes from liquorice and resinous evergreen oils, a note of graphite, creosote and something unknown, or unnamed. Nevertheless there is a lot happening here and the wine should unwind with great intersect over a ten year period of time. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted October 2023 and 2024

Galestro – Panzano

Castello Di Radda Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Il Corno DOCG 2018, Radda

Juicy Gran Selezione, integrating and resolving, coming into its own with fruit still at fresh peak performance, These are really fine Raddese acids, helpful and supportive, propping up the fruit. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2024

Castello Di Verrazzano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Sassello Vigneto Querciolina 2018, Montefioralle

Not yet released and will have at lest three more months in bottle before that can happen. A strong vintage and normally the release would be the fall but both wood and fruit need to time to find each other. The substance in Sassello 2018 is, well substantial, in fact something more than that. Richness at the height of Verrazzano’s abilities but my goodness this packs a punch while also showing off the modernity and harmony that define this estate today. Bravissimo. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February and October 2024

Castello Di Volpaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Coltassala 2021, Radda

Always a concentrated sangiovese, from high elevation, solar radiated and night cooled vineyards. Still a five percent mixing in of ultra specific mammolo, spice bringer and catalyst to create this unique interaction with sangiovese. A fulsome vintage, fruit and tannins thick as thieves, luxe behaviour guaranteed and time on side for one of the longest runs to be had in Chianti Classico. The palate and mouthfeel are already showing signs of great activity and you could actually drink this now with the correct salty protein alongside. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted October 2024

Castello La Leccia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Bruciagna 2020, Castellina

Quality sangiovese comes in many ways with this being the kind of fit concentration matched equally by conscious and confident full use of wood. A tight, tart, tannic and intense example showing both its strengths and also constraints. Give this two more to shed some new light. Last tasted October 2024

Here a Castellina Gran Selezione called Bruciagna, pure sangiovese sleek and hot-blooded. A 2020 of agility, speed, and spirit, well designed, fruit at the height of its powers and a sprinter as opposed to a long track runner. Structure is more power than endurance so drink in the near term for the win, place and show. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted October 2023

UGA Tasting – Casa Chianti Classico, Radda

Castello di Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Le Bolle 2021, Greve

Le Bolle, the name of the cluster of houses in a specific locality and therefore in the register inside the “frazione” of Greti within the commune of Greve. A Gran Selezione single vineyard of just sangiovese, initially made in 2006 and first presented as a GS at VinItaly in 2019. More aromatic volume and power than La Prima but also a smooth as silk sensation on the nose and also on the palate. Stylish, certainly more woodiness and perceived sweetness because the tannins are in fact ripe and the mouthfeel classically “scorrevole.” Longer and more persistent from a GS that represents the house style. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted October 2024

Cecchi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Valore Di Famiglia 2018, Castellina

Solid, weighty, tense and taut sangiovese here from Cecchi in the highest level on the appellative pyramid. Wound tight and will take five years to unwind, just as it has already been nearly five to wind up into this intense present character. Might dry out a bit and the seasoning will be peppery strong as the fruit subsides. The next few years will see the best moments for this Gran Selezione. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2023 and October 2024

Cinciano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, San Donato In Poggio

Still tightly wound and somewhat reductive with a skin to pulp ratio resinous effect in place. Still much to wait for and to receive from what will surely be a giving and abiding Gran Selezione that acts out a distinguished and defined San Donato in Poggio sangiovese style. Comes from relatively low elevation vineyards at 250m of medium textured soils, Alberese based, stony with some low-lying clay. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted October 2024

Conte Capponi/Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Bastignano 2020, Montefioralle

Have waited just eight months and not only has nothing changed but the wine has gone into full slumber. Revisit no less than a year from now. Last tasted October 2024

Campione: A sample but one at the three and a half year mark so let’s take it at face value. One of the baller and brazen Gran Selezione in Conti Capponi’s work, doubled down by a vintage of similar character. Intense minerals and elementals streaking through chalky fruit that mimic and speak to the terroir – an Alberese stone that will not be denied. This is indeed serious and structured. Wait a minimum four years people. Please. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted February 2024

Dievole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Sessina 2019, Vagliagli

A 6.4 hectare vineyard at 450m which qualifies as the highest point of Dievole. A south exposure with Macigno and outcroppings of clay to deliver more power than any other estate sangiovese. The aromatics are expressly consistent with Riserva (and also Casanova) but the musculature is taut and developed. That which Riserva commits to is magnified in this fourth vintage of the Gran Selezione, none more so than the tannins which grab, grip, secure and hold on tight. They compound and reside in the arena of the austere at the finish of this profound wine. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February and October 2024

Fattoria Della Aiola Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Cancello Rosso 2018, Vagliagli

The red gate is a definitive Vagliagli sangiovese with its tell-take evergreen and pine forest aromatic crush. A warmest vintage means concentration, early picked jammy fruit and highest acidity captured. A proverbial food wine if ever there was because the acid cards accumulate for layers of sweet and sour edginess. Still needs time and in this case the fruit can hang around until the wine integrates to near fruition, if never quiet getting fully there. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted October 2024

La Squadra Canadese – Casa Chianti Classico, Radda

Fattoria Di Corsignano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG L’imperatrice 2019, Vagliagli

High-toned, tannic and mid-season volatile behaviour, showing experience and location, or rather wearing these things on its sleeves. Just a bit of squeezing or pressing to bring out the natural fruit and along with it some verdancy quite savoury in nature though surely within character for Vagliagli. Curious or in other words unique Gran Selezione that after another two years will reveal much more. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted October 2024

Fattoria di Valiano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG “6.38” 2019, Vagliagli

Notably wooded example of Gran Selezione from another warm vintage with years still needed to integrate though fruit freshness is nearing its peak. Tannins are near severe to speak of the season, spicing and intent. The goal here is structure and longevity, two ideals that are surely part of this 6.38’s DNA though by the time it gets to Vagliagli there will and should be tartufi and porcini on the table. Classically styled for a Piccini 1882 CC-GS. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted October 2024

Fattoria Montecchio Chianti Classico DOCG Pasquino 2019, San Donato In Poggio

Gelid and glycerol red fruit, into the San Donato in Poggio blood orange spectrum, naturally sweet and pulpy, a squeeze of omnipresent red citrus and something so very well understood. Fine work, likely showing at best if not quite integrated peak at this stage. Last tasted October 2024

Seductive Gran Selezione here from Montecchio, not atypical for 2019 yet Pasquino takes the style to another level entirely. Blood orange, glycerol, silken texture and just as it has been said, seductive. Chic and classy without pretension or precious personality. Little maintenance required, only a glass, some salumi and fine cheeses, good people with which to share. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted October 2023

Fèlsina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Rancia 2021, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Inaugural vintage of the Rancia Gran Selezione, for many years the bigger Riserva from the grand southwest facing hill, now ready for top-level prime time in the eyes of Giovanni Poggiali. Took its time to make this grand change and no shock to find the cedar-cypress-evergreen component running ultra high. A hyperbole of who it was, now under the magnifying glass, full, heady and intense. A Gran Selezione of stature, structure and at this stage, immovability. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted October 2024

Fontodi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Terrazze San Leolino 2020, Panzano

How much does the human factor effect a wine like San Leolino? The answer lies in the relationship between the land, weather, vintage and in how the people who work the fields to maximize the gifts made available to them. From 2020 the quotient is high, above 2019 and ready to pass the torch to 2021. At least in these first three vintage the incline is palpable, the progression linear and more importantly vertical. This is great and 2021 will take it further. Allow the wood to settle for two more years. Last tasted February and October 2024

From the vineyards surrounding the 9th century Pieve and you know what they say. “Sangiovese is planted, consequences follow.” A 15th century drawing found in a Florence museum proves that monks cultivated grapes on this property at that time. More perfume than the Classico level Panzano and so there is proof that this terraced land with high level Alberese soils provides aromatics and great structure in the way a Lamole plus Panzano might hypothetically get together for a similar result. Leolino is not a go between but something unique, something other. Special and of an aging potential that may just be more promising than that of Vigna del Sorbo, but let’s wait 10-15 years to see if that will come to be true. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted October 2023

I Fabbri Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Lamole

From the oldest vines, including those planted back in 1965 and aged for two years in large cask, a.k.a. grandi botti. The old vines show what can be done from lowest of yields, highest of concentration and by way of a contract that seeks and attains the necessity of elegance. Everything about Susanna Grassi’s Gran Selezione speaks to the Lamole UGA, in sweetly herbal and savoury perfume, a floral note connected to the botany and grace under the pressure of structure so well defined. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted October 2023, February and October 2024

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Il Margone 2021, Panzano

An important selection, in 2021 mainly from the Al Sole vineyard but also some fruit coming out of Francesca. “A great vintage for us,” says Iacopo Morganti. Unfortunately the Easter frosts reduced quantity by 40 percent. No matter because Il Margone’s position is to offer a calm respite away from wines too big for their own good, pivoted towards elegance in a sangiovese so right and so pure. Puts this in the finest Panzano light as a wholesome Margone by Morganti and Il Molino di Grace that will slowly evolve over a near 15 year period with kept freshness and slow development. Last tasted May and October 2024

Campione: Take a little trip forward along a linear and precisely drawn line from Riserva to Gran Selezione and see what will be. Not as aggressive or intense as Riserva but its own kind of powerful and grippy while also more charming. I believe its elegance will begin to show sooner rather than later, say in the first few weeks of 2021. The wood is more noticeable on the nose and the sangiovese needs time – but charm and grace is there. This you can count on. Smaller production of 8,000 bottles. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted October 2023

Il Poggiolino Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Le Balze 2021, San Donato In Poggio

Another perfumed and expressive Le Balze comes with as much if not more pulp and flesh a la mode than those San Donato in Poggio Gran Selezione that have come before. The depeche florals are Spring bloom fresh, the volume set at ideal pitch and you just need to keep putting glass to nose because, well you just can’t get enough. Richness is never compromised but it is belied by the beauty of a tannic caress about as graceful and gracious as there are. This is Il Poggiolino’s finest GS to date and that is saying a lot. “Just like a rainbow.” Drink 2025-2034. Tasted October 2024

Isole E Olena Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2016

“I did not like Gran Selezione, I did not have anything against Gran Selezione but the discussion about UGA (sub-zones) was already underway so why not wait for this next change to the appellation?” The thinking for Paolo de Marchi was more about the wines that did not qualify for the appellation becoming wines that now qualified, the issue being a new rule could not apply to only 30 or so producers. So what is needed for that to happen? “All grapes born here should be able to travel with a passport.” If it is more complicated than that then there is much more to discuss. A Chianti Classico from a long, linear and fortifying vintage delivers equally appropriate and extending tannins, gripping the composition while proposing to become elegant and fine. The seamlessness and never wavering focus keeps on keeping on, in the ways of emotion in motion. Will remain in bottle one year more before being released to the market. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted February 2022

Istine Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Casanova Dell’Aia 2021, Radda

From Angela Front’s (relatively) newer Radda planting and one to deliver sangiovese with a vineyard’s determination, not to mention the winemaker’s imprint. Will come across as lighter, brighter and less concentrated to some but they would not be paying attention to nuance, precision, stealth mystery and the many still to be revealed hidden meanings. Vigna Casanova dell’Aia 2021 is a restrained tour de force of a Gran Selezione, knowing full well its full intention is yet to be announced. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted October 2024

La Squadra Canadese – Chianti Classico Headquarters – Sambuca

La Croce Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG La Croce 2020, Castellina

High aromatic swirl and flush of floral fruit to draw us in and come looking for more. Many splendored and substantial quality in that regard. Were we to stay there the wine would continue to please. The palate whoever is sappy and gratuitous with its wood-effected vanilla and berry ice cream soft serve. Softens quickly and then trails away. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

La Sala del Torriano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Il Torriano 2020, San Casciano

When San Casciano brings aromatic wealth twofold between red fruit and sweet savour then you know you have really got something special in your glass. High chances it will be Torriano from La Sala. Warmth of vintage, expertly considered and arranged picking schedules, then finally winemaking respect has all fused to come to this. Amplitude meets tranquility and fullness transcribes as pleasure. Lovely spices and spicy piques arrive at the back and length is outstanding. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted October 2024

Lamole di Lamole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigneto di Campolungo 2019, Lamole

As you would expect the Gran Selezione is a crunchy sangiovese, as only Lamole can deliver with more freshness and verdant character than just about anywhere in the territory. A different green than Gaiole or Radda, an almost humid rainforest breath of air, like running spring water through the canopy that expands the aromatics. Brings out the Lamole perfume more than the Riserva and five times that of the Annata. Also sanguine form the iron-laced Macigno sandstone and its own kind of char, like a seasoned cast iron on low heat. Up until three years ago there was some cabernet but now it is solo sangiovese. First vintage of this wine was 1985 and then transformed as Gran Selezione in 2010. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted October 2024

Le Cinciole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Aluigi Campo Ai Peri 2020, Panzano

Panzano expression incarnate, red fruit ripe and silken without glycerol gratuity and flirting with untethered gravity. A richness while also barrel work lending a creamy mouthfeel that still needs to soften further, integrate the associated spice and see this become a Gran Selezione of parts develop into the whole. Just some austerity in the structure stands in the way. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted October 2024

Le Fonti Di Panzano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Panzano

As always at this appellative level Le Fonti’s is 100 percent sangioivese and as with Annata but also Riserva the house style chooses fruit over wood and seasoning over toast. The warm vintage finished with late season daytime highs juxtaposed against nighttime lows and this Gran Selezione emerged with glaring clarity, instrumental precision and parts on point. From fruit through structure round fits into round and square into square, nothing awkward, sharp or out of place. An aromatic sangiovese while the palate provides an experience and a half. Selezione ’19 is a prepared one, to withstand oxidation and develop supplementary character so that it may age well into the next decade. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted February and October 2023 and 2024

Livernano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Purosangue 2016, Radda

Yet another aging Gran Selezione wound tight, austere tannins yet to relent and fruit in a remarkably fresh state. The level of concentration will not live to the fullest along with the wine’s longevity and yet wood is not an issue. Used and resulting in good gastronomical seasoning but never obtrusive. So reminds of nebbiolo, if more light, bright and austere like Barbaresco in style. Very old school Radda. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted October 2024

Lornano Gran Selezione Chianti Classico DOCG 2017, Castellina

Always stiff, reductive and vertical in youth which still includes 2017. Cedar and pine mulch, great savour all-around, fine-grained tannins and an aromatic thirst yet to be quenched. On the palate there is some incoming joy and so we see that the belt is loosening and the wine beginning to offer up some pleasure. Some will see too much wood and that opinion is perfectly valid but understand how Lornano’s wines at every level need time, The tannins are in fact fine and everything will make more sense after another year of time. Last tasted October 2024

The last Lornano Gran Selezione tasted was 2012, absence makes the heart grow fonder and five vintages later expectations run high. Their’s are the most austere in youth, especially for Castellina because the bright red fruit of the UGA does not always ring the bells of structural alarm. But Lornano’s position and high Alberese content make them immovable when young and so three extra years is warranted for seeing them open up to the world. As with this 2017 which has indeed done so and yet maturity still seems far away. Great and luxe, juicy and even fresh fruit considering the vintage and so Bravo to the team for coaxing this kind of elegance. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted October 2023

Marchesi Frescobaldi Tenuta Perano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Tenuta Perano Rialzi 2020, Gaiole

In Gran Selezione terms for Chianti Classico Rialzi is about as singular as it gets. Just drive up the road from La Villa in Radda, into Gaiole and through to Perano to know what you are dealing with. Olive trees, cypress, pine, other evergreens, rosemary, sage and brushy greens on your left give away to the single Rialzi Vineyard on your right. All that verdancy translates into these 25 year-old, cordone speronato vines for a very specific balsamico, drawn from the greens, through the experienced vines and into the fruit. The vineyard was called “I Rialzi,” literally “the lifted up,” or now “the steps, or terraces. Lamberto Frescobaldi always insists “the vineyard matters most,” and in this case that is simply true. Aromatic confusion in a way but more so volume, palate tension and also vintage. Incidentally warmer than 2019, lending more volumetric credence and tending towards a bigger iteration of Gran Selezione. Feels more like the Rialzi of expectation and the kind of structure to go on and on. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted October 2024

Nittardi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Nittardi 2020, Castellina

Über Castellina sangiovese, full fruit compliment at Gran Selezione level and already openly generous. Crunchy fruit mixed with equally toothsome tannin make for a good appellative combination. Fine work out of the variable 2020 vintage. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted October 2024

Villa Le Corti Principe Corsini Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Don Tommaso 2020, San Casciano

The original Gran Selezione for Villa Le Corti, that being Don Tommaso, incidentally labeled with its UGA while “Zac” adds the Val di Pesa suffix, as per the commune. Quite the fleshy and substantially concentrated 2020, impressively so, rich, luxe and jam-packed with flavour. A mix of 80 percent sangiovese with merlot (that will not be available in 2023 due to no production because of downy mildew). A bit woody on the palate at this youthful stage but this will pass and Don Tommaso will drink dutifully if also effortlessly through the latter stages of this one and into the first stretches of the next decade. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted October 2023, February and October 2024

Radda in Chianti

Querceto Di Castellina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Sei 2021, Castellina

Really pretty and voluminous sangiovese from Castellina’s Querceto, as bright and red fruit excitable as they come. Not edgy or twitchy though, but even paced and moving from strength to strength. Length is forever and tannins are present if never too demanding. Sei is a 2021 Gran Selezione that will go on and on, potentially through to the middle of the next decade. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted October 2024

Querciabella Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Greve

The first commercially available vintage was 2017, from the highest reaches out of Querciabella’s vineyard parcels between 450 and 530m aboard the Ruffoli hill. Picked four weeks ahead of same altitude vines in Lamole because of exposure and well, Ruffoli. Treated to a submerged cap, i.e. capello sommerso methodology, a simmer of skins kept wet just as they have been doing forever in Barolo. This means a quality of tannin that comes out by infusion as opposed to extraction and with such an ideal vintage the result is uncompromising. Freshness captured, instinct incarnate, tannic freight compact, though the layers have breezes blowing through. Precise and focused as expected and the finale lingers forever. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted February and October 2024

Rocca Delle Macìe Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Sergio Zingarelli 2019, Castellina

It just feels as though a Famiglia Zingarelli sangiovese will always act, emit and taste this way, that were this wine poured blind we would know the origin and the appellation. That being Gran Selezione and with 2019 the glare and obvious beautiful red mess of Castellina fruit is right there. The tops for substantial fruit as far as this GS is concerned and possessive an aging potential long and great. Should become one of Zingarelli’s finest. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted February 2023 and October 2024

San Fabiano Calcinaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Cellole 2019, Castellina

Mainly Sangiovese with some colorino and a few splashes of merlot “that speaks Chiantigiana.” Also a 500m elevation for most of these grapes, the sangiovese planted in the 80s and converted to organic in the 90s. A stony Galestro soil opposite to the sandy clay and calcari, i.e Calcinaia around the borgo and winery. Only Cellole delivers this cool, liquid peppery swarthiness that the Classico does not show and also a combination of verdant but also distinct minerals notes. Tannins are exceptionally taut with at least two to three years remaining before they begin to truly integrate. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted February 2023, February and October 2024

San Felice Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Poggiorosso 2019, Castelnuovo Berardenga

If you could close your eyes and sip Poggiorosso you would almost certainly realize that San Felice was in the glass because this is the result of their sangiovese. Tight, tart, youthful, unresolved and yet to realize its potential. This is a bit of a dumb phase, not fully expressive and seemingly light stage of its tenure. Need to refit and see what comes next. Last tasted October 2024

Almost hard to believe but 2019 seems bigger, broader and in a way wilder than the 2020 Poggiorosso and yet this single vineyard Gran Selezione is a force to reckoned with, no matter the vintage. The vibrancy and especially the acidity is the wild aspect of a sangiovese that acts a bit the rebel, with cause. Quality here is tops in every respect, fruit is ripe on both ends and that acidity is really quite sweet. Splitting hairs compared to 2020 but this is something special. Amazing work from all new 500L tonneaux. Drink 2024-2037. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Tenuta Cappellina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Canto Dieci 2018, Vagliagli

A massive Chianti Classico Gran Selezione in so many respects, vintage being the impetus and catalyst for how this reached 15.5 percent alcohol. In spite of the spike the acids are raging high as well, the high tonality of the sangiovese also spiking with sharp and pointed style. The heat is like white light, or lightning rather and sometimes it’s hard to fathom how a grape from a UGA like Vagliagli can get this way. A hot season with big temperatures in late September but unavoidable is the truth of the matter. Does well to express place and style in the face of this adversity. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2024

Tenuta Casenuove Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Panzano

Serious, experienced, structured and vertical example of Gran Selezione. Maturity of fruit but also layered acids and most impressively developed tannins. This walks with great stature, sure of its meaning and intent. As a Panzano sangiovese it knows exactly what it wants to be. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2024

Tenuta Di Nozzole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Giovanni Folonari 2019, Greve

Western Greve brushy and herbal style of sangiovese with a dusty and evergreen feel. Aromatically exuberant, open-knit, bright and with just a hint of proper volatility. So bloody sangiovese and concentrated for a point to consider a specific style of Gran Selezione. Another proper vintage with fine work put in to factor for a well made Chianti Classico. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2024

Terra Di Seta Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vendemmia Assai 2018, Vagliagli

Ha taken its time to arrive at what is now a truly drinkable moment, the generous wood styling and aging now integrated, smoothened and in delivery of silky texture. High in glycerol, some wood char still in the background but now more like liquid smoke, neither smouldering nor ignited to any developed flame. Relatively dark fruit, very black cherry, tannic and just ever so slightly oxidative. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

Tolaini Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Montebello Sette 2020, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Youthful still and showing no signs of growing up, moving forward or coming away released from its wood and tannic shackles. A big Montebello Sette from a vintage that determined this course, with impressive bones, silken red cherry fruit and potential of the highest Castelnuovo Berardenga order. An important wine for Tolaini and the culmination of hard agricultural work put in to play. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted October 2024

La Squadra Canadese with Giovanni Manetti and Christine Lechner – Enoteca Baldi, Panzano

Vallepicciola Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Lapina 2021, Vagliagli

Red stone fruit, aromatically fleshy while also expressed through high tones. Acid-driven vintage, ultra believable as coming from Vagliagli and at a refined concentration level that clearly indicates Gran Selezione. A 2021 to pay attention to, cellar and take in the results five to seven years after vintage. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2024

Vecchie Terre di Montefili Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Panzano

The most amenable and accessible vintage there could be but ’19 is already beginning to show its fruit sliding into dried and dusty territory. Granted it was still relatively early in Serena’s tenure and understanding of the vineyards and even more so the appellation but at five years past vintage this is the Gran Selezione to drink straight away. Still some tannic austerity but otherwise a sangiovese in resolution. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

Cecchi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Villa Rosa 2019, Castellina

Single vineyard sangiovese from Casteto at the highest eastern heights of the Western Castellina vineyard. Most freshness and elegance of all the Cecchi sangiovese and from 2019 a wine so ready to drink you will find it hard to keep any bottles in the cellar. Not that structure is an issue because Villa Rosa will mature slowly over a five year run. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted May and October 2024

Viticcio Gran Selezione Chianti Classico DOCG Prunaio 2019, Montefioralle

Prunaio is beginning to resolve, to see a next level of integration and a drinkability not too far away. Fruit is persistently fresh, acids sweet and fattening, structural parts in play though without any austerity or great tannin. There is some mind you, but in good control and working well alongside the pleasurable parts of this Gran Selezione. Fine work here in 2019 from Vitticio. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2024

Valentino Davaz – Poggio al Sole

October 2024 Estate visits

Poggio Al Sole Sangiovese Bianco 2023, Toscana IGT

From relatively older plantings (1997 and 1998), harvested on average two weeks before the sangiovese used for reds. First commercial availability was 2019 but it has been experienced and played around with for 15 years. Quite phenolic, pH influenced, a sapid bianco of tonic and grip. Finishing with a lemon saltiness that ties it all together. Has grown from 1,200 to 17,000 bottles from 2019 to now. The ’22 was just a bit saltier and higher in energy. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

Poggio Al Sole Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, San Donato In Poggio

Organic, 90 percent sangiovese with (10) canaiolo, 12 days of maceration, one year in mainly large cask. The canaiolo helps to soften the tannic austerity of sangiovese and “make it more accessible earlier,” explains Valentino Davaz. The “business card” of Poggio al Sole, notable acidity yet cut and texturized by the blending and style. This ’22 is substantial, full and filled in when you consider the mid-palate, just about ready as we speak and should be consumed in its first three years. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

Poggio al Sole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Casasilia 2021, San Donato In Poggio

Casasilia was the name of the estate before it became Poggio al Sole, opposite hill to the estate that owned Poggio al Vento on the other side. A Gran Selezione that transferred from Riserva and has been pure sangiovese since 2007. From plantings between 1992 and 1997, high acidity vintage and dry extract off the proverbial charts. Basically the best looking bunches that can then macerate longer and the result is a mix of fruit and acidity that travel the sides of the palate, up and down, unrelenting and working with the structural components of the wine. Intriguing, woody and inviting. The grandest wine that falls into the sweet spot between elegant and bold, lithe and massive. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted October 2024

Serena Gusmeri – Vecchie Terre di Montefili

Vecchie Terre di Montefili Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Panzano

Just 50 percent of production from a warm vintage with low juice to skin ratio. Aged only in 30 hL casks for approximately 15 months before release. “The bottle you open must be of the place,” explains winemaker and agronomist Serena Gusmeri, “with the purity and freshness of the crunchy sangiovese.” Spicy and musky aromatics, not surprising because of the skins’ effect. Powerful vintage with bones, dry extract (more than 36 g/L!) and a purposeful saltiness. Puckering finish. Last tasted October 2024

Tasted side by each with the 2019 there can be no missing the darker hue, stronger fruit and bolder notes sung by Vecchie Terre di Montefili’s 2020. It’s the vintage and also Panzano that create the unavoidable, each as forceful and imposing as the other. Then agin the trilogy of terroir, weather and place are intrinsic to the sangiovese that arrive each and every season. Big wine, tannins equal to the task and yet evolution will happen faster than 2019. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted February 2024

Vecchie Terre di Montefili Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, Panzano

A selection from Vigna del Bosco from Montefioralle and also with some Vigna Vecchia Panzano fruit. In the next vintage the two will each make up their own, one labeled as Montefioralle and the other with the Panzano UGA. Depth and volume in so many ways, of hue, extract, aromas and concentration. Truly floral with Panzano’s Pietraforte ingrained within. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted October 2024

Vecchie Terre di Montefili Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Panzano

Vecchie Terre di Montefili Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2016, Panzano

Serena Gusmeri’s second vintage at Montefili, harvested exactly one week after her daughter was born. In so many ways the perfect Chianti Classico vintage and even more so for Panzano and this corner of the UGA. Understated and far from powerful elements, especially tannins, like the sound from a cornet. That said this ’16 Gran Selezione is so persistently young and fresh. Almost no movement as of yet, still a sanguine and mineral quality set that keeps this sangiovese crunchy and pure. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted October 2024

Vecchie Terre di Montefili Vigna Vecchia 2019, Toscana IGT

Less than half a hectare planted in 1981, Panzano side at Montefili, the last year as an IGT ahead of its inaugural Gran Selezione labelling in 2020. High level of spicy savour, bloody quality and more tannic austerity than what comes from Panzano. This seems opposite to what would be expected but welcome to Chianti Classico where producer and location are everything. Richness meets structure, Alberese and Pietraforte conspiring for a muscular style. Salty conclusion and should age forever. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted October 2024

Vecchie Terre di Montefili Vigna del Bosco 2019, Toscana IGT

From Montefioralle and the highest elevation for Montefili at 540m, now an IGT but will be presented, labeled and introduced as Gran Selezione (DOCG) in the 2021 vintage. There are no neighbours to Vigna del Bosco, only the forest surrounding the vines and 62 different types of wildflowers right there. This is the sanguine part of the 2020 blend with a juiciness, a sweetly savoury note that makes for the freshest style. So crunchy, with currants, corbezzolo and pomegranate in such a red citrus way. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted October 2024

Le Fonti Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Panzano

Always 90 percent sangiovese with up to 10 percent (mix of merlot and cabernet sauvignon), now settled into its languidly structured skin. The spices have braised in to create a dual effect, of seasoning and emulsification. Last tasted October 2024

This is truly a preview of the Le Fonti Chianti Classico 2021 because this is the vintage that will be poured at the Chianti Classico Collection held in Florence on February 15th and 16th. When frost struck the area on April 6th and 7th, 2021 Vicky Schmitt-Vitali said “Le Fonti is positioned quite open to the winds so most vineyards fared OK with the frost. Only one small patch protected by trees and bamboo at the bottom of the valley got freeze-burned. The other side of the valley got hit worse so we have to be grateful. Lucarelli (the small village in Radda just below Panzano) is always very cold and our tractor driver lives there and said that his house was minus six the past few nights. All fruit trees burned but his vines had not been out yet so he was lucky.” The result here is a top notch, clean, fresh and harmonious Annata that also happens to be a sangiovese of higher quantity than many out of the vintage. The acids here are just about perfect and the flavours are as enticing as they are diverse. Without a doubt one of the finest Chianti Classico ever made by Guido and Vicky at this appellative level. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted January and February 2024

Le Fonti Fontissimo 2019, Alta Valle Della Greve IGT

One of only seven wineries with high enough elevation vineyards along this section of the Greve River between the Panzano and Greve villages, but also the only Panzano winery labelling with this “elevated” Alta Valle Della Greve IGT. A smack exciting vintage of acidity and wow does this Fortissimo attack the palate with the best of intentions. You are captured, captivated and ready for the fruit strafe that follows. Varietal obviousness, fortitude and pleasure to be had for seven years more. Easily. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted October 2024

La Squadra Canadese with Victoria and John Matta, Vicchiomaggio

Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico DOCG Guado Alto 2022, Greve

Short-ish maceration, five to seven days, finishes in large cask. Never barriques for sangiovese. Leaves the austerity of the past well behind, forging the present and the future for easy-accessible, fresh, bright and refreshing Annata. Warm vintage brings high brim and mature fruit for truly early term drinking – but you can hold and see what will come. Tasted October 2024

Campione: Perfectly balanced sample of 2022 sangiovese, Greve and Vicchiomaggio, red fruit captured with as much perfumed ripeness as could be desired while also fulfilling palate needs. This is what should be expected and gifted from a Campione – a window to the drinking window and potential of the wine. No need for wonder or worry – you know you will get the right stuff from Guado Alto ’22. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Agostino Petri 2021, Greve

The Petri family were owners of Castello di Vicchiomaggio between 1850 and 1910 and today their name graces the label for sangiovese with a small (more or less 10 percent) of cabernet sauvignon. Mix of small and large wood for the sangiovese with the cabernet staying in barriques. Refines in 50 hL grandi botti for a couple of months. Dictionary entry for what is perceived as Riserva, rich and mouth-filling though from 2021 the acidity really works the room. So much so the length on Petri ’21 is of the finest Vicchiomaggio ilk. More fulsome and also well-rounded vintage with extending structure than those of the bookending vintages from ’20 and ’22. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2024

Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG La Prima 2021, Greve

Bottled in April 2023, now 18 months fully settled, seasoned with a bit of merlot though under the new rules of Gran Selezione this will no longer be the case going forward. Of the two Vicchiomaggio GS this is the one with the earlier integration, higher acidity and less demanding tannin. Nearly drinkable, maybe anther six months away from the open window. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted October 2024

Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Le Bolle 2021, Greve

Lamole di Lamole Chianti Classico DOCG Duelame 2021, Lamole

“Two blades,” a technically sound and silky smooth 100 percent sangiovese Chianti Classico of violet aromatic fruit and glycerol texture unequivocally polished above all else. A blend of the lowest and highest vineyards, wood more about spice than whatever other ideas there might be for its generous use. Might have been a bit spicy and woody a year ago but now settled and balanced. Ultra professional Annata. Last tasted October 2024

Full and substantial which is pretty much what we have come to expect from a Lamole (di Lamole) sangiovese and to a degree much higher than any other from that UGA. Perfumes yes but fruit and texture are the base ingredients to make this wine swell forth. Lots of love and deep space in L de L’s 2021 with a sleek Macigno feel throughout. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Lamole di Lamole Chianti Classico DOCG Maggiolo 2022, Lamole

Warmer vintage and for Lamole yet Maggiolo is expressive of more youthful freshness and also herbaceous character with a note of wood char more than spice. There are 10 percent combined merlot and cabernet sauvignon mixed in, along with their smaller barrel textures and flavours. Thicker, jammier and less glycerin, warm and freshness supplied by its youth. Some green tannin at the finish. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

Rankin, Godello and Forster – Lamole

Lamole di Lamole Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Lareale 2020, Lamole

Lareale is the real sangiovese for Lamole di Lamole, a selection of two vineyards in Il Prato, lower at (relative for Lamole) elevation, set between 400 and 500 meters and this level, quality and concentration of fruit handles the wood with ease, accepts the spice and comes away as it seems like it should. A truly positive result, rich, fresh and ideally seasoned. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted October 2024

Lamole di Lamole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigneto di Campolungo 2019, Lamole

Lamole di Lamole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Grospoli 2019, Lamole

For Lamole di Lamole Gran Selezione means single vineyard. This vineyard section is two hectares of Alberello trellised sangiovese in a modern way on sandy Galestro soil. A block purchased from Fattoria di Lamole by Lamole di Lamole. More traditional feel, a gentle rusticity and a glide of fruit across the palate, but ultimately a truly tannic wine. Grainy and yet the texture really sells the sangiovese. Needs two years easy. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted October 2024

Terreno Método Classico Pas Dosé “Quatro Sorelle” 2016, Greve

Named for the four Ruhne sisters, Anna, Victoria, Kajsa and Sofia for a special classic method sparkling wine spent seven years on the lees. Real acidity captured is also preserved from a program conceived in 2012 with Federico Staderini using pinot noir. This however is sangiovese, as it so rightly should be, perfectly gemstone golden and oxidative, every aspect of the wine done on the premises by hand. The natural sweetness from a pied du cuve exemption comes out with about as pure, floral and precise a result as the team and we could possibly hoped it might be. One of the best sangiovese bubbles in the whole of Chianti Classico. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2024

Terreno Chianti Classico DOCG Tre Vigne 2020, Greve

The three vineyards are Greve next to the winery, across the ridge’s rift at Solano (also in Greve) and then Greve west bank in the UGA of Montefioralle. A mix of three soils, they being Monte Morello, Pietraforte and Alberese. Called “Tre Vigne,” because it comes from the three plots for a layered sangiovese bottled in the fall after two years in cask plus six months in bottle. Quite impressive persistence in terms of both freshness and length. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2024

Terreno Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019, Greve

A blend, of 85 percent sangiovese, (10) cabernet sauvignon and (5) colorino, the small amount of the latter bringing colour and structure. A mix of vineyards again but here the youngest vines are driven to the Classico while more experience and potential for structure come Riserva’s way. They do what is necessary which tells us to wait another year before knowing this ’19 is ready to go. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted October 2024

Terreno Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Asofia 2019, Greve

Asofia is only from the oldest vines planted in 1980 and 2019 i the first vintage labeled as Gran Selezione. Previous it was a single-vineyard slash cru-designate, 100 percent Chianti Classico. A much more pinpointed and focused wine as compared to the Classico, aromatically charged with Alberese and clay as the soil source abutting the Chianti Mountains. A maturity and concentration of fruit as per the old vines that lend experience and fullness. Picked on the 4th of October and it shows in the phenolic quality, upwards of let’s say 8.5, pushing nine out of 10 on that hypothetic scale. Brush and cooler climate from the surrounding woods lends a savoury element to this wine and in Greve terms there is an almost Lamole at elevation and perfumed aspect of this hyper specific sangiovese. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted February 2023 and October 2024

Terreno Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Sillano 2019, Montefioralle

One of two Gran Selezione and harvested almost a week later on October 10th, referring to the place and little church near the village of Montefioralle. From 500m on calcareous soils (Essentially Alberese), not Formazione di Sillano as might have once been supposed because of the name of the place. No barriques or tonneaux, aged 24 months in 12 and 24 hL oak, finishing at 13.5 percent, much apposite to 2018 that finished at 15 percent. This is purely Montefioralle, exquisitely so, cool and fresh, elegant and if this isn’t an ideal vintage for the UGA then I for one will have no idea what is. Purity of parochial red fruit and a temperate state of being, calm and relaxed. The tension lies hidden in the shadows of this wine, non-explicit and as a result the sangiovese seems non-plussed. The tannins are upright, timely yet taut. All this to say that Sillano will be ready just a bit later than Asofia and will also live just that much longer. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted February and October 2023, and October 2024

Perano

Marchesi Frescobaldi Tenuta Perano Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Gaiole

Clearly driven by its acidity made whole by the elevation, which means high solar radiation and day for night temperature fluctuations. Wood now leaving the building and fruit singing. Great drinking sangiovese with canaiolo providing a sapid edge and cabernet sauvignon the black fruit spice. Aromatics are in top shape. The 2022 Annata will be released on November 21st. Last tasted October 2024

Today Tenuta Perano has a distinct advantage and that is elevation. Ten years ago that would not have been said but 550m is no longer considered a cold altitude and so critics and consumers alike should no longer dismiss this place. At Perano the sangiovese matures on both ripeness fronts and does so at a markedly reduced crop per plant. Results are more than simply a matter and meter of concentration. Lamberto Frescobaldi notes how the Chianti Classico from this part of Gaiole are those of “severity and specificity, and it can be tasted in the wines.” It comes from agriculture and can’t be missed. That is if the winemaking is expressed with humility. The verdancy and freshness by elevation are Gaiole and they foil the substantial elements, namely fruit and tannin. All of this is raised to the highest degree in the Annata 2021. “Especially when the plantings are on cooler sites but you really have to be careful, to push the harvest later.” The conclusions are captured acidity and a lovely expression on the nose. “You may not like sangiovese,” concludes Frescobaldi, “but you will always be intrigued by it.” Drink 2023-2028. Tasted December 2023

Marchesi Frescobaldi Tenuta Perano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Gaiole

Ten months have done little to see any wane of freshness or juicy character though there is the first note of sappy frostiness. Unique Riserva, obviously Perano and as an appellative wine still a work in progress. The 2021 will be released on November 21st. Last tasted October 2024

The 2020 Perano has arrived, showing know what it was once shy to do. Perano is at its juiciest and gifted height, crunchy of fruit still fresh, poised and in control, now into the best the two three years to express its Gaiole character. Tasted February 2024. You can always feel the white soil of Tenuta Perano and nowhere more so than from Annata level Chianti Classico. More than sangiovese with 10 percent merlot and (5) cabernet sauvignon for a silky smooth 2020 that wants to share its impression as early as it can. Cool and sappy, easy to understand and professional as they come. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted February 2023

Marchesi Frescobaldi Tenuta Perano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, Gaiole

Villa a Sesta Chianti Classico DOCG Il Palei 2022, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Polished like few other Annata, liquid black forest cake, height of ripeness. Last tasted October 2024

Campione: Strong willed, boned and still in a state of reserve for a 2022 that not only needs to find the bottle but also further in bottle aging to open up any cracks in the structure. Rich and caky, wood a serious factor at this stage with a structural comport that will see a ’22 follow the sun towards a good long life ahead. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted February 2024

Villa a Sesta Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Il Palei 2019, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Acid bomb, classic as Chianti Classico is known to be, acetone in control yet present and stylistically such a persistent Riserva. Last tasted October 2024

Riserva is expressive of some more warmth and also spice as compared to both Annata and Gran Selezione. In this respect it’s truly Riserva, the concept made even more notable due to the aromatic richness in layers of seductive perfume. If the others are crunchy wines with energy and freshness than this is the chewy one, with a different energy and style. More ruffiano, the kind of sangiovese you eat slowly and savour every bit of the sauce. Gonna need a few pieces of bread to get every last drop. 70,000 to 80,000 bottles produced. The 2018 sold like crazy and so this ’19 is out at the same time as the 2019 Annata. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Chiara Leonini – Felsina

Fèlsina Vino Spumante di Qualita Brut Millésimato Método Classico 2018

Sangiovese (60 percent) with (20 each) pinot nero and chardonnay, 48 months on the lees. Labeled Brut but comes away with what only feels like 3-ish g/L of residual sugar. Indelibly stamped and toasty, seemingly autolytic but stoic to stark and serious. Spumante of character and personality, gingered, full of zest and life. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2024

Fèlsina Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Castelnuovo Berardenga

The thing about a Fèlsina Chianti Classico is you know exactly what you are going to receive. A full, herbal, fruity, cedar and floral sangiovese. The hyperbole of this comes from 2022, warm as they come for vintages that wrap the fruit up in a great flannel blanket. Typical can be brilliant. Last tasted October 2024

Surprisingly forthright and open knit for such a young and impressionable Annata from Fèlsina. Calm and relatively settled so soon after going to bottle. The acidity is both sneaky and essential with tannins so similar in their design and style. A full and complete Berardenga for Castelnuovo in 2022, getable earlier than ever before yet in no rush to mature. As clean and generous as ever from the estate. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Fèlsina Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Tough frosty start in April at flowering but what remained for the Riserva’s top selection of vines gave ample stuffing towards developing, bottling, waiting and now drinking the quality at this level of appellation. Crisp, herbaceous, stony and with just that fine stamp of Fèlsina that adds up to 55 years of charm. Wild herbs growing between cracks of Galestro and veins in Alberese soils, of clay, sand and stone. Right proper stuff and in fact the 30 percent loss because of frost hit the Annata quantity most. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2024

Fèlsina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Rancia 2021, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Fèlsina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Colonia 2019, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Settling calmer still, another six months or so into the first mature days of its tenure. And yet the tannins remain austere, the wine’s communion and reunion still a ways away from happening. Last tasted October 2024

The Colonia vineyard is an important tract for many reasons. It was where Domenico Poggiali tried to clear and prepare but had to abandon back in the late 1960s because it was too difficult. Giovanni Poggiali succeeded in 1993 and then in 2009 this Chianti Classico became Gran Selezione. Colonia meant heliotherapy because this is the place people with diseases came to heal. “Helioteapica” it was, a sunny place at a tme when things were dire, including politically. Today Colonia may be a stone and a half’s throw up from Rancia but aromatically the sangiovese coming from its Alberese soils still result in a wine that is so obviously that of Fèlsinà. A diesel and pine note, charcoal, tar and evergreen resin, all rolled up with great red fruit that’s just so pure and substantial. Rich but no overtly so and luxe if always tempered by acids, wood and tannins exhumed from the depths of the grape’s must. So young, so fay away and so not ready to express its long-term goals. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted October 2023

Cinzia Manca – Complicità

Complicità Chianti Classico DOCG Asolo 2021, Vagliagli

Aged in concrete, only sangiovese, no wood, only freshness and elegance, restrained power, naked to the world. Beautifully aromatic, perfumed, floral and unadulterated. This is what it’s all about, or at least en route, this being only the fifth vintage and in the midst of a winemaker (Cinzia Manca) transforming her vines from Cordone Speronato to Guyot. The future is wide open. Last tasted October 2024

A small and protective amount of reduction which helps in dramatic ways because this Vagliagli Annata comes at the palate in waves. Fruit for the most part with underlying spice but do not sleep on the sneaky structure of this Assolo by upstart Complicità. Complicated in the ways of complexity and variegation, aromatically stunning and then intricately woven with flavours and palate textures. A discovery of the highest order. Terrific work for sangiovese that feels like sangiovese born of a family and their land. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Complicità Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Asolo 2020, Vagliagli

Riserva also as Asoslo, “the one,” referencing the solo varietal philosophy of winemaker Cinzia Manca, aged two years in tonneaux and six months in bottle, made at the facility of her business partner Sandro Bandini di Oliveira. As crunchy and fresh as Riserva could ever be, tonneaux or not and so the clay-limestone stony terroir is in the good hands of a young winemaker’s deft touch. Purity incarnate. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2024

Complicità Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Asolo 2018, Vagliagli

Asolo as well, like the Annata and Riserva. “I’m sorry it’s my fantasy,” smiles Cinzia Manca. Philosophy more like it, again only sangiovese, 30 months in fourth or fith passage tonneaux, followed by one extra year in bottle. An intense vintage with extreme heat in Vagliagli, some dried grapes as a result which were stringently eliminated in the field at harvest. These are the best vines, healthiest and most concentrated berries, chosen after fermentation for Gran Selezione. Vintages change but the middle section of the vineyard ripens the best and consistently produces the finest wine. Silky without gratuity, pure and just about as honest and delicious as it gets. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted October 2024

La Squadra Canadese – Campomaggio

Tenuta Di Campomaggio Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Radda

Youthful the understatement for a slightly reductive and pure Radda expression, created with berries destined to explain Radda, Raddese acidity and a freshness that can only come from this UGA. Red fruit that is Radda, simply and unequivocally, much in common with nearby Monterinaldi but also the southeastern corner of Panzano. Spice on the second half of this wine, just a mere 13.5 percent alcohol, remarkable considering the vintage but once again – Radda. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2024

Tenuta Di Campomaggio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Radda

Repeat concrete use, before and then again after the middle aging in barrel. Once again the purity is pulled from above the curve in the Radda road at high elevation vineyards littered with a Macigno, Alberese and Pietraforte mix of soils, all layering for this slow release of sangiovese complexity. Another warm vintage and it shows at Riserva level, especially in mouthfeel, fluid and gelid, cool, salt-licked and ethereal. Bigger wine for Campomaggio but elongated and balanced. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted October 2024

Old-School Chianto Classico?

Tenuta Di Campomaggio Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Santa Teresa 2019, Radda

From a two and a half hectare site, a heart-shaped vineyard from which the best selection is chosen for this first Gran Selezione. Santa Teresa is built from Macigno and Pietraforte, sandy soils both but with calcareous factors within that bolster and structure the sangiovese. Still that omnipresent Raddese acidity and this time the tannins are grainy, fine in that way but grainy nonetheless. Still something held back, not reductive per se but restrained and closed. The five percent whole cluster use has something to do with that. No barriques, just large casks (15, 25 and 50 HL) that are 25-plus years old. Really just released a few days ago so just in bottle a bit more than a few months, a baby now and yet perfectly clean, crisp, pure and beautiful. Amazing when fruit can be so shaped and emulsified without any sense of jam, overt sweetness or thickened texture. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted October 2024

La Squadra Canadese with Sophie Conte – Tregole

Tregole Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Castellina

A bright vintage following a darker one and high in acid. Still very tight, opening slowly and says Sophie Conte, “in a hay moment.” Dry, suspended in time, reflected in the light. All full berries, spontaneous ferment, simultaneously inoculated malolactic, the DNA of Tregole really coming through with cool-coloured intensity. Bottled January 2024. Last tasted October 2024

The latest from Sophie Conte (also tasted from barrel on December 4th, 2023) is her first crowing moment, at least to date and in terms of her young career in making Chianti Classico Annata. De-stemmed and no pressing, fermentation at 24 degrees (celsius), 10-12 days, saturated with nitrogen, taste every day, separated when the skins release no more. Made with three vineyards’ fruit; Vigna del Bosco, Vigna del Strada and Casa, right by the house. “I’m pretty happy (we hit the point) in 2022,” admits Sophie. Brightness and freshness found, the goal achieved and bitterness kept not only at bay, but fully away. An aromatic swirl of pinpointed Castellina intensity that draws from the winds and the slopes to translate soil as best and purposed as any. You can feel the energy waiting and wanting to be released. No lack for structure from Conte’s 2022, young and yet to evolve into the polished solo sangiovese it is destined to become. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Sophie Conte – Tregole

Tregole Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Castellina

For Sophie Conte this is a dark-hued vintage (as opposed to Panzano whien this happened in 2020) in between two with much more light. Inoculated on both fermentations with some whole berry inclusion. A sweeter tomato note as compared to 2020, running sanguine dark and a saltiness that does not appear in the bookending vintages. A matter of thick skins that only Tregole grows, a savoury-salty finish with vibrant tannin and equally invigorating acidity. Last tasted October 2024

The Classico may be Castellina but the feeling is just as akin to Radda, because this is the border, in the vineyards above the river and a micro climate that brings swirling winds in from Montevarchi and the Apennines beyond. No frost here because of 500-600m of elevation (incredible for Castellina), one of two best harvests because again, cool climate, elevation and Macigno soils are all ideal to create this kind of mineral and glycerin sangiovese. Spent 10-12 days in fermentation at 23-24 degrees, a matter of whole berries (because tannins can be austere at Tregole) and then under hydrogen for 5-10 days and skin maceration 18-28 days, longer with the Riserva and GS. So bloody lovely, walking a tightrope line, at first volatile but the fruit swells and vertically elevates up to the level you wish for in the Annata. In fact there is more structure in Annata then most Chianti Classico. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted December 2023

The Band at Tregole

Tregole Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Castellina

Lighter vintage, certainly for Tregole as compared to 2021 and also more than 2022. Evergreen on the nose, tomato leaf and paste. A charred cherry and toasted element mix that feels specific to these ravines and valleys where sangiovese grows surrounding by heavy woods. A Chianti Classico no doubt influenced by the oxygenation provided by its full forests. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

La Squadra Canadese – Tregole

Tregole Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021, Castellina

When you step up into Riserva 2021 you bring the DNA of Tregole into hyperbole or better said, more intense light. The beautiful rusticity of Annata and its tomato-rosemary savoury quality is not just magnified but also refined. Now the true balsamico of the place comes through but only now after more time in bottle does the purity of the refinement come across with this level of finesse. Spices are green and they are what the surrounding woods breathe into sangiovese with added layers because of the higher quality fruit. Just beginning its trajectory into the finest of days. Last tasted October 2024

Bottled in November of 2023 and slated for imminent release. Floral yet reserved aromas and unequivocally sangiovese. La Riserva ages in (old) tonneaux of 700L and barriques. More brightness and freshness than the lion’s share of this appellative level in Chianti Classico, crisp and crunchy for Riserva but ultimately a matter of a specific vineyard, planted in 1985, as in the lower part beneath the younger vines. The warmest location where Ginestra blooms earlier and the fruit is saucy, a salsa of sangiovese sucoso, the juices running from rare roast beef. But also blood orange and so a pulpy sensation. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted May 2024

Belvedere Campòli Guicciardini Campoli Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, San Casciano

Solo sangiovese from “a normal vintage,” fruit from young vines not yet come into their own, aged for one year in large 25 hL French cask. Grapes are harvested at Belvedere Campòli, delivered to be processed and vinified at Castello di Poppiano and coming soon is a cellar project to the Chianti Classico property. Quite pure and yet savoury with the finest grainy structure laying below the pulpy red fruit. Missing a point of acidity to say that ripeness comes first. A factor of vintage and therefore necessity. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

Belvedere Campóli Guicciardini Campoli Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, San Casciano

A mix of higher tones and also acidity for a Riserva that seems clear to have been given the best available fruit from the vintage. Fruit grown on stony Pietraforte soil derived from this unique lingua or “tongue” of Formazione di Silano. The savoury elements are consistent with all of Belvedere Campóli’s wines that have been tasted since the purchase of the estate in 2015. You can surely feel the lack of intervention, the respect for allowing the place to speak for itself and the thread of DNA running through all three levels of the wines. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2024

Belvedere Campóli Guicciardini Campoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, San Casciano

Belvedere Campóli’s ownership is Guicciardini of Castello di Poppiano – Chianti Colli Fiorentini and Massi di Mandorlaia – Maremma – Morello di Scanzano. Francesco Guicciardini was an Italian historian and statesman, a contemporary and critic of Niccolò Machiavelli and considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance. The Belvedere Campóli estate dates to 1915, was abandoned after the end of the mezzadrie system and purchased by Italian historian and mathematician Niccolò Guicciardini and family in 2015. They have been restoring and replanting vineyards since 2020. From the single vineyard called Tabernocolo, set just below the large forest above and indicative of the chapel on the estate. Identifying the vineyard as the one to define Chianti Classico as Gran Selezione was paramount while the aromas and palate notes remain so perfectly consistent with both the Classico and Riserva. Steps up the concentration, the mineral and elemental aspects drawn from the Pietraforte and the cool, almost minty savour in the flavours. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2024

La Squadra Canadese – Cigliano di Sopra

Cigliano Di Sopra Nuvola Del Cigliano 2022, Toscana IGT

Picked earlier to preserve acidity (5-ish g/L of TA) and says Matteo Vaccari, “we work with the lees for a good resolution. You can make mistakes with sangiovese but not with trebbiano.” Texture is of a terrific natural coarseness while energy improvises, improvise upon and rights the fabric of this white. Last tasted February 2024. A mix of 75 percent trebbiano and (25) malvasia, five days whole bunches for a quick syringe of carbonic and then a short, old wood stay. Comes away with just that quick strike of matchstick and a finish at 11 percent alcohol. Citrus is very lemon, juiced and gelid like curd but what stands out is the dry extract and sweet tannins. This can and will age – there is no doubt. Picked on September 17th, 2023 – a week later than previously – on the 24th. Less than 1,000 bottles made. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted October 2023 and 2024

Giampaolo Chiettini – La Vigna di San Martino Ad Argiano

La Vigna di San Martino Ad Argiano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2022, San Casciano

“For us it’s important to have ripe grapes,” insists Giampaolo Chiettini, “and a balance from the vineyard.” Good thing because, well 25 days of maceration, with soft pump-overs, sometimes just with a bucket, meaning no punchdowns “that would violate the skins.” Infusion, not extraction until dryness and then put to 1000L casks and 500L tonneaux. The ’22 is ultra ripe with sweet acidity and unmistakable structure. All that could be wanted and needed. What a bloody hematic example of sangiovese. Last tasted October 2024

Campione: The tiniest of properties (one hectare) and smallest of productions (2,000 bottles) in San Casciano from Chiettini. A sample but one nose into this 100 percent sangiovese and you know you’ve found something meaningful. A wisdom in the wine born of great terroir and an agronomist’s acumen. The winemaker seems inconsequential or at least respectful to everything else. There is calm demeanour and a presence of freshness, soulful savour and weight without compression. Hard to know what it’s all about, but knowing more will be a next pursuit. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2024

La Vigna di San Martino Ad Argiano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021, San Casciano

Perhaps not quite as ripe as 2022 but close without any deficiency, also less dark of fruit and very red cherry. Elevated acidity and a year make a difference – you can feel the first sign of maturity but just as grippy and underscored by structure with sweeter tannins than those in the ’22. The most classic sangiovese, lithe and conversely deep, pinning in the only direction it can and should, looking toward a future that will be long. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted October 2024

La Vigna Di San Martino Ad Argiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2017, San Casciano

Just the third vintage of the newly re-planted, one hectare vineyard when only 800 bottles were produced. No doubt what vintage this comes from because fruit is already acting dried into secondary character with frutta di bosco and dried porcini notes having already begun. A bit volatile, not unusual for 2017, a truffled element and while complex there is some trouble. The acidity captured is persistent which acts as the driver for the pleasure in mouthfeel and upon the palate. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

La Vigna di San Martino Ad Argiano Vinsanto del Chianti Classico DOCG 2017, San Casciano

A Vinsanto that must be made with ripe grapes, the sort that would arrive at 24 degrees alcohol and then in Giampaolo’s world the drying is longer than most Vinsanto. This ’17 reached 300 g/L of residual suar, at the highest end for the appellation. Has been dried in the Pieve (though not 2017) and 400 bottles were made. So very caramel orange, almost maple syrup in its style of sweetness, crazy good acidity, a wholly deserving and respectful dessert wine made from 50-50 trebbiano and malvasia. Turns nutty toasty, keeps changing and changing again. Drink 2024-2033. Tasted October 2024

Castell’in Villa Chianti Classico DOCG 2019, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Indelibly stamped vintage for Castell’In Villa, richness incarnate, fully formed at the height of heights for Castelnuovo Berardenga Chianti Classico Annata. Then again you know with a year plus one more in bottle the sangiovese will adjust, morph and change into some thing more closely resembling the previous two vintages. The palate weight is further layered but it too will see a release into its next stage. Finally there is the length that indicates the quietest power structure to disassemble and then glide over a 15 years period of time. Last tasted October 2024

Imagine the baseline and then the ceiling for Chianti Classico. Draw from as much experience as you have and then extrapolate towards the greatest of a vintage’s potential. Then put your nose into Castell’In Villa 2019. Everything rises to the surface and presents itself to be noticed. Note the calm, the precision and finesse, reach out and touch the fruit, recognize the quality and fitness of the acidity and realize potential, compounded in understanding after allowing the purity of the sangiovese to rest upon the palate. As near perfect and essential as it gets for Castell’In Villa without boundaries or limitations. Last tasted February 2024

Leave to Castell’in Villa to do not just the right thing but carry the weight of necessity and hold back Annata to a point where it can be tasted and assessed with the respect it so richly deserves. Though this Castelnuovo Berardenga estate and their historic vineyards are equipped to create magic in the most challenging of vintages, well when a season like 2019 is gifted then the magic turns to the supernatural. Fruit is everything, as it must be and the aspects of climate, fermentation, maturation and all the accruements of seasoning add up to a speciality as no other Chianti Classico will create. This is a very special vintage of Castell’in Villa and one to rival any Riserva or Gran Selezione made in this vintage. Will live in infamy. Drink 2025-2038. Tasted February 2023

Castell’in Villa Chianti Classico DOCG 2018, Castelnuovo Berardenga

The 2018 weather conditions at Castell’In Villa’s location in Castelnuovo Berardenga were an anomaly for a vintage where so many parts of the Chianti Classico territory experienced late September heat, which sent wines upwards of 15 percent alcohol. Not out of this micro-climate with an Annata labeled at 13.5 and a good bet would say it’s actually closer to 13. Luminous, bright, dualistically and optimally ripe, void of confiture, ideally aged and ready to please. This is Annata made exactly as it was not only meant, but also expected to be. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted October 2024

Castell’in Villa Chianti Classico DOCG 2017, Castelnuovo Berardenga

If 2018 is singularly light and ethereal, so goes the solo artist trajectory of 2017, if in a most different way. More direct fruit, volume of aroma and surely colour, then finally a bit of salumi cure to indicate the finest if smallest advancement towards maturity. Crunchier in a way, but also with acids that bely the vintage, carry the tune and extend the life of a sku connecting this Annata to Riserva. To that next appellative level Classico Berardenga the Principessa Coralia Pignatelli della Leonessa only wanted to make a maximum number amounting to 7,000 bottles. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted October 2024

Castell’In Villa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Poggio delle Rose 2010, Castelnuovo Berardenga

The top Riserva from the plot on the south begins slow and with 20 minutes of airtime it begins to open. An incredible sweetness of fruit is released to seduce the senses in every respect. Last tasted October 2024

A nearly two hectare single vineyard or if you like the Castell’In Villa cru and really just a fraction of what is made in the “other” Riserva. Similar aging profile but with more depth and also complexity, here in the 15th vintage (first in 1996) from a vineyard created by the cuttings of the best vines identified around the estate. Getting the the iron mineral in addition to the brush and herbs which make this feel younger and more alive. These tannins are impressively resolute and trenchant, trading blows with your palate but en route to their soft moment in the sun. Extraordinary really, a wine about a place within a place within a place. The proverbial enigma, wrapped, shrouded, etc., etc. Last tasted March 2022

From the hill parcel planted in 1990 to the old selezoine massale clones, from the original property, not the current “Chianti Classico” clones. “And there is a difference,” insists Principessa Coralia. Three or four years in grandi botti and older tonneaux so no, it’s not even close to ready. Yet the fact that you don’t explicitly notice the tonneaux is its magic. A big and complex vintage with variability in temperature and precipitation but at the crucial moments it gave what was needed. There is a special presence about this sangiovese, because of the source but also how alive, bright-eyed and expressive it is. This pulses, vibrates and reverberates with ancient seabed salinity. No loss to finesse but more time will be required, to turn back time and back pages, for the true clarity and calm disposition to settle in. Extraordinary wine of restrained power and exceptional sangiovese. Has always been Riserva and “will never be Gran Selezione.” Drink 2021-2035. Tasted November 2018 and February 2019

Castell’In Villa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2003, Castelnuovo Berardenga

A library release of 20-plus years that realizes the future as we would have seen it, but are now afraid to admit. A Riserva from a warm vintage with the uncanny ability to steal longevity because the way wines were and continue to be made at Castell’In Villa. Sangiovese of a structure that must respect the diversity of 54 hectares distilled into two or three for a Riserva such as this. The aromas are just a bit muted, whether because of the particular bottle or the kind of tasting day. Either way it is not really known but the wine acts a bit shy. Still there are answers and they tell us the wine has plenty of life left to live. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2024

Federico Pini and Riccardo Bucciolini – Torcobrencoli, Greve

Torcibrencoli Lo Stinto 2023, Toscana IGT

Only sangiovese picked two weeks ahead of the Chianti Classico, not Rosé but a light, refreshing, high acid and crushable example. Lo Stinco from the Tuscan meaning “the faded one,” yet ample, aged only in steel, textural because of the sangiovese skins and ultra phenolic. Kind of like green peaches. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

Torcibrencoli Il Matan Orange 2022, Toscana IGT

Campione: More chamomile, less honey perhaps but to be honest the mellifluous quality runs high if also silken, especially for skin macerated trebbiano. Extra phenolic grip at this early stage but again, this will resolve and settle faster than 2021. Proper and you can tell the acumen meets experience of the work and the understanding for how to make a natural, orange and accessible wine. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

Torcibrencoli Il Matan Orange 2021, Toscana IGT

First trebbiano vintage was 2016 for this skin contact, one year in acacia barrels orange wine. A most interesting take, phenolic and grippy but also graceful and clearly able to age. Peaches and green fig, iced tea savour and persistent which speaks to the winemaking out of which a pure and consistent maceration resolves. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

Torcibrencoli Il Torci 2020, Toscana IGT

The sangiovese that rides along on par with Chianti Classico (Annata), here from 2020 and the following vintage will be skipped. All the lots are kept separate and after 12-18 months they are tasted and destined towards their final blends and labels. Natural fermentations, a “for the market” wine of fresh cherries and glycerol in the mouthfeel. Anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 bottles are produced, the grapes either sold off or blended into the Maria Giaconda label. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted October 2024

Torcibrencoli Chianti Classico DOCG Maria Giaconda 2020

Still a sample because it won’t released until next year but it is a finished wine. A vintage of quality though not completely there in terms of quantity. Unfortunately the next three years will be even smaller but things will turn around in 2024. Les flesh as compared to 2019 but the linear quality seems highly appropriate and the backbone will serve this wine well. Some austerity in the tannins to resolve but they are part of the trenchant plan. A masala of spice defines the finish. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted October 2024

Torcibrencoli Chianti Classico DOCG Maria Giaconda 2019

Classico has been made from the start and Federico’s grandmother Maria Giaconda has and always will be on the label. Natural fermentation, aging in 1,000L Croatian cask, tonneaux and barriques, finished with an extra year in bottle. The oldest plants bring high level extract and concentration. Terrific balance between that extract and the sweetness of acidity. Light structure but sneaky and lengthy nonetheless. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2024

Torcibrencoli Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Maria Giaconda 2018

Federico Pini is the grandson of Maria Giaconda Bucciolini, today making the wines on her family farm where she sold grapes. He attended agriculture and landscape architecture school in Florence before at 24 deciding to start bottling himself. Now 11 years later he produces 10,000 bottles between six skus. Federico’s father Raimondo Pini sold silk and textiles and so Torcibrencoli is from torchere e brenccioli, “twisting the fibres of silk.” Claudio Buccolini was Pini’s great-grandfather, a famous vernacular historian. The company started in 2012 and the first commercial wines were released in ’13. Five years later comes this 2018 Riserva of high level perfume for Greve, a testament to the quality of the plants and without even taking a sip the pretty quality of the fruit is obvious. Picked at the beginning of October after the heat wave and so 15 percent is perfectly accurate, but this is a truly balanced Riserva. And it is very much a Riserva. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2024

Good to go!

godello

Sangiovese 2024, Chianti Classico

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Etna Days are here to stay

Dec6

Versante Nord, L’Etna

As an event Etna Days may only be four years in the making, but it is a great one. That it falls in the second week of September is a thing of brilliance, with weather warm and nurturing, grapes continuing to hang on the vines, the harvest on producers’ minds and yet still far enough away. The setting is spectacular, with ancient lava flows all-around, signs of new ones spewing from craters above 3,000 metres, vineyards marked by stone terraces and walls, century vines thriving here, there and everywhere. No two blocks look the same with each producing a unique Etna Bianco or Rosso. Confidence and morale feel to be at an all time high.

The Sommeliers of Etna Days

Never mind the challenges of 2023, including a May 3rd hailstorm, some but far from devastating presence of the Perenospera (mildew) virus and lower vine yields. What will follow the lower quantity and high quality of 2023 will by now have been the promise of a brilliant 2024 harvest. The Etna DOC Consortium suggests that the latest rains after the hot and dry summer have slowed down the ripening process, thereby helping to enhance phenolic and aromatic components. Slower and more gradual maturation proved to be decisive in terms of improvements in quantity and quality. The Consortium estimates a harvest of around 80,000 quintals (about 35/40% white grapes and the remainder red) and a likely production potential of more than 55,000 hectolitres. In terms of volume, the harvest is expected to be up by around 60 percent compared to 2023.

La Gelsomina Di Colombo

There is no understanding of modern Etna without a proper historical base and that begins with the ancient, but also more recent visualization of the Palmento. In some cases outdoor stone remains can be seen, including that of the 1300 year-old Palmento at Rupestre in Pietramarina, Castiglione di Sicilia. It was excavated out of one rock, a vasca carved from the sandstone, a lagares for treading on grapes used by the Sicel peoples, early settlers in eastern Sicily. The island is littered with archeological sites that prove the existence of winemaking going back three thousand years but on L’Etna it is the presence of restored stone buildings where, with the use of gravity, grapes would have been collected and fermented into wine. At Palmento Costanzo the buildings that housed the original wine making were restored in 2015 and finished in 2019. The technology is new but the gravity fed Palmento abides by the old ways.

Alberello planted in pentangles, five per grouping all facing a central axis at Palmento Costanzo, Contrada Santa Spririto

For centuries I Catanesi would have come up the mountain to purchase in bulk where necessitous viticulture was born in harmony but also with respect to the landscape. In the 19th century approximately 100 million litres of wine was produced on Mount Etna, all from the various Palmenti. Wine born of a place with an active volcano rising above vineyards at 3,300m of elevation, a climate unlike anywhere else on Sicily and a terroir aboard geology conceived from hundreds of various lava flows throughout the course of its history. The differences in biodiversity from block to block, contrada to contrada and village to village are evident in the multifarious plant life growing on the extant slopes of the volcano.

Consorzio President Francesco Cambria

The various lava flows, each with a unique set of stone in chronological stages of degradation, from the hardest lava rock through gravels and into sand are all characterized by a distinct set of weathered minerals and elements contained within. How each corridor and at what elevation affects the endemic grape varieties is a great mystery and so many of us will spend a lifetime trying to make some sense of the how and why. The Etnaese carricante, white and red minnella, nerello mascalese and nerello cappuccio are children raised and nurtured by the slope, elevation and geological make-up that is their home on the mountain.

Etna Days Rosso

Whether by Alberello or modern day Guyot or Cordone Speronato training it is the age and disintegration of soil that seems to be the greatest influencer on their outcomes. Serena Costanzo talks of the innovative pruning method of Simon & Sirsch, of which “the principle rule is ramification – build a chronology of live wood; first year, second year, third year and so on” with a method that does not interrupt the lymphatic system. They remind that “a vine is not a tree, but a liana” and that “pruning, which is and remains a mutilating technical act for the plant, causes consequences within the plant…a rethinking of pruning, so that it was more respectful of the physiology of the plant.” There are ramifications, the necessity of continuance for sap flow, to make small cuts and hold a respect for the wood. They have observed “how the application of a dynamic and physiological pruning of the plant promote an increase in living wood over the years, with a consequent intact and efficient lymphatic system.” Their most essential reminder is that “there is no good or bad pruner but there is a trained and an untrained pruner. The Simon & Sirsch system “is a way to combat climate change,” says Serena, “especially during periods of extreme heat.” Nerello Mascalese trained by Alberello and planted in pentangles, five per grouping all facing a central axis works opposite to traditional rows and is Palmento Costanzo’s way of maximizing root structure and efficiency.

With John Szabo M.S. and Consorzio Director Maurizio Lunetta

It bears reminding that L’Etna is a an active volcano and so what spews out and forth from its craters will constantly affect viticulture. The new settling of wind-carried ashes and lapilli are perpetually adding new layers to old soils which in turn induces innate revisions and so from vintage to vintage Etna’s wines are always in flux, forever subjugated to constant change. One only needs to have tasted the last few vintages of the Etna Bianco Superiore from the village of Milo to intuit just how significant an effect these wind-blown fragments have had on the wines. They have never been more intriguing, exciting and frankly better. Studies of these eastern Etna soils in a cooler micro-zone show significant levels of silica, iron, magnesium and potassium in the soils, combining to gift the Bianco with much to digest.

Related – All the wines of Sicily

That is the past and from the start of the First World War through to the 1970s and 1980s the wine business aboard L’Etna fell away to pieces. It’s resurrection is but 30 years in the making and the transformation of the past 10-plus years is nothing short of remarkable. The oenologist, farmer and cellar dweller will say that the use of Palmenti and the Alberello are key to restoring dignity, faith in humanity and the true essence of what it means to produce Etna wines. Consorzio President Francesco Cambria will say that the most important project is to see the passage of the denomination transform from the Italian DOC to DOCG. These are all matters to consider and get behind, for some it’s about the heart and for others the reality of business and therefore life.

Carlo Flamini, Maurizio Lunetta, Luigi Moio, Bertrand Gauvrit and Francesco Cambria

Etna Days is an exceptionally well run and seamlessly orchestrated event with thanks to the teams involved. Consorzio Etna DOC’s Presidente Francesco Cambria, Direttore Maurizio Lunetta and Segreteria di Direzione Sarolta Stella Osvath. The team at Ispropress with Angiolino Lonardi, Bernardetta Lonardi, Simone Velasco, Sara Faroni, Marina Catenacci, Marta De Carli and Eleonora Alberti Cermison. The third edition of the 2024 Etna Days congress assembled for the first morning’s welcome with expanded perspectives and analyses of international dimension. Cambria and Lunetta hosted speeches by Carlo Flamini (Head of the Italian Wine Union Observatory), Bertrand Gauvrit (General Director of the Association des Climats du Vignoble de Bourgogne) and Luigi Moio (President of the International Organization of Vine and Wine). Sommelier assisted technical tastings, walk around chats with the producers and touring visits at estates all combined to deliver a profound sense of modern day Etna. High-level discussions were had on location with Tenuta delle Terre Nere’s Marc de Grazia, Benanti’s Salvino Benanti, Papa Maria Cuore Di Marchesa’s Pietro Giovanni, Rupestre and Terre Darrigo’s Rosario Raciti, Palmento Costanzo’s Valeria and Serena Costanzo, Quantico’s Giovanni Raiti, Tascante’s Michele Brusaferri and Vittoria Cerniglia and Planeta’s Patricia Tóth. For his part Godello made tasting notes on 150-plus wines. These are his reviews.

Etna Spumante DOC and Terre Siciliane IGT

Benanti Viticoltori Noblesse Brut Carricante Método Classico 2021, Terre Siciliane IGT

Twenty years into the (traditional method) sparkling wine program with help from a northern (Suditrol) sparkling wine company, 24 months on lees. Brut which here means 4-5 g/L of residual sugar, more than relatively dry with carricante. Reductive, high energy, tight and immovably youthful. Dried herbs, fennel, brushy and dusty savour. Acidity is quite fine, balance is struck and the lees aging time spot on for this widely appealing yet serious sparkling wine. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Benanti Viticoltori Noblesse XLVIII Brut Carricante Método Classico 2019, Terre Siciliane IGT

The Noblesse was named because Giuseppe Benanti saw himself as identifying with high level French sparkling wines and this next tier rise sees the wine remain on lees for 48 months. Similar RS (below 5 g/L) but the extra time brings quite a factor of autolysis as a by-product of time. Yeast-bready in just the correct way, harmony struck between the autolytic notes and acidity yet with a higher pH and lower acid profile. Quite a different expression of carricante as sparkling while co-existing within the same Benanti family. Both wines feel like they really carry a purpose, including for what sector of the market they are looking to make their appeal. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted September 2024

Benanti Viticoltori Lamorèmio Brut Rosé Método Classico 2020, Terre Siciliane IGT

Like the Noblesse Brut this sees 24 months on the lees with nerello mascalese as a Rosato which comes away feigning sweetness more than the carricante, even though the sugar (at 5-ish g/L) is just about the same. Acid structure carries the sweetness and the weight, length is good and this is surely the more all-around style taht offers wide ranging appeal. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Fischetti Etna Spumante DOC Método Classico Brut Librato 2020

Made with just a small part of nerello mascalese from Contrada Muscamento for a total blanc de noir production of 500 bottles. Livrato is poetry, in ode to Michaela Luca’s mother who was an avid reader. Base wines are kept on lees with bâttonage and the wine also spends 30 months on the gross lees. High energy, sharp, pointed and full on tang, enough freshness but also some weight to be sure. Citrus makes a statement and without any dosage there should be a piercing effect but that’s simply not the case. Quite impressive sparkling for L’Etna. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

La Gelsomina Di Colombo Maria Adalgisa Etna Spumante DOC Brut Rosé Método Classico 2021

Lightest Rosato hue, in part because the Gelsomina style is all about clarity and freshness, as far away as possible from oxidation and especially autolysis. No brioche or yeast derivative aromas, just red fruit, primary and juicy. The lees aging time is minimum 36 months but the winemaking does everything possible to stay reductive and with minimum contacts or stagnancies. Rosato is a step more complex than Blanc de Noir if not quite as energetic. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

La Gelsomina Di Colombo Maria Adalgisa Etna Spumante DOC Brut Blanc de Noir Método Classico 2021

When Etna DOC added Spumante to the disciplinare 10 years ago Gelsomina (partner of Tenute Orestiadi) was ready and was amongst the first to bottle under the allowable labelling. The blend is 80 percent nerello mascalese and (20) nerello cappuccio, minimum 36 months on the lees. Brut at six g/L of residual sugar. Good thing the acidity is captured and kept because there is no shortage of flesh, fruit ripeness and creamy texture. Clean, fresh, accessible and well made. The choice is clear, to avoid autolytic notes and so the yeasty and bready style is for someone else. A Gelsomina is the exact opposite. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Palmento Costanzo Etna Spumante DOC Método Classico Brut

A 24 months on lees traditional method sparkling wine, disgorged in February 2024, Brut style. Feeling like 5-6 g/L of residual sugar, tart and ably if typically carricante. Fine bubble, tight and sure with a botanical component. Clean and just feels right with a cheese plate. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Etna Rosato DOC

Alessandro Serughetti Etna Rosato DOC Lunabuona 2022

In 2022 Alessandro and Loredana Serughetti chose to invest in a small 1960 planted vineyard at 680m on the North slope of L’Etna in the village is Rovittello, a suburb of Castiglione di Sicilia in Contrada Dafara Galluzzo. Their Rosato is 90 percent nerello mascalese with (10 combined) minella nera and bianca. A unique Rosé, equal parts salinity an sapidity which essentially translates to 100 percent volcanic. This is currently their largest volume sku at 1,600 bottles and with the extra year of aging it drinks beautifully, at peak and with grace today. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted September 2024

Cottanera Etna Rosato DOC 2023

From Rosso vineyards, looking for freshness and very little sugar but also low alcohol. Only steel, three months, bottled in February. Rich of fruit, salty, crunchy and for Rosato also complex. Tons of flavour, strawberry and some leafy savour. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted May and September 2024

Palmento Costanzo Etna Rosato DOC Mofete Rosato 2023

Energy noted straight away, a carbonic nerello mascalese buzz that drives Rosato to stand up and be noticed. Comes right at the senses, aromatically floral and palate treble tremble to pique interest and taste sensations. Full fruit and mineral working together for flavour and character. That’s what it’s all about . Last tasted September 2024

Equally fruity and vegetal, of red berries and peppers, a tartness and also lactic cheese note. Herbal as well and so complexity as Rosato if on the acquired taste side of style. Crunchy and salty, briny to a degree, naturally wild and free. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted May 2024

Rupestre Etna Rosato DOC 2023

So similar to the Terre Darrigo Rosato made by Rosario Raciti with 100 percent nerello mascalese fermented and simply allowed to go from vine to glass. The difference is location and terroir. What does that mean? Contrada Pietramarina fruit, salinity and acidity, grip and tension. Otherwise just the Rosato and mascalese facts. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Tasca d’Almerita Tascante Etna Rosato DOC Tefra 2022

Aptly labeled “Vigne Custodite dalla Famiglia Tasca d’Almerita,” a statement to make sure we understand these nerello mascalese grapes are estate grown. Aromatic varietal volume, energy and spirit run high, yet most notable are the wealth and depth of flavours. Cherry moving into strawberry with a basic phenolic presence and that is very much all you want and need. Not a high acid Rosato, nor was that the intention. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Tenute Bosco Etna Rosato DOC 2020

Only nerello mascalese from the lower and most vigorous part of the vineyard and grapes are chosen specifically for the Rosato. No wood like the white, once again to preserve the volcano’s effect on the wine, which is essential and when Rosato is made like this, also profound. This is a specific kind of salty, to Bosco’s vineyard and the mascalese that grows. Just three hours or less skin contact, quick maceration, no thought to colour, as with every wine in this portfolio, the place on Versante Nord is the heart of each and every matter. Already two years old, evolving very slowly and there is no reason to think it will not continue this way for another two or three more. Tranquility but also energy. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted May 2023 and September 2024

Terre Darrigo Etna Rosato DOC 2023

Only nerello mascalese as per the norm for Etna Rosato DOC and another salty little number with satisfying juiciness and grip. Direct, unadorned, almost no barrel, perhaps just a few percent. Straight fermentation, let it sit and ride. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted September 2024

With Alberto Graci, Giuseppe Russo and John Szabo M.S.

Etna Bianco DOC

Alta Mora Etna Bianco DOC 2022

Nice and smoky Etna Bianco from Alta Mora though the fruit is equally adamant about gaining your trust. The smoulder equalized by the pulpy flesh of fresh bites into orchard fruit and a touch of finishing spice. Not the most complex but surely robust for the category. Last tasted May and September 2024

Solid and well made Etna Bianco in the ways of respect and tradition, ample, fulsome, substantial and structured for a wine that will drink well three-plus years forward. Citrus mainly, both lemon and lime, cool, not quite minty but surely like fresh summer basil and then a pinch of salt at the finish. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted May 2024

Antichi Vinai 1877 Etna Bianco DOC Petralava 2023

Soda and neutral fruit intro which is par for the Etna Bianco course and certainly not unexpected. In other words mineral led, volcanic obviously and yet cool, gelid, mildly if sweetly botanical. A shot in the dark, unexpected and how can you not be thankful for a wine of this stature you knew nothing about. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Azienda Agricola Ciro Biondi Etna Bianco DOC Outis 2022

Fruit up front but in a botanical way, less basaltic mineral salty and more sapid as a result. Still it carries a set of elements that conceptualize the Bianco, however the peachiness and sweet preserved citrus set this one up to be a mellow sort of affair. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Azienda Agricola Ciro Biondi Etna Bianco DOC Chianta 2021

A more important label for Biondi and therefore aged an extra year ahead of release. Chianta the top Bianco cru and clearly a matter of longer maceration magnified by the extra aging. Not only noticed in hue but that natural salve texture settling while also dissolving nicely on the palate. A more interesting and satisfying iteration to speak credibly for the winemaking intent and also a matter of style. Then some crispiness and crunch to speak for captured and persistent freshness. Fine work. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Benanti Viticoltori Etna Bianco DOC Contrada Cavaliere 2022

Sweetly aromatic waft in a memory of cotton candy at the fair sort of way. Palate tells another story, truly lemony and in a current one-dimensional phase. The carricante has gone into slumber, which is unsurprising and so best not to touch any bottles until the Spring of 2025. Last tasted September 2024

Reserved, not reductive but neither open nor gregarious. A smoulder of volcanics and wood aging, just an aromatic wisp of flint and notable verdancy. The greens are also driven by the place and Cavaliere gives in just this way. Low, slow and with a time lapse release of controlled power. Really quite remarkable Etna Bianco from this contrada. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted May 2024

Cottanera Etna Bianco DOC Calderara 2022

Calderara vineyards are 40-45 years of age and the harvest happens a week later, in the second week of October. Cement and large casks, 60-40, 10-12 months, brought back together and bottled. Saltier than the Bianco because the vineyard is so full of lava stone, a 100-plus year old eruption with brown basaltic stone. Very focused and precise though more power than 2021. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted May and September 2024

Donnafugata Etna Bianco DOC Sul Vulcano 2021

Quite a taut and wound Etna Bianco, not unusual for the vintage and though anything but lean – my this is tight. Mountain white in every respect and one of the finest if also precise Bianci ever produced at Donnafugata. Exemplary for the DOC, speaking to the mineral slats, elements and ways but also reasons for how lava flows have affected what will happen to vines farmed with industrious respect. Frames Etna Bianco in a serious if surely satisfying way. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted September 2024

Federico Curtaz Etna Bianco DOC Gamma 2021

Gamma is more aromatic than most with its mix of candied and floral but also spicy and so nasturtium or marigold are considered. The transitions are bold if seamless and the next stage is where things really take a turn to excitement. Moving away from the tight reduction and into bold flavours, variegated and layered, of fruit but of course minerals and elements that deduce then decide what an Etna Bianco is all about. Crisp, crunchy, biting and lengthy, all decidedly essential attributes of a rebel Bianco. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted September 2024

Firriato Cavanera Etna Bianco DOC Contrada Zottorinotto, Balza Delle Poiane 2022

Some reduction from a specific cru and designation, that being Cavanera Balza delle Poiane within the northerly contrada of Zottorinotto. Herbal as well, fresh sprung spring glade of ferns and wild allium, trillium and the local Ginestra. Plenty of substantial fruit and truthfully so much going on. As far as Etna Bianco is concerned this should be considered a big wine, the kind that can be enjoyed by lovers of full-bodied chardonnay. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted May and September 2024

Fischetti Etna Bianco DOC Muscamento 2022

Purchased the palmento in 2006, fully restored and what Michaela Luca calls “a very romantic place.” A Bianco called “Muscamento” (due to labelling bureaucracy) from the Contrada “Moscamento” at 650m on the northeast part of L’Etna. Just three hectares and 8,000-9,000 total production with this being the single-vineyard label. A blend, of 60 percent carricante and (40) catarratto. As floral as it gets for Etna Bianco with honeysuckle and ginger root. Lemon and lime flavours, clean, fresh and truly amenable. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Giovanni Rosso Etna Bianco DOC 2023

The work of Barolo’s Davide Rosso who came to L’Etna in 2016. Straightforward Bianco, neither predictive nor oxidative, tight or loose but somewhere comfortably in between. Goldilocks, between hard and soft, fruit and mineral, an equality of both. Solid, unassuming and yet perfectly representative Etna Bianco. Wood spirit and spice is felt on the back end. Rosso may need to make Bianco for 10 years before greatness arrives. His past work with chardonnay in Bourgogne can only serve to speed up the understanding of carricante. Would not put it past him to get there even sooner. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Girolamo Russo Etna Bianco DOC Nerina 2023

Only Nerina, San Lorenzo and Feudo were made in 2023 due to a challenge from rain, mildew and less fruit availability. No worries about quality however and Nerina is about as full pulp-fleshy and developed as it has ever been. The acids travel up and down the sides of the palate in the ways of striking Etna Bianco and here Russo finds the road back, each and every time. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted May and September 2024

Girolamo Russo Etna Bianco DOC Feudo 2023

New Bianco for Giuseppe Russo, a selection of 100 percent carricante from three hectares within the Feudo di Mezzo vineyard and contrada. Feudo is not San Lorenzo but it is something remarkable in its own right. More botanical and phenolic but also a level of citrus preserve not noted anywhere but Feudo. Crazy level of implosive citric intensity and taut character. The behaviour is so different to San Lorenzo with flavours that mean business in the most impressive way imaginable. Intensity off the charts, concentration so impressive, energy that builds and builds. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted May and September 2024

Graci Etna Bianco DOC Muganazzi 2022

“A wine of mystery,” says Alberto Graci, “very intriguing for me.” Flinty and scrubby at the same time, energy and vibrancy laying in waiting, a buzz behind the curtain and a soil purposed into the 100 percent carricante that Graci’s team and now also we know the wine will want to explode with flavours a year, or more rightly two from now. So tight but you can feel it, the linear nature looking ahead and time will bring about something social form that mystery. Unquestionably one of L’Etna’s finest ’22s. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted Tasted May and September 2024

Graci Etna Bianco DOC 2023

A mix of all four contradas; Muganazzi, Arcurìa, Feudo di Mezzo and Santo Spirito. A mix of Mediterranean scrub and vibrancy, looking for that balance between and finding it. Really fine precision and salinity, length is outstanding for villages level Bianco. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May and September 2024

La Gelsomina Di Colombo Maria Adalgisa Etna Bianco DOC 2023

Fruit is drawn from the steepest of slopes surrounding the pond within an amphitheatre that is an extinct volcanic crater on the Gelsomina property. Tiny micro-climate within the 15 hectares of the estate, mainly carricante (80 percent) with a smaller portion of cattaratto, neutral and primary when this young, needing time to find its expression. Again the clarity and freshness are proper but the neutrality makes it hard to see where this will go and what it will become. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted September 2024

La Gelsomina Di Colombo Maria Adalgisa Etna Bianco DOC 2022

The 80 percent carricante with (20) cattaratto grows on the steepest of slopes within the estate’s amphitheatre in surround of a natural pond that are all part an extinct volcanic crater on the Gelsomina property. A small micro-climate inside of 15 hectares for a Bianco fruit forward and when young, so easy to drink. Unsurprising to find this perfectly clean, fresh and direct, a matter of just five months in stainless steel. Perfect for the many and the willing. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Massimo Lentsch Etna Bianco DOC 2023

Sweet aromatic perfumes, candied florals and white peach per se, a preserved lemon edging to limoncello. Lemony flavours, fine, simple and preparative to set the Bianco up for a modicum of representative success. Good and plenty but not quite exciting, complex or wholly substantial. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Serena and Valeria Costanzo – Palmento Costanzo

Palmento Costanzo Etna Bianco DOC Bianco Di Sei 2022

A cuvée of all parcels from different contrade, including the homefront Santo Spirito, along with Cavaliere. On average 90 percent carricante with (10) catarratto. Only raised in stainless steel, persistently fresh and if any region in the world might be compared with it would be Chablis AOC, direct, salty, smart and widely purposed. Last tasted September 2024

Just have to say wow because Bianco di Sei comes equipped with a level of intensity that was not quite expected from 2022. Not so much a volume or an explosion aromatically speaking but an extreme set of eccentricities that crash aboard the palate. Likely needing some rest and down time to integrate because the level of extract here (including volcanic activity) is simply off the charts. Etna incarnate, pointed and exciting. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted May 2024

Palmento Costanzo Etna Bianco DOC Contrada Santo Spirito 2022

High level aromatic volume and concentration from Santo Spirito ’22 and we know right away that this wine knows exactly who it is, where it comes from and where it wants to go. Volcanic salts are also present on the nose from a Bianco of great stage presence and such a smart textural weave that gains every bit of the palate’s confidence. The connection is prescient, reaction calming and conclusion poignant. This is how you make and present Contrada-specific Etna Bianco. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted September 2024

Palmento Costanzo Etna Bianco DOC Contrada Santo Spirito 2021

Note the colour of the lava soil on the label, lighter brown for Santo Spirito, from the contrada vineyard at 700m on the northern slope that comprises one out of three “islands within the island” of L’Etna. Still just an infant, implosive and insular, wound so tight, yet to explode. Give this another year, just as the first taste had indicated for months prior. Last tasted September 2024

A fine vintage and and even finer Contrada, that being Santo Spirito where carricante (and 10 percent cattarrato) are given every soil, geological and micro-climatic advantage. There is an accumulation of ripeness and stone cool mineral groove from location and acumen that make this move with incremental ability. It will slowly define itself over along period of time that will be fascinating to watch every step of the way. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted May 2024

Palmento Costanzo Etna Bianco DOC Contrada Cavaliere 2021

Note the colour of the lava soil on the label, darker brown for Cavaliere, from the contrada vineyard at 700m in the southwest “island” of L’Etna. A different expression to that of Santo Spirito, volumetric in terms of aromatics and less austere or rather locked tight. Here more sapid and botanical, less basaltic salinity and fleshier early on. More fruit forward, pulpy stone fruit like, amenability run higher and the Contrada-designate Bianco to drink while waiting for Santo Spirito to mature. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Papa Maria Cuore Di Marchesa Etna Bianco DOC Cuore Di Marchesa 2022

From Contrada Marchesa near Solicchiata at 750m, a property through Pietro Giovanni’s father-in-law with vines around 100 years old, of the passion and at the heart of the contrada. As unique as it gets for Etna Bianco, 100 percent carricante, ripe yet certainly not honeyed and wood a driver with a white cocoa note that alters perception at a certain level. Some savour as well, brushy style, curious and raising the overall levels of interest. The flavours and textures combine for substantial, if also layered appeal. This may turn secondary sooner rather than later but the level of intersecting interest should only increase. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted September 2024

Pietradolce Etna Bianco DOC Archineri 2022

Archinieri comes at us with that Pietradolce mix of confidence and generosity because well, vineyards and expertise. A Bianco that must be great because the makers demand top quality from field to table and all the markers here are present, defined and accounted for. Ideal reasoning, seasoning and style. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted May and September 2024

Planeta Etna Bianco DOC Contrada Taccione 2022

A singular Bianco labeled within Contrada Taccione for Planeta’s cantina located in Feudo di Mezzo and when you are the sole (known) contributor you make, transmit and valourize the rules. Pulp, acumen and circumstance establish and disperse layers of lava-fueled feelings, initiate discourse and bring about results to say this is Etna Bianco of balance and mountain reform. Not the acid intensity of some, nor the flowery pot gratuity of others. Nor does it reside indiscriminately or disinterestedly in between – no it makes a great pronouncement of elevation, mountain experience and intention. Exceptional Etna Bianco. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted September 2024

Quantico Etna Bianco DOC 2018

A few years have passed but my how this 2018 has hung onto its freshness despite some skin contact involved in the early process. Maturity is recognized in the platinum gold hue, subtle caramelization and next level developing complexities. May not keep for several years more but at nearly six years of age it is special. Last tasted September 2024

Just two years older than the ’20 and a marked difference, especially in aromatics. Much warmer year but the exotica and tropical fruit really stand out in this 2018. Cherry blossom, lime cordial and a litchi or longan effect, almost feeling boozy but the alcohol (at 13 percent) is the same as 2020. That said the palate is much more similar, less advanced and feeling fresher. Lots of fruit here, full of energy with a long lasting impression. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted May 2023

Rupestre Etna Bianco DOC 2023

The private label of Terre Darrigo winemaker Rosario Raciti grown in the Contrada of Pietramarina and vinified in the company’s cantina. Only carricante and an old lava flow location with 14 year-old vines planted by Rosario’s father. A unique saltiness and mineral intensity clearly attributed to the contrada despite the young age of the vines. Lean, direct and pointed, sharp and just the beginning of the story. Only 8,000 bottles in 2023. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Tasca d’Almerita Tascante Etna Bianco DOC Buonora 2023

Only carricante and just has that look of a wine you expect to be extremely cold when it’s really a matter of a strong, sweetly phenolic presence. Herbal, like basil granita and a different sort of salinity owing to the specificity of Tascante’s Pianodario gravelly volcanic sands. Also owing to harvest time after a most challenging vintage which gave smaller, more concentrated berries with high skin to pulp ratios. Sees only stainless steel, for good reason and the effect triples down on this Bianco’s style. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Tasca d’Almerita Tascante Etna Bianco DOC Contrada Sciaranuova 2022

Vinified and aged in Slavonian Grandi Botti, “to preserve the verticality and freshness of the carricante” explains Tasca d’Almerita agronomist Michele Brusaferri. Plays hard to get and acts demure inside the halls of its aromatic silence but you know that the elevation and fine basaltic soil are the portents of Tascante’s main Contrada Sciaranuova that will see to conditions for change. Though soft you feel the wood, present with confidence yet the thread of cool, herbal and botanical rins from Buonora into this Bianco. Fruit will soon peek through and announce a scintillant’s arrival, blossoms too, namely orange and then to salty lime later on. Just takes some air, agitation and swirl to coax out the excitement and up into the stratosphere. Turns out to be crunchy and seriously salty Etna Bianco, like flakes of Maldon or Slovenian platinum for what can best be described as living the high seasoned life of Etna Bianco. Structure is there and so this should age quite well. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted September 2024

Tasca d’Almerita Tascante Etna Bianco DOC Contrada Sciaranuova 2016

The 2016 carricante takes the ’22 tasted alongside to another extreme. Now a return to a full blown aromatically romanticized effect with honey, orange blossom, sweet concentrated herbs, then into a downy, mature and creamy softness. Curious if well past prime with no good reason to complain about a Bianco conceived during its earlier stages of experimentation and understanding. You can tell the first two to three years would have had no problem convincing of greatness within the style it was made. Tasted September 2024

Marc de Grazia – Tenuta delle Terre Nere

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Bianco DOC 2023

The Santo Spirito area has traditionally been devoted to Rosso and so grapes need to be brought in to make the Etna Bianco. Not 100 percent carricante yet the single contrada whites are. Remember that old vineyards would house five to seven percent white grapes and so here 20-30 percent would include minella, cattaratto, inzolia and grecanico. There is a gelid solidity to the texture and structure, inclusive of the white grapes hand-plucked out of the red vineyards. Makes for a complicated yet complex cuvée, not about parochial purity but instead an assemblage that speaks to bio and varietal diversity. There is notable extract and even some tannin involved for a Bianco you would want to drink every single day. With thanks to salinity that does the work from acidity. If only there were more of 2023, but such is the nature of farming in adversarial vintages. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Bianco DOC Calderara Sottana 2023

“Such a stunning vineyard that I believe will actually improve the Calderara,” says Marc de Grazia. Where Bianco can help to elevate the Rosso by association and osmosis. A carricante with more volume and depth than the wines from the south and east of L’Etna but we know many will not only appreciate but also prefer the style of those Bianci grown in warmer areas. As such the Calderara Sottana sees barrel fermentation, in 350L tonneaux and 10 hL foudres. Now we are getting into a Bourgogne comparison, Meursault first and foremost though some will consider Premier Cru, Right bank Chablis, Fourneaux coming to mind more than most. In the end all that matters is finding the sweet spot in every vintage to express place, in terms of wood size, time and methodology used. We can be reminded that Dibourdieu is a big influence on de Grazia, for whatever that is worth. “If you don’t have a compass it’s not sailing, it’s what Dibourdieu called vagabondage. You need to have an idea of the answer you’re looking for.” Drink 2025-2032. Tasted September 2024

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Bianco DOC Montalto 2023

Montalto, “high mountain,” a 950m plot on L’Etna’s southern slope. Another Bianco that does not like being fermented in wood and so steel only aids and abets to maintain carricante purity. For the first time a Terre Nere white just feels truly salty, mineral extraction expressed through Bianco, as opposed to elemental sapidity. “You have to go higher as the heat increases,” says Marc de Grazia, “to extract perfumes and find acidity.” There is a savoury honeyed aspect that reminds of chenin blanc and the length is determined by old vines. Silex again which takes a mind to Loire more than Chablis. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted September 2024

Tenuta Di Fessina Etna Bianco DOC A’Puddara 2022

Reductive in a most protective, protractive and progressive way because the burst of citrus screamed forth is seriously intensive. Well yes but it would behoove one to think in terms of elements and minerals over more than merely fruit. Wild and frantic even, excitability factor run off the charts and the palate, not to mention spirit seriously awakened. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2024

Tenute Bosco Etna Bianco DOC 2023

The ’23 Etna Bianco artist formerly known as Piano Dei Daini comes out of a hard vintage because of rain in June with some Perenospera issues, “but the carricante can handle the attack” explains Sofia Ponzini. No loss of fruit, harvest and vinification all together very much in a field blend way. The ten percent endemic varieties settle the carricante, neutralize its power and make for a most wholesome but always elegant Etna Bianco. A rinse of salty sea air meets Macchia Mediterranea. Sofia ends up happy but admits the wine needs bottle time, to sleep a bit, calm the energy and the power. Vibrancy is needy, crunchiness too, feel of the volcano so crucial and so all that is great but the drippy phenolic presence needs taming. That’s what time will effect. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted May and September 2024

Terra Costantino Etna Rosso DOC d’Aetna 2023

Presumably a mix of of Blandano and Praino, which incidentally seem to be siblings from two different mothers and so the deAetna label is a blend in two-parts. More Praino is would seem, gelid and cool, a lemon-yellow plum granita of an Etna Bianco. Fine and solid enough though quite generalized as a local, eastern side of Etna expression. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Terra Costantino Etna Bianco DOC Contrada Blandano 2019

A few years now in bottle and so this 2019 has developed next level style, further character and stage presence. Honeyed and luxe, acids sweetened with a lively if sour edge and then comes that extract that urged the totality from the start. A fine and confident wine with time on its side and a healthy perspective for Etna Bianco as the kind to serve at dinners and tastings all over the world. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted May and September 2024

Terre Darrigo

Terre Darrigo Etna Bianco DOC 2023

A stone’s throw down the mountain is Lingualossa, of a terroir above 500 and upwards to 600m in a natural amphitheatre taken over by the Bacci family from a bankrupt farm and in disrepair. Restored to a beautifully rustic terraced set of vineyards set between the volcano and the sea. Salty carricante indeed with phenolic grip and yet acidity keeps the drive alive. So little was made because of a hailstorm in the first week of May that took out most of the vines even before rains and Perenospera mildew arrived to attack much of Etna’s northern vineyards. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Theresa Eccher Etna Bianco DOC Alizée 2021

As per the vintage and an estate taking full advantage this is quite ripe and open-knit Etna Bianco, simplified and moving forward into maturity with haste. Comes away with a bit of bitterness and honeyed savour but otherwise drinks well enough. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Tornatore Etna Bianco DOC 2023

Tornatore has simply, unequivocally and decidedly defined the genre that is Etna Bianco for world markets at an affordable price. The 2023 vintage was not so easy to do this way because mildew pressure and low yields were the obstacle. And yet like so many the acids are intense to insure true Etna mountain spirit is elevated as it needs be. This does precisely what wants and needs for a $25-30 Bianco. All must partake and become believers in what is possible. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Tornatore Etna Bianco DOC Pietrarizzo 2022

Pietrarizzo is both available and confident, not idiosyncratic like Zottorinotto and also richer of fruit. There is an herbal and botanical way about this cru Bianco with splashes of catarratto bringing seasoning to the carricante. A bit spicy and even humid though the fruit is the thing and the volcanics an accent making for even more spice entertained. Such a solid Contrada based Bianco. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted and September 2024

Torre Mora Etna Bianco DOC Chiuse Vidalba 2022

An Etna Bianco on the extreme volcanic side because the aromas and flavours just feel like sucking on a mouthful of basaltic lozenges. Cool, gelid and distinctly mineral on the outside, liquid ethereal and almost mentholated within. Don’t come looking for a burst of fruit, not by citrus, stone nor orchard though there is this green melon note coming late. Nor is this a high acid example, but also not so very botanical. Just bloody volcanic – which speaks to Chiuse Vidalba. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted May and September 2024

Vigneti Vecchio Carricante Sciare Vive 2022, Terre Siciliane IGT

Part of the production is from a vineyard located outside of the allowable (if arbitrarily and self-serving organization of geographic definition) for the DOC regulations. Yet the fruit from these 40 year-old carricante vines are special to Carmelo Vecchio. His is a true to real volcanic life skin-contact Bianco without the slings, constraints and arrows of pedagogical natural wine. Just the methodological facts to capture, elevate and celebrate the purity of grape variety come from where it lives. A well made example is a thing of beauty and in this case, a premise of perfection. Sapidity wins out over salinity and yet your palate may figure to feel more of the latter. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted September 2024

Vigneti Vecchio Carricante Sciare Vive 2021, Terre Siciliane IGT

Tasted side by side with the 2022 (and also 2016) but here the extra year on a skin contact carricante solicits the first stage of age development. Just on the nose really, quite honeyed with a Ginestra savoury spice and a vague saffron note considered. More so honeysuckle when you combine the two and so there feels like a connection, re-imaging or re-imagining of chenin blanc. Palate presence lingers and length is befitting of ’22. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Piè Franco Carricante – Terre Darrigo

Etna Bianco Superiore

Barone Di Villagrande Etna Bianco Superiore DOC 2023

Aromatic volume is turned up through the combination of vintage and Superiore designation which both repeats and magnifies the great fleshy chew for the accessorized palate. Some greens here though they are sweet to commit and then induce satisfaction. Also a great basaltic saltiness that causes this Bianco to linger long after you thought it might not and you are extremely grateful for the extension. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted September 2024

Barone Di Villagrande Etna Bianco Superiore DOC Contrada Villagrande 2021

Just two years older than the ’23 Superiore (classico) and here the Contrada-specific Etna Bianco maintains freshness while defending the integrity of its municipal steading. This is a reduced volcanic saltiness but even more so it speaks to being a mountain wine in the most credible of ways. Rich and expressive, so finely tart and just so very impressive. Stays with your palate for minutes on end and for that you say brava. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted September 2024

Salvino Benanti – Viticoltori Benanti

Benanti Viticoltori Etna Bianco Superiore DOC Pietramarina 2019

A current release which follows the Benanti rule of waiting four-plus years. Only stainless and already hinting at aromatic volume but also length, with petrol coming around the corner. Kind of in the vein of say riesling but even more so sémillon and more Hunter Valley than Bordeaux in that regard. Acidity is obviously lower and phenolics broader – but you get the drift. Will gain curiosity, if at the expense of freshness but that feels like the Superiore point. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Calcagno Etna Bianco Superiore DOC Primazappa 2022

Important if also essential mountain label for Calcagno in Superiore clothing and ’22 shines brightly, even if this is not the summit of summits as far as vintage is concerned. No conceding or submissive behaviour mind you and instead great spirit, energy and vitality. Crisp bites of orchard fruit doused under lemon-lime citrus for real spark. A scintillant Etna Bianco with some fine chiseling and structured for aging. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted September 2024

Federico Curtaz Etna Bianco Superiore DOC Kudos 2021

Kudos is far more botanical than that of Gamma, of green herbs and some herbaceous meanderings. More tonic and fine bitters though truthfully lemon in so many ways with some pith and it tastes like roasted Greek lemon potatoes. A second bottle seems to ramp up the intensity though things stay relatively the same. Superiore is a different animal and it feels like Curtaz has gone a bit more pied du cuve natural in the approach. Surely not an accidental wine and the jury stays out, not hung, but not making a final decision. Will do so after tasting another bottle, preferably sooner rather than later. Tasted September 2024

Fischetti Etna Bianco Superiore DOC Rocca d’Alba 2022

First kick at the Fischetti can and it must be said where have these wines been in this life? In others’ glasses and now here for a look at possible grandezza. Big attempt at extraction, squeezing every bit of 100 percent carricante juice which means tomato leaf and water, but also acetic belief. Old wood is very present and leads the feels for a rustic Bianco that may not exactly find precision, nor finesse neither, but its character is built from soil, soil, soil. The earth is all in and it translates with the aforementioned acetic tang. Just 700 bottles are produced. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted twice, September 2024

I Custodi Delle Vigne Dell’Etna Etna Bianco Superiore DOC Imbris Contrada Caselle 2020

Varietal carricante at 800m fermented in steel, put to barrel and then one year in bottle. So much corporeal flesh on the body of a seriously developed Bianco. Has come into a fine place but my goodness so much texture, citrus and length. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May and September 2024

Maugeri Etna Bianco Superiore DOC Contrada Volpare 2023

Youthful is the understatement and Volpare the name, so say it loud. This is indeed singular Etna Bianco, as they should be but some are in a league of their own, as Mugeri’s eastern wines clearly are. The estate has taken it to the next level with an ascension of elevated mountain fortuity but also depth determined by terroir which can only be transmitted when agriculture abides. Abides because the maker makes it happen and Volpare delivers generously while also with precision and finesse. Leave this for 18 months or more to settle the relationship between rocks and acidity. After tasting Frontebosco and also Frontemare you realize the latter is the true catalyst to propel this cuvée selection. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted September 2024

Maugeri Etna Bianco Superiore DOC Contrada Volpare Frontebosco 2023

Versante est which separates Mugeri from not just the north but also the south and the future will surely look to this area for greatness. Not only Volpare contrada but a section within, here called Frontebosco, as in facing or in front off the forest and so the herbals here within are assumed to be elected by the nearby woods. Makes for freshness but also a fruit fleshiness that the more general Volpare does not show. A full, substantial and impressive Etna Bianco that might just appeal to everyone. Superiore indeed. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted September 2024

Maugeri Etna Bianco Superiore DOC Contrada Praino Frontemare 2023

Frontemare, “facing the sea,”as opposed to Frontebosco, “facing the wood.” As such this would be east facing from Etna’s east sector and so the block with the view creates a unicorn of an Etna Bianco as fascinating as it seemingly gets. The most crisp, crunchy, fresh and intense of Mugeri’s whites, citrus squeezed throughout and long as the zig-zagging wind of a single road down to Catania and into the sea. Just wow, with layers upon layers to unreel, unfurl and unroll for a long aging period ahead. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted September 2024

Tenuta delle Terre Nere

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Bianco Superiore DOC Salice 2023

Only carricante from the the town of Milo, five year-old vines in the place where more rain falls and reds can not really be made. No more than 1000 hectares of vineyard farmed by 20 producers recently and collectively coming into its own. Wines now made by high profile estates including Barone di Villagrande, Benanti and Marc de Grazia. Soils are unique, having come from the collapse odf the side of the volcano’s east side. Deep, fractured and then also shallow soils so compact it’s hard for roots to penetrate. Less humid as a result and the best for ripening carricante. Exposure is key because the sun disappears behind the mountain earlier than most, though says de Grazia, “650-750m is the sweet spot. Adding “a challenge but not a suicide.” Extremely steep, two years to rebuild the terraces and here is the result. Imagine the views of the Ionian Sea with a glass, wildflowers everywhere and a sapidity so different to the gifts of the northern slope. Salice is the willow and that weeping only adds to the demure, but in a botanical, mellow and properly astringent way. Just like silex, but volcanic from a wine with no wood in play. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted September 2024

Tenuta Di Fessina Etna Bianco Superiore DOC Il Musmeci Bianco 2021

Il Muscemi Bianco is another matter altogether because of two aspects. More taut reserve instigated by reductively protected ability plus an aromatic accountability that screams “mountain wine!” Scintillant behaviour, a bit eccentric mind you but how one could not be amused if clearly enthralled with the intensity. Once again we speak of volcanics and mysterious elements with fruit out of the conversation because it was picked early and with acidity in total mind, but in the end the lava matters most. Needs years to settle in, especially because of the need to assimilate its wood. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted September 2024

Terra Costantino Etna Bianco Superiore DOC Contrada Praino 2022

Eastern slope on Etna, in the town of Milo where only here the Etna Bianco can be labeled with the addendum “Superiore.” From young five year-old carricante vines grown on Alberello at 650m by Fabio Stantino and his family where the conditions are more humid, namely because of the closer proximity to the sea. Cool, gelid and stylish. The kind of Etna Bianco with that mineral, gemstone quality while also one of the more yellow-fleshed fruit pulpy examples juiced by Sicilian orange. Gets white pepper and mango powder exotic at the humid finish. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted May and September 2024

Etna Rosso

Alice Bonaccorsi Etna Rosso DOC Valcerasa Rosso 2019

Truly ripe cherry, maturing and for Bonaccorsi’s Rosso surely well into the drinking zone. Wealth of cloying oak, resins and overripe behaviour mean that zone should already be behind us. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted September 2024

Alta Mora Etna Rosso DOC Feudo Di Mezzo 2020

Middle ground traveled and promise delivered for the large Feudo di Mezzo as Contrada sizes come, with fruit able to defend itself against generous wood though all parts launch a collective attack on the senses and palate. Big Rosso for Etna, strong boned and willed with the intention to impress. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted September 2024

Alta Mora Etna Rosso DOC Guardiola 2020

Big barrel feel on Guardiola from Alta Mora and some fruit maturity to say the twain is yet to be abridged. As high toned as Rosso will come, red fruit swells and a dusty volatility that reminds of Rioja. Just feels akin to aging in American wood. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2024

Alessandro and Loredana Serughetti

Alessandro Serughetti Etna Rosso DOC Venturo 2022

Only 700 bottles were made of Alessandro Serrugheti’s Venturo, which transliterates to “next” and generationally speaking that is exactly what he and wife Loredona are to L’Etna. Their corner of Rovitello is rich in volcanic ingredients, of potassium, iron, and magnesium in the lava flow soils of their old (and qualifiedly historic) nerello mascalese vineyard. Alessandro dates them back 60 years and admits there to be a few cappuccio plants mixed in for one of his first attempts at Rosso that is simply grippy, liquid chalky, textural, structured and brimming with dark fruit. Ages 10 months in tonneaux. It’s basically a profound basaltic matter of this place within the greater volcanic place. Greatness is coming. Coming up next. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted September 2024

Antichi Vinai 1877 Etna Rosso DOC Petralava 2019

Floral with a pretty perfume of fruit to join along and the effect is a fête for the olfactory senses. Neither lithe nor delicate in terms of flavour profile and punch yet the substantial and layered effect is something notable. Just a smidgen overdressed and no, subtlety is not the middle name but overall there are fine and appreciable aspects if this Rosso to get behind. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Azienda Agricola Ciro Biondi Etna Rosso DOC San Nicolo’ 2022

San Nicolo’ steps up more than a tier in Etna Rosso terms as compared to Outis because its freshness and fragrance are that much more intense. This smells like Etna should, with southeastern slope warmth behind its ripeness and acidity acting as the driver for that freshness. Still it presents a challenge to sort through and figure out the how, what and why. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Azienda Agricola Ciro Biondi Etna Rosso DOC Outis 2017

Notable wood on the nose, spiced and like the Bianco also savoury in an herbal-botanical way. Suits the fruit though the aromas lower, deepen into baritone and struggle to rise up with ease. The barrel is very involved with the flavours and somewhat unrelenting though one should not question the substance of this Rosso. Then again it’s already five to six years of age and so maturity will now beget declension. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted September 2024

Barone Di Villagrande Etna Rosso DOC 2021

Truly pretty Rosso perfume yet the palate’s hard shell is candied and a bit cloying. The barrel is used in a symptomatic way, driving the fruit to places it may not have wished to go. The combination of that and volatility not in check leads this down and artificial and medicinal path, as a result. The ’21 Bianco Superiore is glorious but the Rosso is a miss. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted September 2024

Barone Di Villagrande Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Monte Ilice 2020

Monte Illice 2022 is in better steading than the Rosso 2021 because its volatile compounds lay low and do much less to distract from the prize. Still the use of wood is heavy and so a resinous but also emulsified feeling is ascertained. Not quite soy but certainly lactic and creamy. A much better wine however and one that will age well over a five-plus year run. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted September 2024

Benanti Viticoltori Etna Rosso Riserva DOC Serra Della Contessa Alberello Centenario 2018

Benanti Viticoltori was founded in 1988, one of the pioneers on L’Etna. Two Piedmontese oenologists, Gian Domenico Negro and Marco Monchiero, along with Prof. Rocco Di Stefano of the Experimental Institute for Oenology in Asti and Prof. Jean Siegrist of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique of Beaune combined to exert profound influence on Giuseppe Benanti and his wines. Oenological consultancy has molded and developed Benanti’s wines, from Salvo Foti to Enzo Calli, now with Benanti for 25 years. Serra Della Contessa is a field blend of the two nerello out of a 100-plus year-old bush vine vineyard (documents say 1910s), own grafted and original, bit of a unicorn for Benanti and a pioneer, just like Giuseppe Benanti. Not labeled as pre-phylloxera because “it’s difficult to prove,” but surely from resistant vines. The same vineyard (Monte Serra) also makes for a Contrada wine from the younger vines. Large barrels for two years, one in tank and then finally two in bottle, not unlike a Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. There is a chalkiness and serious structure here but the Grandi Botti do little to distract, thicken or overarch any semblance of density to this blend. Serra della Contessa dates back to the countess that owned the state in 1472. Cleary one of not only L’Etna’s but all of Sicily’s most important structured and age-worthy red wines. Would love to see this agin in 2033. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted September 2024

Benanti Viticoltori Etna Rosso Riserva DOC Rovitello Alberello Centenario 2018

From North Etna, as opposed to the sister Serra della Contessa label that comes from the home-front vineyard on the mountain’s southeast slope. Picked two weeks later from a cooler location and still the same concept, that being a field blend of nerello mascalese and cappuccio, planted in the 1920s and yes it’s possible there are other varieties mingling in the ancient material of these bush vines. Essentially pre-phylloxera and here Rovitello is softer and cooler, almost gelid and less warmth meets weight, though Monte Serra is not what you would call a wine of density. The acids, harmony and understatement are really fine but to be honest the Contessa is showing better and with more impressive structure today. And yet Rovitello is a magnificent red blend from old DNA in its own-right. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted September 2024

Viticoltori Benanti

Benanti Viticoltori Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Monte Serra 2022

From L’Etna’s southeastern sector on the mountain’s semi-circle and one of fine if also light glycerol texture. Truly pretty and delicate for Rosso, the kind we tell people about in the way we often describe pinot noir from the Côtes de Beaune. This is indeed as closely resembling that kind of varietal-appellation relationship as any on this volcanic mountain. Really fine, precise and softening though structure is not a problem. The feels are of older lava flows and how they effect nerello mascalese. Obviously not pinot noir. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted September 2024

Benanti Viticoltori Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Calderara Sottana 2022

Benanti is not just a southeastern Etna specialist but an estate that wrote the book on the making of fine, precise, finessed and structured wines from that sector aboard the mountain. There is more power (albeit restrained) from northern slope Calderara Sottana and a sense of rich chalky liquidity that speaks to the age of lava flows and how vines are raised on older volcanic soils. Also the 700m of elevation and a place that works best with nerello mascalese, especially with north-facing plantings. The transmission is purposed, trenchant and near formidable. More chewy texture here and more favourably or gainfully nerello mascalese but when you think of it alongside Monte Serra than the options laid out are yours to choose. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted September 2024

Franco and Giusi Calcagno

Calcagno Etna Rosso DOC Calderara 2021

Ah such an intoxicant of Calderara perfume coaxed and on exhibit just the way we would hope it should. Mind you there is some wood to deal with though high standard used will become quality worth resolved. More liquid chalky an Etna Rosso than many but again the execution will beget harmony because the wine is already expressive and frankly distinguished right there. Give this promising 2021 another 18 months and its canto will warble harmonic, pure and long. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted September 2024

Cottanera Etna Rosso DOC Diciassettesalme 2022

Solo nerello mascalese, made with the grapes from all three Contradas, 10 months in steel, followed by six months in bottle. Dictionary entry though it’s just the first vintage of this specific Rosso without Cappuccio. These are nerello plants grafted onto the old cappuccio and to be honest there is more purity and focus this way. Spicier, in a way and more energy. Will take a few vintages to find its solo artist stride. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May and September 2024

Cottanera Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Feudo Di Mezzo 2020

Only nerello mascalese from 35 year-old vines, big barrel for 14 months. Even though Feudo di Mezzo is the largest Etna Nord contrada there is such consistency and a thread of wine effect that runs through the 20-plus producers. Cottanerà heeds and abides by the vineyard to produce a balanced FdM worthy of the name. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May and September 2024

Cottanera Etna Rosso Riserva DOC Zottorinoto 2019

Nerello Mascalese

Plants are 85 years of age on four hectares but this wine is a selection from three tonnes of grapes to make only 1,800-2,000 bottles. Riserva, so it remained in cask for two years plus two more in bottle. Depth, breadth, spices and richness, the most full bodied and textural Rosso, tannins sweet and long-chained with time still needed to resolve all that is here. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted May and September 2024

Donnafugata Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Marchesa 2020

Marchesa 2020 seems to tell a contrada story in a most positive light with its effusive, fresh and yet also concentrated way. A specific style to be sure and a layered one but those layers are closely knit with their weave of ultra specific fibre. There is some reduction which is not a surprise and then some good old-fashioned structure to see this age quite admirably. A different charm and a good one from this well made Rosso. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2024

Federico Curtaz Etna Rosso DOC Il Purgatorio 2020

Bold and trenchant Etna Rosso from the one and only legend that is Federico Curtaz and one to take great time getting to know. Ripe to be sure but also acids in stride with fruit influenced by Etna’s newer (relatively speaking) northern lava flows providing the freshness and finesse. There are some herbaceous moments that put this in a savoury place and in the end the diversity and complexity renders this a potent while oh so intriguing iteration of Etna Rosso. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted September 2024

Federico Curtaz Etna Rosso DOC Il Pukkaria 2020

Consistency and a thread of similarity runs from Purgatorio through Pukkaria but the latter is not the bold expression that is the former. Sweeter perfume, more glycerol texture and emulsified acidity make this closer to the heart and without the same level of grip by structure. Still the herbal-herbaceous feels are there and some reduction to hold a part of the wine back. Give it a year and the ties that bind will loosen to free this wine of brine and tang. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted September 2024

Federico Graziani Etna Rosso DOC 2022

Pretty much what they call Classico as far as Etna Rosso is concerned with a nerello mascalese of concentration yet delicate and shiny enough to speak generally if abidingly for an appellation. Wood is not nothing and will need some time to melt in but this is clearly a Rosso for Rosso sake, raised properly and equipped to live comfortably. A five year example that could be poured for anyone to explain the combination of style, varietal and place. Feels just a bit natural with faint Brettanomyces noted in the end. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Federico Graziani Etna Rosso DOC Rosso Di Mezzo 2022

A sturdy and well wooded Rosso from Feudo di Mezzo labeled as Rosso di Mezzo because why not though the nomenclature could suggest a second wine to some. Like Rosso di Montalcino or even lesser, Rosso di Toscana. We know the intent but when you look at some other Italian denominations this becomes somewhat perplexing. In any case this travels down the middle of the Mezzo road (wink, wink) to deliver a Rosso of medium body, acidity, structure and finish. On par with Graziani’s Rosso DOC, both good wines though with little to distinguish between the two. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Fischetti Etna Rosso Riserva DOC Gran Conte 2014

An alberello-trained, pre-phylloxera nerello mascalese of century vines. A survivalist, having been through at least one world war. A mature, oxidative and fully resolved Rosso in secondary character with no going back. Gifts that old Amarone feel without the jam or density, but age has put this in a known time frame for they who fully appreciate old wines. Freshness is not part of the package. This ’14 is the current release and once again 700 bottles are produced. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Frank Cornelissen Etna Rosso DOC Munjebel 2021

As per the explanation of the erudite gentleman from Houston (by way of San Diego) the meaning of Munjebel informs us to be a “dialectal toponym for Mt. Etna and by the way akin to the Sicilian Muncibeddu or the Italian Mongibello, meaning monte bello or beautiful mountain.” And so it truly is in Etna Rosso form, of a purity and clarity that bemuses but also pleases us so. Chewy Rosso with that natural settling on the palate like a savoury salve slowly dissolving without dissipating or disappearing from consciousness. Stays with our thoughts and feelings for a good long time. Fine 2021, as expected and confirmed without a single moment of having conformed. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted September 2024

Giovanni Rosso Etna Rosso DOC 2021

Quite the bright and ultra fresh nerello mascalese number with what feels like fruit taken from young and impressionable vines, and as of yet to deliver full out structure. Easy access, fresh and free drinking, no big questions posed and a Rosso that simply drinks really well. The length and consistent presence of flavours and textures speak to the maker’s affinity with mutually relatable red varieties, in this case nerello’s spiritual and physiological connection to nebbiolo. Then again Davide Rosso’s work with both Domaine Jean Grivot and Domaine Denis Mortet have no doubt influenced and introduced the treatment of pinot noir towards his work with mascalese. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Girolamo Russo Etna Rosso DOC ‘A Rina 2022

A very warm and dry vintage making for a taut, chalky and savoury nerello mascalese (with 10 percent cappuccino). This next ‘a Rina takes off where 2021 left off and only Feudo is as consistent an Etna Rosso as this. Chalky red cherry, a leathery aspect and drying tannins that speak about 2022 in both toasty and positive ways. Crisp ’22, of bay and liquorice, salty volcanics and good length, though not in the league of Feudo and San Lorenzo. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted May and September 2024

Girolamo Russo Etna Rosso DOC San Lorenzo 2022

The gifts of San Lorenzo are of a slow release ilk the other cru and vineyards of Girolamo Russo are not, but this from 2022 is so full of riches it brings early joy. A great pleasure to have a glass even now with gregarious perfume and readied flavours, of red berries, liquid chalky to candied palate swaths and immediacy from this bottle of wine. San Lorenzo shows off the most glyercol and silken texture – it’s almost candied but of course it’s not. Spicy on the back side, sneakily structured and all the while with a glass we’re feeling fine. Can only improve and integrate with a couple of years time. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted May and September 2024

Girolamo Russo Etna Rosso DOC Feudo 2022

From the highest section in the Feudo di Mezzo vineyard, bush vines, very old. Delivers ultra light and conversely powerful di Mezzo freshness, but from this elevation at a much higher rate and with an extension of vibrancy plus energy. More verticality and sweetness of nerello fruit like almost no other. Resides in a state of grace upon the palate and though it hovers just a millimetre above, there still feels like the fruit, acidity and finest tannin are collectively making full contact. Remarkable. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted May and September 2024

Graci Etna Rosso DOC 2022

From estate vineyards at 650-750m, fermented and aged for 18 months in concrete though once in a while a little bit of big barrel is used. Linear, stoic, restrained and serious Etna Rosso for Rosso’s sake but also trenchant intention. Crispy and crunchy, vertical and youthful. Fresh, even a bit reductive, so peppery and a year away from that open window. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted May and September 2024

Graci Etna Rosso DOC Arcurìa 2021

The home vineyard, great vintage and that should not be questioned because frankly it simply can’t be denied. If nothing else the intensity of purpose comes through from the start. More depth and crunch, further concentration and breadth, still austere and working through its tasks, machinations and intentions. Big wine from 2021. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted May and September 2024

Graci Etna Rosso DOC Arcurìa Sopra Il Pozzo 2019

Longer maceration because these are stems that ripen better than anywhere else and so Alberto Graci tastes and decides how long to go. Usually 60 days and 2019 was right around that number. You can feel them, mostly though not 100 percent ripe and yet that savoury-verdant note works so well to create a spice mix and seasoning that extends the breadth of the fruit. Do not come here for heavy concentration or weight because there is restraint but also expect some austerity. Really needs time and will eventually settle into it’s technicolor skin. A compact wine that will deliver a slow release of energy. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted May and September 2024

La Gelsomina Di Colombo Maria Adalgisa Etna Rosso DOC 2021

A blend of 80 percent nerello mascalese with (20) nerello cappuccio, raised in 500L cask. Ascends with warm grape must character, fresh fig and tree pod fruit. On the warmer and darker side for Etna Rosso, already into some maturity with an almost Ripasso-like feel on the palate. Less typicity for Etna Rosso without a real sense of place. Either the grapes need to be picked (even) earlier or the winemaking will need to scale back and press as gentle as possible. Times have changed. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted September 2024

Massimo Lentsch Etna Rosso DOC 2021

Spice and resins on the aromatics, wood-derived and unresolved. Earthiness, of fresh laid sod and a chalky undercut of stone. A bit rustic, as they say. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted September 2024

Sebastiano Vinci – Mecori

Mecori Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Muganazzi Duo 2022

They are Serena & Sebastiano, Mecori’s “Duo,” reiterated from the special Muganazzi Contrada and vines planted in 1927 as a reductive one, protected and insular, unresolved and therefore undefined. Air is a friend of this nerello mascalese from one (soon to be two and a half) hectares and agitation an even more important accomplice to release what charm lays low and behind. There is real richness and layering beneath the shell which more than accidentally and incidentally defines the contrada and what it can achieve. Spicy and spiced, chalky, massively tannic and the kind of structure few Etna Rosso are wont to hold. A big wine so far away from ready, currently grippy and austere, tension in charge and time the operative to effect any kind of significant change. Average production is 4,000 bottles, soon to reach approximately 10. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted September 2024

Giulia Monteleone

Monteleone Etna Rosso DOC Monteleone 2022

Fine perfumes and just as promising spirit turn upwards with even further generosity from an Etna Rosso of fruit as pure as any. A wine of harmony and like a well-written song sung with grace. Not the most complex or complicated Rosso but who would not bask in the glow of a glass any place and any time. Clarity and purity are what matters for Etna Rosso with its feet on the ground. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Monteleone Etna Rosso DOC Rumex 2022

Rumex, a.k.a. Dock or Sorrel, a perennial culinary herb. Also Rumex, Giulia Monteleone’s sister Rosso to Qubba, of 100 percent nerello mascalese grown at 680m in the volcanic sand and gravels of Contrada Pontale Palino. The vineyard is a natural “clos” encircled by Sciara (mounds of magmatic scoriae formed along lava flows). Rumex is not Qubba what with its brighter entry but also high tonality and elevated acidity. This also means volatility, in check and important for the style and effect of this Rosso. While Qubba is a Rosso for which to peer through ornate windows, Rumex offers a converse approach with much to chew and mull upon, many facets to look deeper into, parts to unravel and feelings to unlock. Must wait two more years before more answers are provided. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted September 2024

Monteleone Etna Rosso DOC Qubba 2021

Perhaps the most famous Islamic architectural example of a Qubba is the Green Dome in Medina, a cupola-shaped shrine built in 1837. In a way Monteleone’s Qubba feels like the representation of Giulia Monteleone’s short history aboard Versante Nord, a journey that began in 2017 and perhaps this Rosso’s extra year in bottle has contributed to the story. A nerello mascalese from a fine vintage that has come to a very great place. There is charm but even more so there is depth to this ’21. A structured wine just about arrived though not quite ready to open its doors and yet we feel like we are peering through the stained glass window of Jerusalem’s Qubba al-Sakhra. Or more realistically the nerello’s aperture but this is clearly coming from fine northern Etna terroir that ripens fruit, maintains acidity and give generously of its vines. Fully developed flavours, plenty of grip and many years are left to give. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted September 2024

Palmento Costanzo DOC Etna Rosso Nero Di Sei 2021

Nero di Sei 2021 comes quicker to the point with near-immediate gratification because of vintage and also by way of the team allowig and even encouaging this to happen. Or abided more like it, with red berry fruit aromas that nerello mascalese can gift when the conditions are right. This is not to say that 2021 will fade into early light because it is in fact equipped with volume, concentration and backbone. A truly exceptional vintage that will appeal to all. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted September 2024

Palmento Costanzo DOC Etna Rosso Nero Di Sei 2020

A nerello mascalese that sees 24 months in the troncone wooden vats from a vintage with its specific challenges but there is volume and depth. A Rosso that draws from all the available plots farmed by Palmento Costanzo. Spice and that feeling you get when you bite into dried fruit tree pods like bokser or carob. The finish is Etna balsamico, a mix of wild fennel, oregano and mint, but also some other dusty gariga. Last tasted September 2024

Spicy and floral, aromatically crisp and taut, wood a factor with plenty of seasoning. A bit sappy and edging into tang with flavours quite sharp and also dense but time will settle the score for all parts involved. A big and inky version of Nero di Sei and one to really sink your teeth into. Wait two years to do so. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted May 2024

Palmento Costanzo Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Santo Spirito 2020

Always promising and spirited Rosso from the combination of producer and place which take full advantage of both its elevation and particular lava flow to effect beauty and age-ability. A swirl of glycerol comes away from sweet perfume and leads toward real time austerity to indicate not only a wine of substance but also one of aging probability. The concentration is buoyed by acidity and tannin in the ways of top shelf Etna Rosso. Fine vintage and work from the Palmento Costanzo team. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted September 2024

Palmento Costanzo Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Santo Spirito 2019

Three further months in and no further changes or gains but just the status quo of primary fruit and a Rosso come from vineyard health with thanks to organics and this 1879 eruption derived volcanic terroir. Last tasted September 2024

Evolving nicely, now nearly ready to go, fruit still fresh enough and structure beginning to subside. A full bodied Etna Rosso from Santo Spirito in delivery of what the contrada and the vintage held in hand. Tasted May 2024

A vintage out of which the pre-phylloxera was produced from the contrada so just imagine the possibilities as they come from this all in for the vintage nerello mascalese. Feels like an extended maceration because the glycerol and unctuous textural pool are both at the crest of Etna Rosso heights. Oranges and cherries but more than anything old vines spirit and what just happened from out of these volcanic sands carried through to century and a half vines is something wholly and unequivocally other. Hints at balsamic reduction but the tannins and also acids are so fresh and so years is what it will take to take this anywhere new. The finest chalkiness imitates the soil and puts this in a league with some of Italy’s most important red wines. Up to you too decide which they are or don’t bother at all. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted May 2023

Palmento Costanzo Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Santo Spirito Pre Phylloxera 2020

Same grapes, different style of vinification from the pre-phylloxera section of the vineyard, therefore from material grown on the oldest vines. The extended skin contact is followed by a great and instructive polymerization of the phenolic compounds and when the skins sink down in the troncone the wine is racked and sent on its way into Stockinger Foudres. The tannin quality from the grapes coming off of old Santo Spirito vines are a velvet crush of plush fortified by exquisite volume. The wine moves fluidly and in harmony from start to finish, pausing only to see if you are paying full attention, then continuing to command attention seemingly without trying at all. Rosso this fine is deserving of its own place and time. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted September 2024

Papa Maria Cuore Di Marchesa Etna Rosso DOC Cuore Di Marchesa 2020

The work of Pietro di Giovanni who also happens to be the oenological consultant to La Gelsomina. Papa Maria refers to first name and surname of the maternal grandmother and Pietro has been producing Cuore di (Contrada) Marchesa since 2016. From nerello mascalese grown at 750m near to Solicchiata with a look at varietal character in the vein of nebbiolo and sangiovese but the aging here is one third each steel, tonneaux and amphora. There is some depth to its hue but also proper Etnese transparency and being 2020 there is a sense of maturity on the nose. Amphora will add such an element, not to say the Rosso is passing over into secondary character but it is made with a specific style. Wood spice and amphora texture make this unique, again because Pietro di Giovanni is a winemaker free to choose his whimsy. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Papa Maria Cuore Di Marchesa Etna Rosso DOC Cuore Di Marchesa 2019

The work of Pietro di Giovanni who also happens to be the oenological consultant to La Gelsomina. Papa Maria refers to first name and surname of the maternal grandmother and Pietro has been producing Cuore di (contrada) Marchesa since 2016. From nerello mascalese grown at 750m near to Solicchiata and 2019 show no further maturity as compared to 2020. Speaks not only to vintage but Pietro di Giovanni’s abiding by his contrada and climate. The vineyard is small (1.5 hectare) and the yields extremely low (4 tonnes per hectare). There is surely a style and an honesty here though with time these wines should become exceptional when they are designed with a just bit more restraint. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Passopisciaro Etna Rosso DOC Passorosso 2022

Properly reductive, a redacted quality to hold back the tears and also the years. Concentration and aura are the cards held up by the artistic austerity held out with the final hand yet to play because bets are still arriving on the table. My goodness what structure and intensity so please, stay focused and patient because many years are needed to settle the score. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted September 2024

Pietradolce Etna Rosso DOC 2020

Fine perfume, handsome and inviting to set this up as a muscular yet taut and lean Rosso. Reductive and herbaceous, such a savoury and earthy example of a place within a place. Tannins are somewhat austere and gritty but they should settle and resolve. Palate presence does not follow a direct line from aromas but again, time will bring them closer and eventually together. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted September 2024

Pietradolce Etna Rosso DOC Santo Spirito 2020

The 2020 nerello mascalese from Contrada Santo Spirito is a meaty and gamy bruiser, sanguine and yet lifted with some fine volatility to nose. The right amount because the aromatic volume, palate depth and tannic freight are all equal partners working towards a common goal. That would be a full-bodied Etna Rosso with the stuffing and planning to age very well. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted May and September 2024

Pietradolce Etna Rosso DOC Barbagalli 2019

A unicorn Etna Rosso and here from 2019 there has been some development though the wine is still ways away from full integration. Talking formidable structure, inclusive of tannins of a tight and variegated grain, running crosswise and painless because they usher fruit and urge acidity to always be a part of the fray. A total weave of Rosso sentiment, bringing emotion and pleasure without fail, to exult a vineyard as special as any in the world. One only need to stand over it to understand its power, insistence on restraint and the keys to unlock potential. Will turn heads and remain in light for a good long time. “Facts are nothing on the face of things. “Still waiting, still waiting, still waiting, still waiting.” Drink 2026-2037. Tasted May and September 2024

Planeta Etna Rosso DOC 2022

Not a contrada specific Etna Rosso but more than 70 percent comes from Feudo di Mezzo in Passopiciaro. As juicy and glycol notable Rosso as there has ever been and silken would best describe the quality felt aboard the more than pleased and nurtured palate. Another wine that improves each vintage under the guidance of Patricia Tòth, in part because her favourite dogs hang around that winery next to the vineyard. Also because her experience and abilities have come to a most profound place. Love the spice masala on the finish. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted May and September 2024

Quantico Etna Rosso DOC 2018

“Tough vintage,” admits Giovanni Raiti, with rain at harvest in October and lots of it. Selection was essential, careful maceration and pressing as well. What has resulted is a glycerol glide through texture incarnate with a fab silken palate holding court and more concentrated strength than thought possible. A wine to nose quickly and move forward to linger on that mouthfeel. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Rosario Raciti – Rupestre

Rupestre Etna Rosso DOC 2022

The name Rupestre refers to the 3,000 year-old Palmento found on the estate’s site in Contrada Pietramarina and the word essentially means “ancient.” Rosario Raciti worked in Portugal, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, Tuscany and Puglia before returning to the family farm in Castiglione di Sicilia. The style is so very much Rosario’s, reductive and closed, yet from Contrada Pietramarina the glycerol, silky organza texture and length are what make the case for potential greatness out of such a wine. Again vine age is less than 20 and so the best days are still to come. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2024

Rupestre Etna Rosso DOC 2021

This just the third vintage for Rosario Raciti’s Etna Rosso from Contrada Pietramarina in in Castiglione di Sicilia. A perfumed nerello mascalese, unadorned and pure with glycerol marking the mouthfeel. Sweet and savoury spices and just a lovely natural swirl to not just the fruit but the whole composition. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Tasca d’Almerita Tascante Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Pianodario 2020

Lighter of body but not aroma as it now enters with the volume turned up, a feeling of idiosyncrasy and high-level curiosity. Wild and exotic spicing owing to a 17th century lava flow now in a state of degradation to make certain the nerello mascalese growing in its sands are the recipient of its mineral profile. Last tasted September 2024

High-toned, spirited and transparent nerello mascalese from Tasca’s L’Etna Tascante out of Contrada Pianodario. Red berry shine, acids excited and fruit a willing participant. Tarragon and Basil herbal, so very basaltic stony and truly a wine of place. Crunchy and ever so slightly resinous with balsamico mixing into the sweetness of fruit and acidity. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted May 2024

Tasca d’Almerita Tascante Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Sciaranuova V.V. 2020

Old Sciaranuova vines are the impetus for concentration and experience in this soil-driven contrada specific Rosso for Alberto Tasca’s Tascante of L’Etna. A wholesome, fulsome and fully formed Rosso with the verity of a nerello mascalese-ness here that delivers the entirety of mountain experience with earthy, austere and drying tannins sure to elevate the long term goal and gain. Big Rosso but one of medium body that sets its heights and peaks to points achievable and five years forward will see real things indeed. Bravo to the team for getting this estate and this wine to where it needs to be. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted September 2024

Michele Brusaferri and Vittoria Cerniglia – Tasca d’Almerita Tascante

Tasca d’Almerita Tascante Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Sciaranuova V.V. 2012

The inaugural vintage for the Tasca family’s Etna project and a more intense result because of initial experimentation with longer macerations. A very promising and in retrospect top quality but also age-worthy vintage, with lingering freshness battling against developing cherry stone bitters. As for overall maturity the ’12 has hung in admirably though wood and the pressed style have added up to this. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted September 2024

Tasca d’Almerita Tascante Etna Rosso Doc Contrada Rampante 2020

Rampante is the biggest and broadest of the three Contrada Tascante, less ethereal and with more gainful force but it does so with impressive pronouncement. A comparative study however and still thus Rosso is transparent like its brethren. The fullness is a matter of contrada soil and subsequent style. Really quite unique for Etna Rosso, glycerol and silken texture in delivery of mouthfeel that few others will gift. Rampante yes but also Tascante, a way of raising and looking at nerello mascalese fruit with an eye to expression and fineness of tannin. There is some grippy austerity in the last part of this Rosso but one can’t help but feel the promise in its ways. Should age beautifully for 10 years easy. Drink 2024-2034. Tasted September 2024

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso DOC 20° Anniversario 2022

A single contrada Rosso from Terre Nere from the young vines within Calderara Sottana, to celebrate Marc de Grazia’s 20 years of delivering nerello mascalese from his Etna estate. “The young vines have a vigour and an enthusiasm,” he says. “Bless them.” A blend of these precocious parcels and a cuvée that he surely feels is representative of what has been accomplished thus far, without diverting too far way from what has already been done. Their cumulative hue is always lighter and brighter than the rest of the wines. A fine design and effort that stays true to purity and finesse. Fine wine indeed. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted (twice), September 2024

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso DOC 2022

Aged 18 months instead of the usual 12, which the reds will almost always receive going forward. “The son of our vineyards and also neighbours that follow our protocol,” explains Marc de Grazia, “or those who are so good in their’s they don’t need to follow our protocol.” Fine introductory lesson in Etna Rosso now in session. Not so much a dictionary entry but more like the instructor itself to test our mettle and knowledge, to see if we are paying attention and gaining what we need to now and feel. Bright red fruit, some grip and structure with tannins that dry with preferable, positive and proper distinction. A wine that will see the single contrada wines of Terre Nere move from strength to strength. “A watershed vintage” says de Grazia. “The finest (non single contrada) Rosso we’ve ever made and will improve with age.” Last tasted September 2024

The “Villages” Rosso, blending youngest vines fruit from the various 50-plus parcels comprising half of the total production, including some cappuccio. There could be some montellado and other smallest quantities of red grape varieties involved. Interesting in that this effects a richer and naturally sweeter character than most Contrada or Cru wines. So getable and crushable, also a dictionary entry and teaching moment for what it means to be and taste like Etna Rosso. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted May 2023

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso DOC Feudo Di Mezzo 2022

Always the first to be harvested, almost certainly on October the 4th, give or take a few days of course. “Begins with harmony when young,” tells Marc de Grazia, “and born perfect.” Not entirely true and yet also not disengenous to say that because it will age extremely well. Yes 2022 is pretty, immediately gratifying and seductively perfumed already. Underneath are layers of feudal structure that may lay low below, unseen and unspoken, but they are there. The nerello mascalese equivalent of a hierarchical social structure characterized by a small ruling set of tannin over fruit peasantry working in exchange for protection. Maybe half the grip as compared to the other single contrada Etna Rosso but do not sleep on this subjugating power. Needs two year to initiate its integrations. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted September 2024

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso DOC Moganazzi 2022

Moganazzi is a bit further east and slightly higher in elevation as compared with Feudo di Mezzo. All terraced, 70 year-old vines at 650-700m. Three parcels combining for one vineyard on the same hill. Marc de Grazia purchased them one at a time and he sees this wine in the vein of say Pommard or Nuit-Saint-Georges. In other words grip that needs two years to “mellow and obtain its luminosity.” True spirit of Etna Rosso’s grace and charm with as lithe and bright nerello mascalese as ever there could be. Fragrance and kick. Moganazzi is all that and secretly austere within the construct of its fine demure. A Rosso that makes you think but even more its makes you feel. Terrific emotion, control, concentration and expressiveness. Amazing wine. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted twice, September 2024

With Marc de Grazia – Tenuta delle Terre Nere

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso DOC Guardiola 2022

Marc de Grazia considers Feudo di Mezzo and Moganazzi to be Premier Cru and while some producers feel that Guardiola is Grand Cru, he begs to differ. “Somewhere between the two,” he says. On the right hill and yet not quite there, maybe like the split opinion on Monte de Tonerre. Elevation up in the 900s transmits up as aromatic heights, expanse of perfume and yet also this sense of maturity. “A soprano of Rosso, a separation of crus with identity that implies discretion.” Refinement but also tannins that are compact, austere and like the bouquet, irreplaceable, in other words, not replicable. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted September 2024

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso DOC San Lorenzo 2022

From 70,000 year-old soils which makes a connection with other Rosso raised on the same terroir, like Calderara Sottana. A place that consistently provides quality for fine wines, from Premier to Grand Cru. This is the oration from Marc de Grazia who repeatedly uses Bourgogne as the reference point. “San Lorenzo of all the wines is the one that requires more patience,” says de Grazia. “To reveal its glory.” There is an aroma that reminds of Guardiola as well, a mix of restrained bursts and maturity which tells us the wine will be more expressive after a bottle is open for 24 hours. Youthful is the understatement. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted September 2024

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso DOC Dagala Di Bocca d’Orzo 2022

The tiny vineyard that survived the 1981 lava flow, a parcel that only produces a maximum of 1,800 bottles with a connection to San Lorenzo on the other side of the 100m wide lava swath. An old vines Monopole block dating back a century always made and the one that drinks with immediate distinction, maturity and acumen. Dagala di Bocca d’Orzo also deals in the sneakiest of tannins, more structure than you would surely think and that sort of Etna Rosso that arrives somewhere fast but stays comfortably in the same state for a dozen years. All that said it’s precision and beauty allow us to enjoy its charms straight away. Drink 2024-2035. Tasted September 2024

Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso DOC Calderara Sottana 2022

Tenuta Ferrata Etna Rosso DOC Frevi 2020

From the area of Castiglione at 680m with 100 percent nerello mascalese. Aging in grandi botti for two years and then 10 months in bottle before release. A richness of style, liquorice and dried tree pod fruit, the wood very much in play and acidity less intense than many. A liquid chalky presence on the palate, still needing another year to resolve. Chewy example, confident and a slow delay of fruit, which is never really all that fresh. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted May and September 2024

Tenute Bosco Etna Rosso DOC 2021

Big French tonneaux, second passage and older for eight months. No recipe but that is this vintage, not as powerful as 2022 and Sofia sees it like 2016, but perhaps a different kind of balance, though not as ideal as 2016. The restrained power of the volcano runs throughout and you really feel it. Remarkable Etna Rosso in balance and of a grace that speaks to all there can be. What these wines are want to express and how they carry themselves, non-plussed, confident and free. The ripeness factor at the top of what is normal and beautiful without excess or greed. Sweetness of acidity and form-fitting structure but neither curves nor angles are exaggerated, nor drawn with any concentric circles or sharp lines. The wine flows and reaches the limits of what is right and proper. Just that much and no more. And we say thank you. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted May and September 2024

Tenute Bosco Etna Rosso DOC Vigna Vico Pre-Phylloxera 2017

From Sofia Ponzini in the area of Passopisciaro and her cru vineyard called Vico. Own-rooted, pre-phylloxera vines, more than 100 years old, nerello mascalese and also cappuccio. A reminder that 2017 was cooler than most of Italy, especially the centre and north, but still generally sunny and warm on Sicily, including aboard L’Etna. Just now beginning to open and emit its magnificent perfumes, followed by a textural weave of vinous fabrics and finally the much expected, energizing and aligning archetypal volcanic saltiness. Drink 2024-2030. T asted May and September 2024

Tenute Nicosia Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Monte San Nicolò Biologico 2020

A 2020 and so a few years in though the Monte San Nicolò is a bit quiet – somewhat aromatically subdued. Needs some coaxing to see and feel its joy, but fruit nor florals are what drive or cause the beats of the heart. In part because it’s somewhat reductive, of pencil shavings and notable botanicals, like an artiginale tonic water if you get the herbal drift. Solid if currently missing some spirit but time will make a difference. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Rosario Raciti – Terre Darrigo

Terre Darrigo Etna Rosso DOC 2022

Proper and correct northeastern Etna road taken in terms of extraction and transparency, A good volume (upwards of 30,000 bottles) that will repeat in 2024 after the disastrous 2023. Real cherry fruit but also the stone that speaks to what Contrada Arrigo is want to lend in mineral terms for nerello mascalese. That mixed with some fruit from other sources but our palates get the drift. Good Rosso that will improve with vine age and agronomist/winemaker Rosario Raciti’s familiarity with this farm. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Terre Darrigo Etna Rosso DOC C. da Arrigo 2022

Etna Rosso from the single contrada (Arrigo) where Terre Darrigo’s amphitheatre grows nerello mascalese in a most beautiful rustic setting on southeastern facing, tightly packed terraces between the volcano and the sea. You can feel the great difference between this wine and the classico Rosso though if you are from this place you say it with sentito, that is with feeling, shouting out this is “the wine from L’Etna!” This single contrada wine elevated from that appellative discourse, softens the bitter cherry stone and smooths transitions. This because it’s a very well made Rosso from a place of great potential. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Tornatore Etna Rosso DOC 2021

The most understandable and straightforward Etna Rosso there could be, mature and layered, of riches and earth, fruit and soil all in the mix. A volcanic paint by numbers canvas of realism and beauty, easily accessible and generous to a perfectly reasonable degree. Entry point for the DOC and once in, never to look back. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted May and September 2024

Tornatore Etna Rosso DOC Pietrarizzo 2020

Some very ripe fruit here from Tonatore’s Pietrarizzo Rosso in the ways of late picking and good solid pressing. Makes for a chewy nerello mascalese that will ready itself for consumption quite a bit earlier than quite a bunch of its peers. Plenty of flavour and attraction for a wine that should be consumed over the next three years. Last tasted May and September 2024

North slope of Etna cru of nerello mascalese put to 50hl foudres, blended and then settled in concrete ahead of bottling. Consistently one of the finer Rosso values in Contrada-specific Etna and here the fruit ripeness and maturity is as fulsome as it ever gets. Makes for a drink really early proposition and provided that advice is followed there will be perfume, heady flavours and good acidity in your glass. A wine to lead off high-end tastings and dinners here, there and everywhere. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted November 2023

Carmelo Vecchio and Rosa la Guzza – Vigneti Vecchio

Vigneti Vecchio Etna DOC Rosso Sciare Vive 2022

The work of Rosa La Guzza and Carmelo Vecchio in Solicchiata on L’Etna’s northeastern slope and a blend of several contrade. The signature Rosso of highest production that sees concrete, botti and fibreglass. Some of the vines date back 150 years and there are many varieties involved in what is a true field blend, including the likelihood of ancient red and white varieties; minnella, inzolia, carricante, grecanico, catarratto and malvasia. But when it comes to grapes (if not perhaps location and elevation) the Etna DOC offers an inclusive and forgiving discipline. Rosa admits this Rosso to be “a little rough,” Carmelo nods in agreement and while also tumble there is just so much flippin’ personality. It may blow your mind and also lash your palate, but in the end nothing else on Etna, or anywhere else tastes like this Rosso. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Vigneti Vecchio Etna DOC Rosso Contrada Friera 2022

Contrada Friera is Carmelo Vecchio’s Etna Rosso from Lingualossa, of 95 percent nerello mascalese and a smattering of various endemic varieties (minnella, inzolia, carricante, grecanico and catarratto) from vines as old as 120 years of age. Less than one hectare provides this antediluvian hodge-podge of the varietal wild and the maker’s job is to simply gather and come what may. His vineyard is basically a monopole and so there is no frame of reference save for what the eastern Etna spirits might whisper in his ear. Material this old will do what it pleases and while there is a rusticity similar to Sciare Vive there is also more concentration, complexity and most importantly intuition. There could always be the possibility of importune happenstance but Friere knows what to do. It would seem. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted September 2024

Vigneti Vecchio Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Malpasso 2022

Classic and that means arch-classic texture brought forth from a Carmelo Vecchio nerello mascalese. Without a doubt the purest and cleanest Vigneti Vecchio Rosso to date made under his tenure. A challenge of vintage but a test passed with flying colours and sweet spot found. Allow this 2022 to rest on the palate for 20 seconds, to take in its weightlessness and ability to hover just above the senses. A signature of Malpasso that will repeat and be recognized going forward. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted September 2024

Vigneti Vecchio Etna Rosso DOC Contrada Malpasso 2020

As with Friere, the Etna blend from Contrada Malpasso (literally “bad step”), is a Rosso of 95 percent nerello mascalese with bits and bites of various indigenous varieties like minnella, inzolia, carricante, grecanico and catarratto, here from vines in the 120 year-old range. A Rosso that pulses, still with some residual CO2 and it feels like carbonic maceration was a part of the deal. Carmelo Vecchio in fact started with the method in 2020 so family and friends could get together and make a party of it. Malpasso shows great energy, fabulously so, alive and kicking. It is said that one wrong step can change everything but a mal passo might just result in a wildly entertaining wine like this. Drink this sooner than the other VV’s while this candle still burns. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Vigneti Vecchio Etna DOC Rosso Contrada Crasà 2022

Contrada Crasà for Etna Rosso is composed of 90 per cent nerello mascalese and a field blend of (10) local white varieties, in this case inzolia, grecanico and catarratto. The hectare and a half was planted in 1930 and so 92 years is the number for this vintage. Call it even and just say century vines because 1930 seems a bit arbitrary at this point for a vineyard that sits just one km away from another where vines are 130 years of age. Carmello Vecchio likes to use stems, co-ferment and give 15 days of skin maceration. The acts of pigeage and remontage are done lightly and so the sweetness and purity of fruit is kept in tact. Like the Malpasso this buzzes with energy but with more control, less wildness and yet remains very much alive. All the red berries are imagined to be represented and once again Vigneti Vecchio presents a unicorn wine. They always are. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted September 2024

Benanti

Other Wines

Benanti Viticoltori Nerello Cappuccio 2022, Terre Siciliane Rosso IGT

A rare varietal nerello cappuccio, without oak since 2014, not always made and says Salvino Benanti, ”not a wine you can make a business from, but it’s worth showing to the world.” A versatile red to chill, very gamay like, or if you ike to compare locally, in the vein of frappato. Does not grow (perfectly) well in every vintage and there is surely a rusticity but you can see just how well Benanti tames the edginess, softens the structure and maintains a sweet herbal profile. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Tasca d’Almerita Tascante Chardonnay C’eragià 2021, Sicilia DOC

Tasca’s Etna interpretation of chardonnay comes from a one-acre vineyard in Contrada Rampante and no shock to sense the scents of barrel fermentation. There is vanilla, white caramel, honeysuckle, fennel pollen and lightly toasted biscuits with an autolytic wind ‘a blowing. A still chardonnay imagined as being subjected to a secondary fermentation in bottle and a sparkling method wine should be so lucky to have this fruit as its maker. The flavours feign sweetness accented by spice., energy runs high and in the end C’eragià which translates as “it was already there” is a fine interpretation of chardonnay. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted September 2024

Vigneti Vecchio Donna Bianca 2018, Terre Siciliane Rosso IGT

With fruit from outside of the defined DOC yet in Carmelo Vecchio’s world a most important vineyard at 820m of elevation. The mix of soil and climate make for a poignant and prescient nerello mascalese named for Donna Bianca, the snowcapped “lady,” a.k.a the volcano at 3,000-3,300 metres above. High-toned, free-spirited, big acid bomb and half the glycerin of some of Vecchio’s other reds. Far from volatile despite the lightning style with great potential and a truly high ceiling. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted September 2024

Dessert wines

La Gelsomina Di Colombo Maria Adalgisa Moscato Passito Di Terreni Vulcanici 2018, Terre Siciliane IGT

A moscato (bianco) but the variety is muscadelle, not moscato di alessandria, a.k.a. zibbibo. Dried fruit, never crushed, always infused after the stainless ferment and finishes at 110-120 g/L of residual sugar. Uniquely Sicilian if not defined or expressive of being from L’Etna but still a tradition is followed. Clean as Passito will be, without formaggi or yeasty notes, of apricot and fig, acidity enough though unassuming. Serves a purpose, preferably with a good bite into biscotti. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted September 2024

Visits with Planeta and Serra Ferdinandea

Planeta Syrah Maroccoli 2020, Sicilia Menfi DOC

Just the syrah facts, “in purezza” as they say, from an Ulmo site with a proviso for as much varietal perfume as anywhere in Sicily. “We were expecting some kind of natural catastrophe, “says Winemaker Patricia Tóth, “because it was 2020 – but it never arrived.” Good winter precipitation was followed by months of pleasant weather, much like 2014. Succulent acids and tart idealism combine to elevate, buoy and celebrate fruit. A syrah of a rising, balanced, long and true. Has already entered the drinking zone. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted September 2024

Planeta Burdese 2020, Sicilia Menfi DOC

A cabernet joint, of 70 sauvignon and 30 franc, each noticeable and notable for this Sicilian play on words. Burdese, as in Bordeaux for a wine grown on the left bank of the man made lake, once a river flowing through the valley below Ulmo in Sambuca di Sicilia. Forget the mimic or simulation because place supersedes idea with a mix of juicy and dusty fruit, succulent acids and fine tannins. No grittiness or grippy intensity but really more a matter of verticality and integration. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Planeta Merlot Sito Dell’Ulmo 2020, Sicilia Menfi DOC

A 100 percent merlot from the Ulmo Vineyard, owned since 1694 and a first harvest in 1995. From this part of Menfi where the sun shines bright and the breezes blow every day between the massifs to the north and Monte Cerami that separates the vineyard from the sea. Menfi where the typical reds of merlot outlast the opposing greens by 10 to one and so fruit is everything with the local limestone streaking through. Succinct wine, linear and direct, credibly structured and the cohort involving fruit and wood seamlessly integrated. Fine stuff, veritably reasoned and seasoned. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted September 2024

Planeta Cabernet Franc Didacus 2020, Sicilia Menfi DOC

Planeta Cabernet Franc Didacus 2019, Sicilia Menfi DOC

An extra year in bottle and at first there seems not to be the great difference that might have been expected when tasted side by each with Didacus 2020. In fact 2019 is a much more tannic and structured vintage with its intensity cross-examined by austerity. Indemnity for cabinet franc with an upwards trajectory of extending verticality and still it requests for more time. The fruit is far less succulent and lush as compared to ’20 and so when the wine falls into place there will be a faster intern into secondary character. Expect quicker to arrive fungi and a masala of spice directed by the wood. Wait another year at least and then drink this Didacus ’19 before the ’20 finishes its own run. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2024

Serra Ferdinandea Rosato 2023, Sicilia DOC

First vintage of the 100 percent nero d’avola Rosé was 2020, grown aboard the serious limestone at 400-plus metres subjected to the south sea, Saharan and Mistral winds that blow through the Sambuca di Sicilia Valley. While southern France might seem to be the precursor that may no longer be the case, if namely because a blend now becomes a varietal wine. Better for the decision and change, now a step up in rich flavours, texture and presence. Fine and elegant. Last tasted September 2024

Next step taken for Rosé on the south coast at Menfi with this upright and linear ’23 inching towards the profound. A balance and a confidence with 100 percent nero d’Avola that defines the idiom and begins to perfect the workmanship. Satisfying and also delicious, inciting the salivary glands and asking for more. Will gain interst and intersect with further complexities after 18 months further time in bottle. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May 2024

Serra Ferdinandea Bianco 2022, Sicilia DOC

Mezzo e mezzo, 50-50 grillo and sauvignon blanc grown at elevation like the nero d’avola, only stainless steel for fermentation. The grillo has always been a natural fermentation of a pied de cuve way, while the sauvignon follows dutifully along. A true bianco joint, friendly and smart, sapid and salty, phenolic and grippy. Brat not nat, not bratty and certainly not natty. Crisp and edging into herbal with a what just feels like place, that being Menfi. You can forage for salads in the fields and vineyards, reflected in the flavours of this Bianco. Last tasted September 2024

Mix of 50-50 grillo and sauvignon blanc, for now the only two white grapes and making up a third of the 17 hectares total. The most recent planting was 2021, the first back in 2015. All about freshness and salinity with just a bit of wood thanks to 25 percent, none of it new. The wood is present by only in subtle and oscillating tones on the mouth. Some phenolic presence yet again, not overdone or even remotely aggressive. A bit buttery at the finish, graced by piquancy and the sort of scorrevole that drifts slowly away. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted May 2023

Serra Ferdinandea Rosso Sicilia 2022, Sicilia DOC

Another 50-50 blend, here from nero d’Avola and syrah, equal partners in crime. The wines used to be 70-30, including the Rosato and now half an half makes much more sense for Rosso. And in turn it makes the Rosé that much better as a varietal nero. More syrah brings more spice and also meatiness matched by mineral, spice and elements of the earth. A hit of sanguine, a hint of iodine and then the floral nero kicking in. It continues with its freshness and necessary mix of sapid meeting salty, from limestone, sea and wind revivalist nature. The most complex and frankly interesting becoming delicious red blend in the winery’s short history. Just FYI the Serra Ferdinandea catalogue lists the wines from Rosso to Bianco to Rosato, in that order. Just the way tasting wine should be and yet we taste in the opposite order. Maybe we’ll switch that around in 2025. Last tasted September 2024

Equal parts syrah and nero d’Avola, straightforward, clean and with the idea being to make the purest iteration that exults two very important grapes. Increasing the concrete involvement though this is all done in wood with subsequent vintages to go in that cemented direction. Already croccante so imagine the freshness and crunch going forward. Purple violets, light chalkiness and what feels like sandy soil-effected freshness. Piquant and toothsome. Delicious. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted May 2023

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Monthly Archives: December 2024

Twenty-four mind-blowing wines of 2024

Twenty-four Canadian wines that rocked in 2024

Harvest report 2024: Retro Chianti Classico

What to expect from 2024 Chianti Classico?

Gran Selezione tasting at Casa Chianti Classico

October 2024 Estate visits

Etna Days are here to stay

Etna Spumante DOC and Terre Siciliane IGT

Etna Rosato DOC

Etna Bianco DOC

Etna Bianco Superiore

Etna Rosso

Other Wines

Dessert wines

Visits with Planeta and Serra Ferdinandea