Acclaim

“Aromas of star anise, small red berry and culinary spice waft out of the glass on the 2019 Archineri Rosso. Made with 100% Nerello Mascalese, it’s smooth, savory and racy, delivering flavors recalling strawberry, blood orange and white pepper alongside fine-grained tannins and vibrant acidity. Drink through 2029. Abv: 14.5%” -Kerin O’Keefe December 2023 ©kerinokeefe.com

“Linear and firm, Pietradolce’s elegantly structured 2019 Etna Rosso Santo Spirito features aromas and flavors of red berry, Mediterranean brush, exotic brown spice, licorice and saline. Bright acidity lends racy tension while taut, close-grained tannins provide support. Drink 2025–2031. Abv: 13%” -Kerin O’Keefe December 2023 ©kerinokeefe.com

“The 2019 Rampante from Pietradolce, a 100% Nerello Mascalese, opens with enticing aromas of Mediterranean scrub, star anise and wet stone. Vibrant and loaded with finesse, the palate features juicy raspberry, licorice and saline alongside taut, fine-grained tannins. Bright acidity keeps it balanced and energized. Drink through 2029. Abv: 14.5%” -Kerin O’Keefe December 2023 ©kerinokeefe.com

“Good deep red. Strawberry, tobacco, myrtle, sea breeze, smoke and underbrush on the nose. Nicely concentrated and vibrant, with a somewhat cool, crisp quality to the flavors of red fruits, herbs, licorice and orange peel. Builds nicely on the back end, with the tannins nicely buffered by mid-palate material and its flavours complicated by hints of powdered rocks. Aged ten to twelve months in new and once-used oak casks. This wine has long been the best traditionally-made Carignano wine of Sardinia. Drinking window: 2026-2034.” -Ian D’Agata

“With dark fruit balanced out by savory notes of tobacco leaf or cigar ash, the Fuligni 2019 Brunello di Montalcino is rich and beautifully concentrated. In little time, the bouquet reveals a floral interlude with dried rose petal and a tropical note of hibiscus. This wine shows a lot of angles, all very pleasant, that work together. The tannins are dusty and finely textured with a hint of powdery cocoa to close. Production is 33,000 bottles.” – Monica Larner, Wine Advocate

“Here is a new submission from Conti Costanti. The 2020 Rosso di Montalcino Vermiglio shows ripe fruit, cooked cherry, sweet spice and grilled herb. I like the medium-bright intensity of this wine that drinks somewhere between a Rosso and Brunello, maybe closer to a full-bodied Rosso in this hot vintage. The fruit has been treated with elegance but also with ease. The tannins end on a chalky note.Conti Costanti has all its Brunello vines in the Colle al Matrichese area with schistic galestro clay soils and high elevations (from 433 to 471 meters above sea level). The winery is 100% organic and a new fermentation area was recently inaugurated.” -Monica Larner, Wine Advocate

“The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino offers plenty of dark fruit and spice, but the wine also shows slightly more austerity that could set it up for a roast pork or ham. There is a drying oak note of smoked cedar or redwood that dovetails into the structural impact of the wine. Yet it also shows very good momentum on the mid-palate, adding more layers or black fruit that soften the tannins.” -Monica Larner, Wine Advocate

“Moderately saturated purple-ruby. Deep brooding nose that hints at considerable depth and complexity, but offers very little else presently. Fruity and dense on entry, then turns austere in the middle and showcases rising, slightly aggressively mouthcoating tannins on the long finish. Manuel marinacci told me that this wine spent only about four months in 22 HL oak barrels (rarely does it go as far as six) but still, this 2021 Boschi di Berri seems quite tannic nonetheless. Needs to be cellared for at least a year in a good cellar but I think it has the density of fruit necessary to allow a good evolution in the bottle. In fact ten year old bottles of Boschi di Berri are still very good today and I have had even older bottles that have kept beautifully. I have always been a huge fan of the Boschi di Berri, ever since I began drinking it since the 1980s back when I used to live in Rome, but this latest version really is quite tannic. Drinking window: 2025-2032.” -Ian D’Agata

Perfumed with sweet berry, fresh flower and cedar aromas that follow through to a medium-bodied palate with firm and chewy tannins and a fresh finish. Very classy and structured. Extremely long. Give it time to open. Drink after 2026.

Lots of pumice, smoke, dried meat and dried cherry aromas that follow through to a full body with lively acidity and chewy tannins. Tight, still needs two or three years to open. Made from ancient vines: 80- to 100-years-old. Try after 2028.