Popular Wines

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Blackberry and spice character – white pepper to be precise. Full-bodied, layered and chewy with a dusty texture and a black-olive undertone. It’s rich and chewy. Drink after 2022.James Suckling | 95 JSA blend of Petit Verdot and Merlot, the Tua Rita 2018 Lodano Rosso is another wine that I had tasted in a preview capacity at the beginning of this year. The wine is seamlessly integrated with dark fruit, blackberry and plum that is rounded off nicely by the smoke and tobacco from French oak and a smaller part of American oak. The Merlot is sourced from the estate’s celebrated old vines, and a theme of flashy or contemporary concentration and richness is found in this wine and throughout the estate portfolio. This vintage was cool and wet during the spring months but turned much warmer and drier toward the end of the growing season.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPThis is one of the best expressions of Petit Verdot I have tasted in a long time. While always intriguing, the variety is often very linear and structural whereas here it has some richness, roundness and charm. It opens slowly to reveal dark fruits, gunsmoke and spice, with finely textured, silty tannins. Perhaps the old-vine Merlot helps coax this more edgy variety into showing its more sensual side. Drinking Window 2022 - 2028.Decanter | 94 DEC

Very attractive combination of dried fruit and spices with black cherries and plums. Aromas of flowers and sandalwood, too. Full-bodied and very refined, yet intense, with plush, velvety tannins that are wonderfully integrated and intertwined with the fruit. Ripe center palate. Tight at the end, suggesting the need for some serious bottle age. Very structured. Try after 2025.James Suckling | 97 JSThe 20th anniversary bottling of Testamatta made, from the 2019 vintage, in brand new winemaking facilities in Florence. This just shines from the moment it’s poured. Layered and complex this is a gem of a wine filled with cherry, raspberry, damson and caramel notes alongside a savoury edge that makes it so moreish. Tannins that support but don’t overwhelm give a nice overall weight to the palate while the flavous linger on the long finish. Made from old vines on stony soils on the Tuscan hilltops. Grapes are selected and sourced from the best five vineyards, which are divided into parcels and harvested up to eight times. Fermentation is in open-top barriques for the smaller parcels and in barrels or stainless steel for the larger ones without any temperature controls. Maceration for 7-10 days then moved into old barriques for 20 months.Decanter | 96 DECA pure expression of Sangiovese, the Bibi Graetz 2019 Testamatta is a wine in constant evolution. Bibi has added 17 more hectares of vineyard to the program, with 12 hectares in Fiesole (north of Florence) and 5 hectares in San Donato in Colle (south of Florence) with 70-year-old vines. The base of the wine sees fruit from old vines planted in the 1950s in the cool-climate Lamole subzone of Chianti Classico. These new terroirs bring a lot more aromatic nuance and complexity to the wine with perfumed blue flower, candied orange peel, wet earth and plumy black fruit. White Alberese soils add a strong chalky mineral signature to the finish of this elegantly streamlined and linear Tuscan red.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RPDelicate aromas of red berry, sunbaked earth and dark spice shape the nose along with a whiff of Mediterranean scrub. Bright and elegantly structured, the linear palate features juicy Marasca cherry, crushed raspberry and baking spice framed in polished tannins. Drink through 2029.Wine Enthusiast | 92 WEA sleek, well-delineated red, delivering cherry and raspberry flavors on an elegant frame. Fresh, and builds nicely on the mineral- and floral-laced finish. Drink now through 2028. 10,000 cases made, 2,500 cases imported. Wine Spectator | 90 WS

Guidalberto 2020 is a blend of 50% Merlot and 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, matured for 15 months in oak (20% new), including a small percentage of American oak. The aromas are a little heavier, with ripe dark fruit and a fragrant, floral note. It’s a little less finely detailed aromatically than the 2021, with some smoke, spice and green herb qualities. The palate is round, medium-full bodied with juicy, bright acidity. It’s a very friendly wine with very fine tannins and there’s a little more grip and silty texture to the tannins.Decanter | 95 DECThis 2020 Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto has leafy blackberry and cedar aromas with a subtle background of baking spice and cream. It has cool, green bramble flavors and fine will-o’-the-wisp, whispering tannins. It’s all very elegantly done on the palate, understated, with everything in harmony but it is of course lighter than Sassicaia with a moderate finish. On standing there is a lovely delicate fragrance of macchia mediterranea, peppery spice and freesias with a thrilling acidity. Charming, understated and refreshing. | 94 TWIThe 2020 Guidalberto is taut and tight with plenty of tart cherry and wild berry. The wine offers great freshness and tension with bay leaf, spice, wild cherry and pressed lavender buds. There is a hint of black olive too. The blend is equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92 RPThe 2020 Guidalberto is a gorgeous, classy wine. Less opulent than it can be, the 2020 impresses with its energy and drive. Sweet red cherry, plum, mint, rose petal, cedar and pipe tobacco all take shape in this super-attractive, mid-weight offering from Tenuta San Guido. There’s a bit more Merlot in the 2020, but Guidalberto is increasingly made from lots that don’t make it into Sassicaia, which explains the style of recent vintages. This is a terrific showing, especially considering the recent bottling. It’s a fine relative value in Bolgheri’s high-rent district. (Originally Published in March 2022)Antonio Galloni | 92 AGNice freshness on the palate with plums and berries and citrusy acidity. It’s medium-bodied with fine tannins and a powdery texture. Hints of mushrooms. You can enjoy this young, but it will age nicely, too. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 92 JSA lively, fluid red, displaying cherry, black currant, cedar, iron and spice aromas and flavors. Taut and balanced, with a slightly reserved finish today. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Drink now through 2028. 17,500 cases made, 5,000 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

Blackcurrants and black cherries with lovely flowers on the nose. Medium-bodied with ultra fine tannins that give focus and tension to the wine. Pretty and poised. A little shy now. From organically grown grapes. Drink after 2027.James Suckling | 98 JS