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With a pretty, pale pink color and sweetly scented nose, the 2021 Rosa Dolce & Gabbana makes a lovely first impression. Ripe melon, Asian pear, mint and nuances of white smoke create an inviting bouquet. It’s round and elegant in feel, engulfing the palate in mineral-tinged orchard fruits and hints of chamomile. A salty flourish emerges through the finale, as notes of sour citrus and inner wet stone slowly fade. This is a total pleasure to taste. The Rosa Dolce & Gabbana is a blend of Nerello Mascalese and Nocera. Vinous Media | 91 VM

Dusty, floral and impossible to ignore, the 2021 Rosso di Montalcino lifts from the glass with a gorgeous bouquet of rose petals, dried cherries and autumnal spice. Silky yet pure and lifted, it flows across the palate with a tactile blend of red wild berries and minerals. The 2021 takes on a saline tinge while finishing long and staining, leaving a coating of fine tannins that promise many years of positive evolution. This is a massive success for the vintage.Vinous Media | 93 VMThese wines from Voliero are expressive of their southern locale. The 2021 Rosso Di Montalcino is fresh with sun-ripened herbs, tobacco, and perfectly ripe red plum, and on the palate, it is medium to full-bodied, with a core of fleshy fruit, ripe tannins, and a structured finish that never turns bitter. A lovely wine with a lot to offer, it will be great to drink over the next 5 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 92 JD

Grown on the top of a dormant volcano, this Soave shows why Garganga is one of the great white grapes of Italy. The wine opens with apple and citrus blossoms with hints of acacia honey followed by fleshy white peaches, Fuji apples and well-defined minerality. The palate is creamy yet taut with fine acidity and tons of minerality accented by ripe stone fruits and citrus zest. Drink now–2035.Wine Enthusiast | 94 WEAnother brilliant expression, reflecting a culture of kaleidoscopic blending to attain a greater whole: tank and oak (no new) ferments, partly induced and spontaneous, all at once. Rapier-like precision, depth and weight, without any excess or obvious winemaking artefact perceivable. Mid-weighted, yet intense, reeling off notes of smoked almond, stone fruit allusions, pickled mango and kumquat. The finish is impressively pliant and majestically long.James Suckling | 93 JSStony, flinty, smoky aromas, with sparks of gunflint and green apple. There are some stone fruit characters too, white peach and a little almond bitterness. A wine with good tension, concentration, and there’s a subtle elegance.Decanter | 92 DEC

A rich purple in color, the 2021 Barbera D’Alba Pre-Phylloxera comes from 130-year-old vines from a single cask. It is expansive aromatically, with a perfume that offers more spice in its notes of black pepper, blackcurrant liqueur, and lavender, giving it an almost Syrah-like character. A very special wine, it fills the palate with plummy fruit and cleans up with dark minerals. Full-bodied without being weighted, this is a wine with more aging potential, although it is outstanding now. Drink 2023-2040.Jeb Dunnuck | 96 JDFrom one of the oldest vineyards in Italy, and one of the very few in all of Europe that survived Phylloxera, the remarkable Cogno 2021 Barbera d’Alba Pre-Phylloxera offers a rare glimpse of what wines made on their original rootstock can offer. Hailing from a small plot of vines well over one hundred years old, it has balsamic aromas of camphor and new leather that mingle with ripe dark-skinned fruit, violet and tobacco. Full-bodied and boasting a weightless concentration, the savory palate delivers ripe black cherry, blood orange, white pepper and licorice alongside enveloping, refined tannins. Thanks to vines planted 520m above sea level, it also boasts vibrant acidity and energy. What a fantastic wine. Drink or hold through 2031. Abv: 14.5% Kerin O’Keefe | 95 KOElvio Cogno produce just 1,800 bottles annually of this Barbera d’Alba, made from 0.25ha of 140-year-old vines in Berri near La Morra, on chalky, sandy soils. Like the ‘standard’ Barbera d’Alba, it’s vinified in stainless steel and aged in Slavonian oak casks for 12 months, yet here the result is more complex and more concentrated: pure hedgerow berry and violet scents adorn a palate full of sweet, ripe black cherry, with notes of cream, coffee and tar in the background. The finish is long and freshly balsamic, carrying more of that gorgeous violet-infused fruit.Decanter | 94 DEC

The 2021 Barbera d’Asti La Crena is exceptional. Bright, red-toned fruit, chalk, mint, white pepper and rose petal are all beautifully delineated. In recent times Vietti has focused more on freshness in their Barberas, and that is especially evident in La Crena—a wine that used to be very dark and heavy but is far from that today. Clean, mineral notes extend the vibrant finish. Give this a few years to develop the full range of its aromatic breadth. What a wine!Vinous Media | 96 VMAlthough best known for its Barolos, Vietti (now part of the US Krause Group) also releases a number of different Barberas. La Crena is from a 6ha site near the commune of Agliano Terme in the Nizza area. The vineyard, purchased in 1995, was planted in 1932. The grapes are fermented in stainless steel and the wine then spends 18 months in a combination of steel, large casks and barriques before bottling. Stephen Brook: Opulent nose, with dark fruits tempered with some stylish oak. Suave and juicy, fine texture, balanced by firm acidity, which gives some spice and flair to the finish. Vincenzo Arnese: Candied aromas of Morello cherry and wild strawberry, very expressive. Bold palate with robust tannins; time will smooth it, yet quite rich and pleasant. Sara Bachiorri: Cherry and juniper berry nose. Nice concentration, with intense Maraschino flavours and a touch of liquorice stick.Decanter | 95 DEC

This is spiced and citrusy with sliced pears, lime peel, savory herbs and raw almonds. Medium- to full-bodied, juicy and crunchy with tense, phenolic character. Steady and vivid acidity. Lengthy and mineral with a creamy finish. Drink now.James Suckling | 94 JSThe 2021 Sauvignon Blanc Piere is a spice bomb, holding my attention firm with a blast of ground ginger, cardamom, flint stone and curry before arriving at dried nectarines. It’s luxuriously silky yet lifted in style, with cooling minerality and acidity that motivates its floral-laced green citrus and melon tones. For all of its intensity, the 2021 finishes crisp and with a classically dry feel, as savory herbal tones resonate on. There is so much pleasure in this upfront, fruit-focused, yet truly seductive Sauvignon.Vinous Media | 92 VMLet this compact white open in the glass to reveal a fine, creamy range of apricot tarte, graphite, passion fruit coulis and Mediterranean scrub aromas and flavors, all underscored by a rich vein of smoky minerality. Racy, spiced finish. Best from 2024 through 2029. 600 cases made, 200 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 91 WS

Here it is: A quintessential Sassicaia that represents the excellence of the vintage and also respects the unique taste profile of this distinguished Tuscan blend of Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc. The Tenuta San Guido 2021 Bolgheri Sassicaia offers impeccable balance, excellent freshness and absolutely no signs of over-ripeness. The fruit balance is ideal with a hint of crunch and lasting tension from pulp and skins. The tannins are deftly managed with firm grip and enough velvetiness to add volume and length. There is no greenness on the bouquet that instead offers mulled herbs and spice, with cinnamon and clove, layered delicately between mostly red and some purple berry fruits. Redcurrant, blueberry, sweet pomegranate and Rainier cherry run strong in this vintage. A fragrant hint of heritage rose emerges with time. The oak tones are geared toward gingerbread, hazelnut, cigar, sandalwood and something like a grilled sweet red pepper. To the palate, it offers nice weight with no heavy glycerin, and a rinse of acidity that adds to the wine’s natural energy, brightness and viscosity. That marked freshness opens the wine up to long aging potential, but you still need to give it more time in bottle.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 100 RPIn 2021, ‘we had a nicely paced harvest... surely a very fortunate vintage for us, for Bolgheri,’ said Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta at the launch in London of the 2021 vintage of Sassicaia. Welcome rain in mid-August came at just the right time to save the harvest, and production ended up being slightly higher than in 2020. Around eight to 10 separate vinifications were made, fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and spontaneous malo. The wines were racked to second- and third-use barriques in December 2021, then racked into a mixture of new and used barriques in March 2022. The last step was to make the final blend in stainless tanks, where the wine underwent micro-oxygenation before bottling and further maturation in bottle. Rich dark fruit and herb aromatics are pockmarked by blueberry and petrichor, leading into an intense and vertical palate that’s super-fresh with a delightful breezy, saline character. Textured, integrated tannins emphasise the refinement of Sassicaia, showing just a touch of youthful dustiness. Tangy, bright black, blue and red berry fruits overlay underlying hints of dark chocolate and forest undergrowth in a remarkably precise fashion, with pomegranate and a stony minerality surfacing on the mid-palate. 2021 demonstrates lovely sapidity of fruit along with that characteristic freshness and lightness of step, finishing long and poised. Superb. 99-100.Decanter | 99 DECThe gorgeous 2021 Sassicaia stuns with its class, extreme elegance, energy and depth. It’s remarkably fragrant, featuring enticing aromas of cassis, cedar blue flower, exotic spice and a whiff of sea breeze. The delicious palate is focused and loaded with finesse, delivering ripe raspberry, black currant, blood orange, star anise a hint of coffee bean accompanied by taut, fine-grained tannins. Bright acidity gives it racy tension and provides impeccable balance and serious aging potential. Drink 2029–2041. Abv: 14% Kerin O’Keefe | 99 KOThe 2021 Sassicaia is one of the best young Sassicaias I can remember tasting, certainly on par with anything in recent memory. The preference here is picking on the earlier side relative to many neighboring properties, which is one of the reasons Sassicaia is always a wine of refinement more than opulence. At the same time, Sassicaia can be light. Not in 2021. All the elements came together during a long growing season to produce a rich, deep wine that marries textural intensity with classicism. Dark cherry/plum fruit, spice, new leather, menthol, licorice and spice all race across the palate. Time in the glass brings out the wine’s textural intensity and sheer power. The 2021 is one of the most concentrated Sassicaias on record. That allowed for long macerations, as long as 20 days for some Cabernets. Aging was 25 months in French oak barrels (95% French, 5% a mix of Hungarian and Slavonian wood), 40% new, 40% once-used barrels and 20% in twice-used barrels. One of the recent developments here is some bâtonnage in aging, which is used to build texture. That approach worked well in 2021. In a word: magnificent.Vinous Media | 98+ VMVery classy and typical of Sassicaia with currant, tobacco, chocolate, sage and lavender on the nose and palate. Medium- to full-bodied with very integrated and refined tannins that are caressing and pretty with a lovely length and beauty. Such finesse and structure at the same time. Best in 2028 and beyond but already joy to taste.James Suckling | 98 JS

The 2021 Barbera d’Asti Tre Vigne marries the natural intensity of the year with the savory minerality typical of Asti. Dark cherry, grilled herbs, menthol, licorice and crushed rocks all race out of the glass. This is another stellar wine from Vietti.Vinous Media | 91 VMThis shows notes of chocolate and hazelnuts with ripe wild berries and sweet spice undertones. Medium- to full-bodied with dusty tannins and a bitter chocolate character. Tense with a fruity finish. Drink now.James Suckling | 91 JS

The 2021 Ornellaia captures all the magic of this sensational vintage on the Tuscan Coast. Rich, ample and expansive, with tremendous polish, the 2021 is pure class. Dark-toned fruit, mocha, espresso, licorice, plum and dried herbs abound. The tannins are present but also beautifully integrated, as is the French oak. There was a time not too long ago when young wines here needed years in bottle to drink well. That’s not at all the case with the 2021. The blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot works so well. New oak was 70%.Vinous Media | 99 VMAromas of blackcurrants, iodine, crushed stone, hints of mint and sage. Blue fruits. Full-bodied with chewy tannins that open with air. It’s racy and very long. Very tannin driven and energetic with power and focus. Muscular and very toned. This is the best Ornellaia for the cellar in years. Try after 2030.James Suckling | 99 JSWhile the summer was hot and dry, with three months of drought, the vines’ roots were able to tap water reserves which had been topped up by rainfall the previous winter and spring. Despite the warm growing season, Ornellaia 2021 feels less dense and muscular than vintages of old, offering pretty floral and wild herb perfumes alongside ripe red and black fruit scents. It’s intense, fresh and vertical in character, with fine, ripe, round tannins that seem to be a trademark of the vintage – it’s a gorgeous, breezy iteration of the Bolgheri benchmark that is already drinking well. The blend is 53% Cabernet Sauvignon (up from 50% in 2020), 25% Merlot (down from 32%), 15% Cabernet Franc (up from 13%) and 7% Petit Verdot (up from 5%); a carefully considered response from the winemaking team to the increasingly warm summers in the region.Decanter | 97 DEC

The 2021 Dolcetto d’Alba Vignavillej is deep, potent and explosive. A super-Dolcetto, the 2021 packs a serious punch. Blackberry, cloves, new leather and mocha all saturate the palate in this sumptuous, full-bodied Dolcetto. Superb.Vinous Media | 93 VM

The 2021 Sauvignon Blanc Quarz is deeply alluring, with a rich mix of savory herbs and grapefruit rinds lifted by a cooling whiff of white smoke. This is potent and supple with medium-bodied weight and a pretty inner sweetness, verging on decadence, yet is balanced by a stimulating core of zesty acidity. Candied lemon and lime resonate throughout as a burst of salty minerality and chalk dust adds perfect contrast. Like most vintages of Quarz, this will cellar beautifully over the medium term. That said, there’s no harm in enjoying it now in this wonderfully primary state.Vinous Media | 93 VM

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

Ripe and complex nose with some jackfruit, hay and a hint of mineral and honey. Bone-dry on the palate with a bright streak of acidity with a medium body. Flavorful and textured and with a delicious, pithy finish. Drink now.James Suckling | 92 JS

The 2021 Marchesi Antinori Tenuta Guado Al Tasso, Bolgheri Rosso Il Bruciato wine takes a while to open but when it does it is redolent with a range of aromas from a sun-dried fruit, buttered popcorn, blackberry, nuts and vanilla. On the palate the fruit and oak are well matched and combine to produce a smooth, creamy and well-integrated feel. It is well balanced with a lovely, juicy freshness on the finish and a knot of fine-textured, savory tannins. On standing the aromas become more bitter cherry combined with very ripe dried cranberry.The Wine Independent | 92 TWIThis is bursting with black currant, cherry and blueberry fruit, showing graphite, licorice and tobacco accents. Fresh and balanced, this lingers on the firm finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. Drink now through 2028. 2,000 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 90 WSNo written review provided. | 90 W&S

Delicious and so enjoyable, this juicy, full-bodied red is one of the best Dolcetto’s out there, doling out flavors of ripe black cherry, black raspberry and white pepper. Taut tannins and fresh acidity keep it balanced. Drink through 2025. Abv: 14.5% Kerin O’Keefe | 93 KO

The 2021 Chianti Classico La Misse di Candialle is bright, bold and punchy. Dollops of Malvasia Nera and Canaiolo lend complexity. Whereas so many wines in this vintage are pretty accessible, Candialle’s 2021 is going to need a few years to soften. The purity of the flavors is striking though.Vinous Media | 93 VM

The 2021 Chianti Classico is one of the wines of the vintage in the Chianti Classico ’Annata’ category. Rich, layered and super-expressive, the 2021 offers up red/purplish berry fruit, rose petal, lavender and spice race across the palate. The Montesecondo Chianti Classico raises the simple question of why there aren’t more wines like this.Vinous Media | 94 VMEx-jazz musician Silvio Messana makes a variety of wines of the natural ilk – but only one Chianti Classico. It blends fruit from two distinct vineyards in San Casciano – a hot site in the extreme north at just 120 metres, the other in the far south surrounded by forest at a cooler 500 metres. The aggregate is a fantastically textured, layered and appetising annata, offering a sumptuousness of black cherry and raspberry fruit without being heavy. This is broadened by verbena, mineral and woodland accents, while the citrussy acidity is well integrated, and chalky tannins give a firm, tight frame.Decanter | 92 DEC

The organic 2021 Chianti Classico Rubiolo is an excellent value wine with 35,000 bottles released. The wine is all Sangiovese sourced from three sites in Castellina, Panzano and Badia a Passignano. The wine delivers a dark ruby color, and although the aromatic intensity is measured, there are delicately perfumed tones of cherry, raspberry and blood orange that feel punchy and bright. You also get pretty floral tones.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 92 RPAromas of ripe red fruit, licorice, spices and pink peppercorns. Medium- to full-bodied, juicy and tense with vivid acidity and polished tannins. Hints of walnuts and savory herbs at the end. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 92 JS

The Masseto 2021 Massetino is mostly Merlot with a touch of Cabernet Franc for good measure. The wine (packaged in a heavy glass bottle) is very richly concentrated and layered. You see (and taste) the opulent texture of the wine as it slowly coats the glass. Quality fruit is matched by carefully selected oak, and the intensity of both builds on the palate. This vintage is poised for especially long cellar aging. This vintage of Massetino (2021) scores neck-in-neck with the current vintage (2020) of Masseto.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 96 RPSweet berries with violet and rose aromas. Raspberries. So perfumed. Medium-bodied with very fine velvety tannins that run the length of the wine. Vibrant at the end. Second wine of Masseto. Best ever. Drink in 2027 but already a joy to taste.James Suckling | 96 JSThe 2021 Massetino is a supremely elegant and gracious wine. Silky tannins caress a core of blackberry, espresso, mocha, licorice, cloves and lavender. All the elements are so nicely balanced in this super-appealing, racy second wine from Masseto,Vinous Media | 94 VMElegant and vibrant, this red flows nicely, building to a long, spice-tinged aftertaste. Boasts blackberry, black currant, violet, cocoa, mineral and fresh herb flavors that ply its length, while lively acidity and powdery tannins provide structure. Focused and approachable now, yet will be better in a year or two. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2024 through 2033.Wine Spectator | 94 WSTasting note not provided | 94 W&SThe 2021 Massetino, 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, is deep garnet-purple in color. After a swirl or two, it explodes from the glass with bombastic notes of stewed black plums, boysenberries, and blackberry pie, followed by hints of Indian spices, licorice, and fragrant soil. The big, concentrated, full-bodied palate is jam packed with black fruit preserves, framed by velvety tannins and oodles of freshness, finishing long and spicy.The Wine Independent | 94 TWIDried herbs and dried flowers on the nose with quite dominant oaky scents. Ripe black fruit and abundant tannins, not so rich or fleshy but massy in the mouth, wide, giving a large structure which supports the expression. This is smooth and bright with grip and intensity but you can really feel the alcohol here and it detracts from any kind of delicate nuance with toasted spices, coffee, dark chocolate and cedar at the fore. Heady and overt, powerful, though sleek and layered, the tannins are great and the fruit feels both cool and ripe but there’s an underlying sense of heat from start to finish. Malolactic fermentation in French barriques (50% new) then 12 months ageing after which the 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc was blended and returned to barriques for three months before bottling. Winemaker Gaia Cinnirella.Decanter | 93 DEC

Mesmerizing aromas of sandalwood, lavender, sage and currants. Mint and spearmint. Lead pencil shavings. Light coffee bean too. Medium to full body with ultra-fine tannins. It goes on for minutes. 60% cabernet sauvignon, 30% merlot, and 10% petit verdot. So approachable already, but this will age beautifully. Best after 2026 and beyond.James Suckling | 99 JS

Lovely strawberry, peach-skin and cherry-pip aromas with a similar echoing of fruit on the palate, in a fresh and generous mode. Fruity, flattering and well made. Drink now.James Suckling | 90 JS

Here’s another food-friendly wine from beautiful Piedmont. The 2021 Barbera d’Alba shows a dark purplish hue and saturated fruit flavors of dried blackberry and black cherry. There are hints of crushed mineral or oyster shell as well. The wine’s medium thickness would work across a breaded veal steak. Fruit is sourced across various sites with different soil types.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91 RP

Aromas that speak of freshness and maturity intermingle here, in a way that playfully calls those very categories into question. So much depth, vitality and finesse, the absence of obviously fruity aromas on the mid-palate not feeling like a lack. Then the finish pushes up face to face with the dazzling heart of the lemon. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 97 JSAn organic and biodynamic wine, the 2021 Manzoni Bianco Fontanasanta is partially aged in clay amphorae. The wine shows a brilliant appearance with creamy aromas of beeswax, dried apricot, poached pear and honey. It is slightly viscous in texture with solid fruit weight and glossy sensations on the finish. It is perfumed, pretty and ready to pair with white meat or shellfish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RP

Here is another classic sparkling wine from northeast Italy. The Bisol 1542 2021 Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Crede Brut is crisp and citrusy with crushed oyster shell, flint and grated ginger. The wine ends with fresh, steely effervescence. This is an amazing value with 301,000 bottles released to the market. The blend is specifically 87.5% Glera, 10% Chardonnay and 2.5% Pinot Nero.The Wine Advocate (Monica Larner) | 90 RPPear-fruit nose with green apples, nectarines and chalk that give an upbeat, almost peachy accent to the palate. Creamy and fresh, with a silky mousse. Lots of green apples in the finish. Drink now.James Suckling | 90 JS

Peaches, apricots, lemon curd, lychees and melons on the nose. Fruity and fresh with a medium body. Some delicious tropical-fruit character with a zesty finish. Drink now.James Suckling | 91 JS