IGT Tuscany
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Badia a Coltibuono, Tuscany,
Ready, but will keep,
This wine is a masterful blend of nine indigenous Tuscan varieties: Mammolo, Ciliegiolo, Pugnitello, Colorino, Sanforte, Malvasia Nera, Canaiolo, Foglia Tonda and Sangiovese. It is classified just as “Tuscany” (rather than Chianti) because a number of these historic varieties are no longer permitted in Chianti Classico production. The vines are planted in Coltibuono’s Montebello hillside vineyard, on fossil-rich clay soils. The result is a complex, harmonious wine which is the essence of Tuscany. Bright dark cherry fruit, fresh acidity and moreish fine-grained tannins make this a real treat with grilled lamb chops, ragù or roasted vegetables.
Matt Smith, Wine Buyer (July 2019)
Matt Smith, Wine Buyer (July 2019)
Isole e Olena,
Ready, but will improve,
The Isola et Olena Estate, run by Paolo de Marchi, is a property that has seen a dramatic rise in quality over the last few decades. Paolo's family, originally from Piedmont, purchased the estate in the 1960s. His attention to detail in both the vineyard and the winery was the driving force that turned quality around.
The wines have Cepparello at their head, a barrique-aged Sangiovese classified as an IGT - because at the time of its creation in the 1980s a wine comprising 100% Sangiovese could not legally be labelled as Chianti. This is a fabulous Super Tuscan at an incredibly good price and a wine that can age 10 – 15 years if one so wishes.
Isole e Olena’s Sangiovese Super-Tuscan Sangiovese never fails to please. Beautiful ripe Sangiovese nose of black cherries intermingled with hints of spice. Big and rich on the palate with savoury black cherries, grilled meats and loganberry notes, framed by crisp acidity, fine tannins and a lick of warmth from the alcohol. A very impressive Super-Tuscan which could be drunk now, but would reward 5-10 years in the cellar for the components to knit together and gain complexity. A great lesson in what great Sangiovese from Chianti Classico is capable of producing.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
The wines have Cepparello at their head, a barrique-aged Sangiovese classified as an IGT - because at the time of its creation in the 1980s a wine comprising 100% Sangiovese could not legally be labelled as Chianti. This is a fabulous Super Tuscan at an incredibly good price and a wine that can age 10 – 15 years if one so wishes.
Isole e Olena’s Sangiovese Super-Tuscan Sangiovese never fails to please. Beautiful ripe Sangiovese nose of black cherries intermingled with hints of spice. Big and rich on the palate with savoury black cherries, grilled meats and loganberry notes, framed by crisp acidity, fine tannins and a lick of warmth from the alcohol. A very impressive Super-Tuscan which could be drunk now, but would reward 5-10 years in the cellar for the components to knit together and gain complexity. A great lesson in what great Sangiovese from Chianti Classico is capable of producing.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
Antinori,
For laying down,
To hit the market in June, the 2016 Tignanello is a rock-solid wine and a stunning beauty. The wine offers an impeccable level of precision and laser-focus delivery of fruits, spices, tilled earth, espresso beans and Mediterranean herbs. This vintage follows the classic blending formula of 80% Sangiovese with about 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Cabernet Franc. The vines are now 15 to 20 years old. Compared to the 2015 vintage that ultimately appeared more chewy and succulent, this expression from the iconic 2016 vintage is more vibrant, nervous and jazzed. It shows more savory spice, saltiness and minerality, with a beautifully integrated quality of tannins. Some 320,000 bottles were produced. This wine is at the top of the list of some of the best Tignanello ever made, including the vintages 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2015.
Monica Larner - 31/05/2019
Monica Larner - 31/05/2019
Antinori,
For laying down,
The 2014 Solaia will be released during the second half of 2017. This is a fine-tuned expression that shows a focused sense of detail and careful attention. The quota of Cabernet Franc has been upped by a hair and this makes a big difference, especially in terms of the wine's bouquet. Otherwise, this celebrated Tuscan blend is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with Sangiovese. It opens to dark fruit aromas with crushed mineral, pipe tobacco, pressed flower and toasted spice. Its appearance is midnight black and profound. The wine delivers a sense of sheer excitement and nervousness that will subside with another few years of bottle age. Nonetheless, I think a certain amount of that bright edginess or rigidness will always be part of this cool vintage Solaia. In the mouth, the wine is firm, compact and dense. The tannins are chiseled to the point of sublime integration. Marchesi Antinori made 40% less Solaia in this vintage in order to maintain the quality you taste here.
Monica Larner - 28/04/2017
Monica Larner - 28/04/2017
Antinori,
Ready, but will improve,
Rich, dark fruit on the nose, black cherry fruit from the Sangiovese dominating the blackcurrant fruit from the Cabernet at present, potent and powerful with hints of graphite in the background. Full-bodied and savoury on the palate, dark cherry fruit again, but more influence from the Cabernets creeping in. Mouth-watering acidity gives away its Chianti Classico roots, while soft, fine tannins complete the picture. Fabulous balance and a long, elegant finish rounds off this great Tignanello. Drinkable from 2020, but better still in 2025-2035.
Chris Pollington – Private Account Manager
Chris Pollington – Private Account Manager
Antinori,
Ready, but will keep,
Tignanello’s origins lie in a single vineyard Chianti Classico known simply as “Vigneto Tignanello” made for the 1970 vintage. From 1971 the wine was classified as lowly Vino da Tavola, and the Cabernets were added to the Sangiovese for the first time. The original Super Tuscan was born. The 2013 is the first release since the passing of the great Giacomo Tachis, Head Winemaker at Antinori from the late 1960s through to the 1990s and creator of Tignanello, Sassicaia, Solaia and many of the notable wines of Tuscany and Italy. The 2013 is a fitting tribute to this very talented man.
Ready, but will keep,
2014 Guidalberto possesses real freshness and elegance. The nose has a striking spicy characteristic with anise, pepper and a hint of tobacco. The palate is very fresh and cool with a smooth texture that instils a real sense of balance. Blackcurrant and plum fruits dominate with hints of chocolate and sweet spice on the finish. Drink 2017-2025
Antinori,
Ready, but will improve,
The best vintages of Solaia are 1990, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 and now 2013. Marchesi Antinori's 2013 Solaia is a profound and meaningful wine that is based mostly on Cabernet Sauvignon with Sangiovese and Cabernet Franc in supporting roles. It sports a dark and thick texture with plump fruit and spice, grilled herb and black pepper. The bouquet is intense and layered with the kind of complexity that is best admired as the wine shifts and evolves in the glass. The textual impact is also impressive—you feel the inherent power and the structure, but these elements are never overdone. The best is yet to come; this Solaia is built for long cellar aging.
Monica Larner - The Wine Advocate, 30th Dec 2016
Monica Larner - The Wine Advocate, 30th Dec 2016
Isole e Olena,
Ready, but will keep,
Isole e Olena's 2010 Cepparello is magnificent. In particular, I admire the way the wine fleshes out in all directions, with seemingly endless layers of dark, mineral-infused berry, plum and pomegranate notes. A primal wine in need of significant cellaring, the 2010 is easily one of the highlights of the year. Bright, saline notes support the precise finish. Today, the 2010 is naturally quite backward and undeveloped, but it should be a gem in another 5-10 years. This is an especially dark, structured Cepparello built for the cellar. The 2010 brightens up with time in the glass, but it remains one of the darker, more brooding wines made in the estate's history.
Antonio Galloni - Aug-2013
Antonio Galloni - Aug-2013
Antinori,
Ready, but will keep,
The 2010 Solaia is even better than the Tignanello. Here, too, it is the wine's energy and sheer vibrancy that stand out most. Blackberry jam, graphite, tar, espresso, violets, crushed rocks and spices all take shape in the glass. The 2010 is a wine I have followed since its infancy, and it has never failed to deliver the goods. Earlier this year I had a chance to taste every vintage of Solaia back to the inaugural 1978. It is still early, but there is little question the 2010 is one of the greatest – if not the single greatest Solaia ever made
97/100 Antonio Galloni - Aug-2013
97/100 Antonio Galloni - Aug-2013
Isole e Olena,
Ready, but will keep,
Isole e Olena's 100% Sangiovese Super-Tuscan is always a delight with its notes of rich, ripe black cherries married to subtle French oak. The 2004 is sublime with great power and structure combining with the lush fruit and spice on the palate. The finish is long and elegant with fine tannins. A great classic for the future.
Chris Pollington - Fine Wine Team
Chris Pollington - Fine Wine Team
Antinori,
Ready, but will improve,
2011 Solaia has a ripe, perfumed nose with sweet plum, blueberry, morello cherry and cassis notes. It is a nose that really confirms the favourable growing conditions they had in 2011, there was clearly an abundance of healthy grapes. The palate is less flamboyant than the nose, which at this stage of its evolution can only be a good thing. The cassis and blueberry show again with a really pleasing acidity that gives the wine a lovely definition and flow. It is mouthfilling and stylish with herb and cedar notes on the finish rounding things off beautifully.
Matt Tipping, Fine Wine Sales Manager
We often taste wines which leap out of the glass, but 2011 Solaia does this with a vengeance. On the nose there is a beautifully crafted wall of complex blackcurrant and juicy dark fruit from the pure, ripe Cabernet Sauvignon. Laced within this are light, deft touches of subtle cherry and dark plum fruit coming from the Sangiovese. On the palate this purity is clear to see again where there further complexity comes from the refined and framing oak. As the fruit of the palate seamlessly moves into the structure and body of the wine there are notes of coffee, fine chocolate and a whole span of herbs and spices – nutmeg, cloves but also sage and rosemary to name but a few. There is no doubt that this is a bold wine if you take it as a whole, but there is a very uncommon level of refinement and subtly here. 2011 Solaia can be drunk now such is the finesse and subtly of the tannins but I feel that if you can leave this in the cellar even for 2 or 3 years there will be added layers of complexity ensuring that this is a very special wine indeed.
Gary Owen, Private Account Manager
Another triumph from the superb 2011 vintage in Bolgheri, Tuscany. Stunningly rich and focussed, the high proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend is clear to see. Lifted and pure cassis fruit dominates the nose, supported by plum, rip Antinori is the most famous name in Italian wine and the influence of Piero Antinori in the last 25 years has been nothing short of revolutionary. Antinori's flagship wine, Tignanello, first appeared in 1971 and caused a sensation by its use of Cabernet Sauvignon in a Sangiovese blend and with its practice of ageing in small French barriques. Antinori was accused of vinous treachery and treason but soon barrique-aged blends of Sangiovese and Cabernet began appearing all across Tuscany.
Solaia, a twenty hectare (50 acre) vineyard of the Tignanello estate with a south-western exposure, is situated at 350-400 meters (1175-1325 feet) above sea level on a soil of calcareous rock (known as “alberese in Tuscany). The Marchesi Antinori firm produced this wine for the first time in the 1978 vintage with an initial blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc, a blend repeated again in 1979. In the following vintages 20% of Sangiovese was added to the Cabernet grapes and the ratio of Cabernet Franc to Cabernet Sauvignon was changed in order to create a wine which has now become definitive in its various composing elements.
Matt Tipping, Fine Wine Sales Manager
We often taste wines which leap out of the glass, but 2011 Solaia does this with a vengeance. On the nose there is a beautifully crafted wall of complex blackcurrant and juicy dark fruit from the pure, ripe Cabernet Sauvignon. Laced within this are light, deft touches of subtle cherry and dark plum fruit coming from the Sangiovese. On the palate this purity is clear to see again where there further complexity comes from the refined and framing oak. As the fruit of the palate seamlessly moves into the structure and body of the wine there are notes of coffee, fine chocolate and a whole span of herbs and spices – nutmeg, cloves but also sage and rosemary to name but a few. There is no doubt that this is a bold wine if you take it as a whole, but there is a very uncommon level of refinement and subtly here. 2011 Solaia can be drunk now such is the finesse and subtly of the tannins but I feel that if you can leave this in the cellar even for 2 or 3 years there will be added layers of complexity ensuring that this is a very special wine indeed.
Gary Owen, Private Account Manager
Another triumph from the superb 2011 vintage in Bolgheri, Tuscany. Stunningly rich and focussed, the high proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend is clear to see. Lifted and pure cassis fruit dominates the nose, supported by plum, rip Antinori is the most famous name in Italian wine and the influence of Piero Antinori in the last 25 years has been nothing short of revolutionary. Antinori's flagship wine, Tignanello, first appeared in 1971 and caused a sensation by its use of Cabernet Sauvignon in a Sangiovese blend and with its practice of ageing in small French barriques. Antinori was accused of vinous treachery and treason but soon barrique-aged blends of Sangiovese and Cabernet began appearing all across Tuscany.
Solaia, a twenty hectare (50 acre) vineyard of the Tignanello estate with a south-western exposure, is situated at 350-400 meters (1175-1325 feet) above sea level on a soil of calcareous rock (known as “alberese in Tuscany). The Marchesi Antinori firm produced this wine for the first time in the 1978 vintage with an initial blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc, a blend repeated again in 1979. In the following vintages 20% of Sangiovese was added to the Cabernet grapes and the ratio of Cabernet Franc to Cabernet Sauvignon was changed in order to create a wine which has now become definitive in its various composing elements.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager