2012 Italy

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

Vibrant fruit, reminiscent of ripe strawberries with assam tea, entice on the nose. The attack is toned and there is phenomenal focus across the palate. Mineral and scented on the finish. Drink from 2023+.
Katherine Dart MW, Wine Buyer 

As it is every year, the 2012 Flaccianello della Pieve represents a selection of the best fruit from the best vineyards (excluding, of course, Vigna del Sorbo that is dedicated to its own wine). The five parcels span various soils types and exposures, and the youngest vines are 20 years old. Because the fruit selection process is so detailed, the darkest and smallest clusters are carefully chosen.

As a result, the fruit is rich in polyphenols, thick extract and extra aromatic intensity. The 2012 vintage saw yields reduced by as much as 20%, meaning that fruit selection was even more severe in this vintage. This beautiful wine shows abundant richness and generosity with toned mineral nuances that are wrapped within bold flavors of dark fruit and spice. The wine is rich and velvety in texture.
Drink 2016-2030
94/100 points Monica Larner, eRobertParker.com #221 Oct 2015  

Tasting the wine from barrel on Friday 7th March, I was struck, not by any particular aroma or flavour, but by the elegant shape of the wine. Pale red/ruby in colour, the nose is reassuringly self-effacing; it’s understated, composed and cultured, delicately perfumed with mulberry, a hint of menthol and cool clove. The palate is remarkable for its serenity, Maserati-line and persistence. Barely discernible are the layers of tight, sweet-berried fruit and spice, framed by the finest tannins, racy with cleansing acidity. Compared with vintage 2011, Vigna Rionda 2012 is more classical, with cooler, delicate aromatics; aromatics that become fragrant on the palate. Proper wine. Only 1,457 litres have been made, and are being sold as ‘futures’ to be released in bottle spring 2016. 
David Berry Green, Italy Buyer.

We are once again fortunate to be able to offer the opportunity to buy three of Roberto's top Baroli. This year we are featuring the 2012 vintage and we are offering the wines in a mixed 12 bottle case.

This case contains:

5 x 75cl 2012 Barolo Rocche dell’ Annunziata
5 x 75cl 2012 Barolo Cerequio  
2 x 75cl 2012 Barolo Brunate

Cooler on the nose than many previous vintages, with polished toasty sweet oak and dark cherry behind. Plenty of concentration on the palate, ripe red and black fruit, some glossy, spicy oak notes, crisp acidity and some fine-grained tannins rounding it out. Definitely one for the cellar, this will reward patience and will be at its best from around 2020.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager

The 2012, is a classic Bordeaux blend, as Ornellaia has always been, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot making up the lion’s share of the cepage and Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot adding complexity. Cabernet Franc is becoming recognised as one of the most successful varieties for Bolgheri and the quantity in the blend of all the major wines in the region seems to be increasing. It may well be that Bolgheri is one of the world’s best sites for this often overlooked variety.

The stony, chalky minerals of this renowned site in Serralunga d’Alba come through on the nose and palate, adding to the precision lent by defined tannins and clean acidity. Layers of crunchy red fruit, smoky spice and rich plums hint at the complexity to come with time in bottle. 

“There is only one Bruno Giacosa. No one will ever make wines like these. It's as simple as that.” Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

This gloriously feminine expression of Nebbiolo exudes purity and clarity. The nose is reminiscent of crushed dried petals, crunchy redcurrant and cranberry, layered with savoury undertones. The acidity is bright and finely balanced with the toned tannins. More approachable in its youth than Rabajà and Asili, it will still age with grace. Drink 2018-2024. 

Now firmly amongst the greats of the Italian wine scene, Tignanello’s origins lie in a single vineyard Chianti Classico Riserva ‘Vigneto Tignanello‘ made for the 1970 vintage. Even at this point it broke new ground by being the first Sangiovese aged in small oak barrels, and the die was cast from the 1971 vintage, when it became a Vino da Tavola della Toscana and was named Tignanello after the vineyard from where the fruit originates. Over the following eleven years Tignanello gradually evolved into the wine we recognise today – a wine that no longer follows the rules laid down by Chianti Classico Disciplinare.

This is a Tignanello vintage with wonderful purity of fruit on the nose first and foremost. Pure, unadulterated bramble, hedgerow fruit – exquisite! Behind that initial and impressive wave of fruit there are complex layers of nutmeg, black tea and Asian spices. This continues apace on the palate, and also where the Sangiovese really comes into play. The taut structure and fine tannins build neatly through the midpalate where more layers of hoi sin, dark coffee and subtle meatiness. The finish is textbook Tignanello, refined yet focussed and wonderfully long. Drinking from 2018 onto 2030.
Gary Owen, Fine Wine

Tignanello releases are always of huge interest – a superb Super Tuscan red which still offers significant value. This 2012 release demonstrates the quality and consistency of the Antinori estate very well indeed. The nose offers generous dark fruit, black cherry and cassis with notes of clove and dried herbs. The palate is laced with fine acidity giving real energy and vibrancy, very moreish. Fine, silky and eminently approachable now, but there is more to come of course and more layers will emerge over the coming years. Drink 2018 – 2028.
Martyn Rolph, Fine Wine 

Deep ruby. Grilled herbs and coffee complicate ripe, smoky black fruits on the nose and palate. Soft and fleshy in the mouth, showing a high-pH mouth feel. The youthfully chewy, long finish features smoky tannins. One of the more successful Guado al Tassos of recent memory.
Ian D'Agata, vinous.com December 2014

Fantastic aromas of lavender, rosemary, violets and currants. Full body, a wonderful concentration of fruit yet tense and taunt energy. The new wood is exposed now but will become integrated and polished. Give it three or four years together. The pure merlot magic is there. The 2011 was a perfect wine, and this is very close indeed. Drink in 2019.
99/100 James Suckling, Wine Advocate

Masseto, produced by Tenuta dell’Ornellaia, is among the world’s most sought after Merlots. It comes from one of Italy’s most celebrated 7 hectare plots of Merlot in Bolgheri on the Tuscan coast where the vines grow on an outcrop of pliocene clay (ideal for Merlot and not found elsewhere in Bolgheri). Its first full release was 1987, although there was a partial release in 1986, and it quickly became a cult wine revered by collectors. The 2012 vintage is a year that has produced many outstanding wines in the Super Tuscan arena and Masseto looks sure to continue that trend

Made in tiny quantities.  Despite having only debuted back in 1986, Masseto has almost taken on the mystique we see with the likes of Ch. Petrus – rare, expensive, ground breaking and much sought after. Total production is circa. 2500 cases

Of Giovanni's two sumptuous Cannonau wines, this is more accessible, born of a higher, 'cooler' (relative to Sardinia!), younger, more humid and hence more fertile vineyard called 'Elisi'. It sits on the side of a hill, well ventilated, has a great view and is notably more clay-rich granitic, hence giving a fruitier wine. Such was the vintage, with a cool spring and hot summer that the wine sports a super-ripe, yet fresh loganberry fruit nose; it's so enchantingly, violet fragrant - a hallmark of Cannonau (from Mamoiada) - with crunchy, 'essence', suave, sotto-bosco (wild blackberry) compote flavours,similar in profile to Chateauneuf du Pape, with which it shares Cannonau/Grenache. Only 3,500 bottles made.
David Berry Green

The Marion estate is the site of a splendid 15th century villa in the valley of Marcellise, once owned by the Conte Marioni. The Campedelli family bought the property in 1986; Stefano, together with his wife Nicoletta Fornasa and brother Marco, started bottling in 1995. Now the estate has 22 hectares, producing 70,000 bottles a year. The estate lies just outside the Classico zone on predominantly chalk soils, giving wines of purity.

This Valpolicella Superiore manages to balance accessibility with ageing potential. Rich chocolate and kirsch aromas are layered with chalky minerals on the nose. Sweetly scented red fruits and cherry stone characters add to the richness on the palate. Young and vigorous, this will reward a bit of patience. Drink now to 2022.

Yields were down 20 percent at Bartolo Mascarello in 2012 due to a hail storm that hit the Rocche dell’Annunziata vineyard. This, combined with a comparatively short maceration of 20 days and minimal racking, have contrived to make Mascarello’s 2012 Barolo one of the most delicate, ethereal and Pinot-like in recent years. With air, this rose-petal Barolo is timid, creeping slowly out into the limelight. Maria Teresa aged the wine partly in the two new 50hl garbellotto botti, giving it a sandalwood edge to the rose, coal tar and orange-skin notes. There’s great finesse on the palate, with cool, red-berry crunch and sapid, svelte lines: this is racy yet served on a cushion of sweet red fruit. Such lift!

Thanks to Alessandria’s sensitive winemaking, one can greatly appreciate the styles that differentiate the two villages of Verduno and Monforte. Where Verduno’s Baroli are cool and laced with limestone, here the brambly, Bonnes Mares-esque fullness is expressed by Monforte’s Gramolere vineyard, with its red sandstone and west-facing aspect which overlooks Bussia below. It’s a darker hue than the Monvigliero, rich with eucalypt, cologne and wild mint aromatic lift. Fuller, fleshier and meatier, there’s a gorgeous, brambly, rosemary roll, backed by an iron spine and molten tannins. 

Utterly distinct from San Lorenzo, first bottled in the great 1978 vintage, Fratelli Alessandria’s 2012 Monvigliero sings of the vineyard’s steep, white-talc slopes, with its pale, red-rose colour, and rose-petal scent, along with vintage-specific notes of violet creams. In spite of the violently hot August, Alessandria’s chalky Monvigliero kept its cool – helped no doubt by the family’s decision to de-leaf less and less in the face of a changing climate – and so giving us a haunting, ethereal, fresh, mandarin-skin and rose-petal beauty, wrapped up by the finest of (Verduno) tannins and a salty lick.

Ripeness and refinement define this Cannubi and its complexity is already evident – sour black cherry and ripe plum are interwoven with tar and more savoury, herbal notes. There is no denying the concentration and weight of phenolic matter across the palate: this is long and powerful.

Bright ruby in colour, the texture and intensity of the Via Nuova is enhanced by a fine tannic structure and cool acidity. Layers of red stone-fruit and dried flowers absorb the influence of the French oak, which brings added complexity and spice to the wine. The fruit for this cuvée is predominantly from the clones of Michet and Lampia.