2013 Italy

Grechetto's grape thick skins impart plenty of colour, but also texture, to the wine. The bouquet is certainly accented towards wild herbs (imagine roadside fennel) but there is also a pleasing citrus note, more red grapefruit than lemon, and with a pithy, pear element, synonymous with both the grape's skin and its aromatic impression. Partner with Linguine alle vongole, with plenty of garlic and parsley.

Cantina Novelli is a young winery, founded in 2007 by Stephano Novelli, dedicated to producing modern wines from Umbria’s autochthonous grape varieties. His young and cosmopolitan team manage 56 hectares, producing a wide range, including this Grechetto from the Spoletino clone, increasingly recognised as one of the superior varieties of the region.

The Chardonay and Vernaccia that make up this blend complement each other very well. The restrained aroma profile is of stone fruit with hints of citrus. Grapefruit pith plays on the palate with a good level of concentration.
Fiona Hayes - Buyer

This is Sebastiano Capponi's wine! For 'Comitale' means 'belonging to the Count'! A generous soul, he's quite happy to share his wine among friends. He's got good taste too, for this unoaked 90% Grechetto (the grape of Orvieto), 10% Vernaccia (di San Gimignano) has quite delicious bitter sweet, sapid fruit notes. It's light in body, dry, with a welcome cool greengage, almost grassy fruitiness. And in keeping with all Villa Calcinaia wines, it's restrained, elegant and immensely drinkable, especially with olives and summer salads.
David Berry Green

Better known for rescuing the traditional expression of Marsala (do try our fabulous one-off Berry Bros. & Rudd’s Vergine Marsala), De Bartoli also make first-class dry wines. Grillo has a ubiquity in the west of the island, but correctly handled, as here, it is both distinctive and impressive. 

A little oak gives a hazelnut nuance to the ripe lemon pith and oil aromas and the dry, subtle saltiness creates an assertive palate, whilst remaining light on its feet.  This is one of those wines that first appear neutral, yet finish full of character. Drink now but will keep for up to at least 2019. 
Mark Pardoe MW, Wine Buyer

From Zibibbo (Muscat) vines grown on the volcanic (pietra nera) soils of the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria comes this dry white wine from one of Sicily's great fine wine producers: Marco de Bartoli. Pale in colour, an extraordinary and exhilarating nose intense with musky/grapy/smoky saline/mandarin skin aromas. The result is salivating and penetrating. By comparison, the palate is full and super-refined, even at only 11.5% alcohol. Understated flavours of citrus pith, it is incredibly sapid, I expect due to the proximity of the sea, along with a silk thread flavour profile, and fragrant too. Calls for roasted almonds!
David Berry Green

From vines close to the Adriatic coast, and to Giulianova, home to the Faraone family, this modest 12.5 percent white gleams a young gold colour. The tidy but intriguing nose of acacia honey, lemon zest, aniseed, even of mandarin and apple core, is refreshed by Adriatic sea-saltiness.

Unoaked, vinified on its lees for a year, the palate is similarly sapid yet intensely sunny, with pithy citrus, cool white currant, fleshy yet trim and to the point. A wonderful example of those Abruzzese whites, this is perfect with sea fish.
Drink 2016-2025.

Impeccably turned out, Alberto's wines reflect their creator. Petal-fresh, with a wave of molten strawberry and minty fruit, suave, so fleshy and yet at the same time delightfully mineral; at its core lie small, sweet, smoky cassis berries. As with the 2013s of the Langhe, Graci’s Etna wines have a sophistication and class which will only develop further. This is a perfect example of why the Nerello Mascalese grapes from Etna’s lava slopes produce Siciliy’s most exciting and refined red wines.

Since 2005, Sicilian Alberto Aiello Graci — aided by his sister Elena and mother Maria Adelaide — has been making refined and true Etna Rosso and Etna Bianco wines from 19 hectares of fruit grown on the still-trembling Mount Etna. More precisely, his black Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, and white Catarratto and Carricante grapes are grown on two prime sites: Contrada Barbabecchi in the village of Solicchiata and Contrada Arcuria in Passopisciaro. The wines are traditionally made without temperature control, employing large oak and, where possible, wild yeast to bring out the full expression of the land.

This wine hails from sleepy Roero, 15 miles from Barolo, with a softer climate and sandy soils. Sandrone’s Valmaggiore vineyard is serene and, in places, very steep; the wine is made naturally and gently. It is stylistically adjacent to Pinot Noir.
Crunchy & refreshing.
100% Nebbiolo.

It was in Puglia in 2000 that Lisa Gilbee met Gaetano, a passionate wine appreciator, and son of a grape grower in Puglia. One thing led to another and the family was eventually completed with two small Italo-Aussie kids and a winery. The project Morella began experimentally in 2001 with a small batch off an extremely old bush vine plot.

By “Old Vine” we’re talking 75-year-old, free-standing vines, knotted, gnarled and twisted together. This isn’t shy at 16 percent alcohol, yet is lively thanks to the biodynamic approach in the vineyard. The nose is beautifully concentrated with notes of cherry and cinnamon, leading on to a full-bodied, rich, powerful and unctuous palate with bramble fruit, tobacco and chocolate notes.

Lustrous mid ruby. Quite intense nose of red fruit and oak and perfectly integrated. Still quite closed and backward on the palate with bags of powdery tannins. Powerful structure on the finish. Very long and balanced, yet undeniably oaky for the moment.
Walter Speller - jancisrobinson.com, Oct 2016

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

Just mid ruby with orange tinges. A little more fruit driven than the straight Barbaresco. Cherry and raspberry with a cool edge to it and the merest suggestion of oak. Beautiful, supple, mid-weight palate of red fruit, and complemented with quite demanding tannins, at least for the moment. Precise.
Walter Speller - jancisrobinson.com, Oct 2016

Mid ruby with the beginning of orange tinges. Deep cherry nose with an exotic spice edge. Rusty nail and orange-skin hints. Perfectly integrated oak, but really backward on the palate. Near perfect balance between fruit and acidity, but the tannic load needs to integrate further. I’d wait a couple of years for the dust to settle.
Walter Speller - jancisrobinson.com, Oct 2016

Tasted from barrel, the exciting 2013 Bolgheri Sassicaia is shaping up to be an epic rendition of this celebrated wine. You get a clear sense of the quality of fruit with your first twirl of the glass. Even at this young stage, the wine shows impressive intensity and elegance. It boasts dark fruit nuances with bold cherry and blackberry that will gain focus and traction with time. Oak notes of vanilla and cinnamon are beginning to show their first signs of mellow integration. This was a cool but classic vintage that saw enhanced aromas, acidity and all the qualities that lead to healthy longevity. The 2013 vintage promises greatness. Drink 2018-2040
95-97/100 Monica Larner - erobertparker.com

Sassicaia’s “Bordeaux blend” is unusual in that it contains no Merlot and is simply made from the two Cabernets; Sauvignon 85% and Franc 15%. The success of the latter in Bolgheri has been a real revelation, normally difficult to ripen, it has found a niche in Bolgheri and is able to lend a cool sophistication to the blends. Sassicaia’s first commercial vintage was 1968 and can rightly claim the title “the first Super-Tuscan”, made, as it was, outside the traditional production zones and from non-traditional grape varieties.

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.

The wine formerly known as Quota 600 now carries the name of its territory on the slopes of Europe’s most active volcano. The 100-percent Carricante wine is fabulous with bright, creamy, citrus fruit on the nose, slightly reminiscent of high-quality Chablis. The minerality of the volcanic soils comes through on the palate. Very much of its place, this is beautifully put together with those citrus notes showing themselves again. Great, crisp acidity and balance, this will drink from release, but will age and develop wonderfully, if you have the patience.

Since 2005, Sicilian Alberto Aiello Graci — aided by his sister Elena and mother Maria Adelaide — has been making refined and true Etna Rosso and Etna Bianco wines from 19 hectares of fruit grown on the still-trembling Mount Etna. More precisely, his black Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, and white Catarratto and Carricante grapes are grown on two prime sites: Contrada Barbabecchi in the village of Solicchiata and Contrada Arcuria in Passopisciaro. The wines are traditionally made without temperature control, employing large oak and, where possible, wild yeast to bring out the full expression of the land.

From one of the most southern points of Europe comes a delicate, ‘light-on-its-feet’ wine, which tastes like it comes from much further north. Floral notes of roses with red-berry fruit and white pepper greet the nose. Ripe, summer fruit with a savoury, saline edge on the palate, this is delicate and fresh with notes of raspberry, red cherries and spice, while crisp acidity and light tannins round this out perfectly. Drink 2015-2018
Chris Pollington – Private Account Manager

Located in Sicily ’s south-eastern Val di Noto province, the landscape of which is dominated by the red-loam-over-whitelimestone soils and dry-stone walls of the Iblei Mountain plateau, and by such beautiful towns such as Siracusa, Vittoria and Modica; this is a world away from Etna, which looms on the horizon. The Occhipinti family is synonymous with the Frappato grape that underpins Siciliy’s only DOCG: Cerasuolo di Vittoria. Arianna kicked off in 2004, making wines in a family farmhouse, before transferring, in 2013, to a purposebuilt winery, where her 22 hectares of Frappato and Nero d’Avola, along with 1.5 hectares of intense Albanello and Zibibbo white grapes, are vinified using cement and Stockinger barrels (made of Slavonian, German and Austrian oak)