New Italian Red Wine Finds – Gaja Ca’Marcanda Magari Toscana IGT 2020

Bordeaux Red Blends from Bolgheri Tuscany Italy
$79

The 2020 Magari has Glowing, intense color and shows a complex character without being brash.

The nose opens up little by little, it starts fresh to then develop to ripe red fruits, followed by graphite, juniper and liquorice.

The palate is sweet and long, with notes of mulberry and sour cherry.

The fine-grained tannins are extremely silky. The finish is sapid.

Blend: 60% Cabernet Franc, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot

Le Macchiole Paleo 2019

Cabernet Franc from Tuscany Italy
$174

First produced in 1989, this incredible wine is the symbol of the winery, and it truly epitomizes Bolgheri.

At first, the wine was a classic Bordeaux blend but became a Cabernet Franc monovarietal in 2001.

Since then, it has been a huge success.

The name “paleo” refers to a wild herb found on the Tuscan coast, and it symbolizes a strong local identity and the will to reach all goals.

The Le Macchiole 2019 Paleo reveals an extremely precise and etched personality that is perfectly suited to this classic vintage.

If you love Cabernet Franc, this is your wine.

The bouquet is linear and tight with wet gravel, lead pencil and graphite that make an elegant frame around blackberry and black plum.

You taste every last miniature detail in this complex and powerful expression.

Fruit comes from a 5.5-hectare plot that rises from 37 to 70 meters above sea level.

The soils are a mix of clay, sand, silt, stone and limestone that is characteristic of this stretch of Tuscan coastline.

The wine is fermented in cement and aged in barrique for 20 months.

On second nose, Paleo begins to offer cardamom pod, exotic spice and fragrant rose water.

New Italian Red Wine Finds – Ornellaia ‘Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia’ Bolgheri Rosso 2019

Bordeaux Red Blends from Tuscany Italy
$75

Deep and dark with lifted seductive aromas of red fruits and spice, powerful ripe red and black fruits wrapped in a structured but lush, elegant frame. Tremendous length and complexity.

The Ornellaia 2020 Bolgheri Rosso Le Serre Nuove dell’Ornellaia (a proprietary blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) is a generous and darkly toned red blend that has the extra fruit fiber, sweetness and generous plumpness of a warm vintage.

The fullness of the fruit is on full display, but in a very relaxed and natural manner.

The wine never feels like too much.

The tannins are yielding and velvety, and this purebred Tuscan red wraps thickly over the palate.

It’s poised for near- and medium-term drinking.

Arcanum ‘Valadorna’ Toscana IGT 2018

Bordeaux Red Blends from Tuscany Italy
$60

The first impression of the nose is earthy with notes of cypress, vanilla bean, and spice.

There are deep fruit flavors of black cherries, plums and blueberries followed by pleasant hints of chocolate and dried rose petals.

On the palate, the tannins are chewy and accompanied by lively acidity; contributing to a long finish dominated by flavors of dried figs and licorice.

The 2018 Valadorna is a time bomb of joy that will stand the test of time and age well in the cellar if patience permits.

Blend: 61% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot

The celebrated 2018 vintage in Tuscany continues to impress.

This Bordeaux blend is based on Merlot but has a slightly Left Bank style, and will soon become the estate’s current vintage of Valadorna, due to be released this year.

Aged in 60% new French oak, it is polished and intense, with bramble fruit, earthy balsamic tones, a milk chocolate aroma and a slightly herbal touch. Its tight-knit structure, combining crisp acidity and firm yet velvety tannins, makes this a powerful yet graceful wine.

Even if you’re not a fan of Tuscan Merlot, the tense character it gives to wines in the Chianti region is to be admired.

New Italian Red Wine Finds – Duemani ‘Altrovino’ Costa Toscana IGT 2019

Bordeaux Red Blends from Tuscany Italy
$45

A wine with exceptional texture and grace the Altrovino represents the blending of Luca’s two favorite grapes, Cabernet Franc and Merlot.

The aromatic intensity of the Cab Franc coupled with the lush, rich juiciness of the Merlot creates a powerful and complex wine that suitable for a wide variety of meals and occasions. It is the only blend produced at the winery.

Tasted as an unfinished wine, the 2019 Merlot Cabernet Franc Altrovino is a blend that is assembled immediately after the harvest and fermented in cement and terracotta.

Future vintages will probably see more terracotta, as winemaker Luca D’Attoma is moving in this direction, especially as this material will give the wine an edge when it comes to aging, he says.

The bouquet delivers some minty tones and eucalyptus essence on top of dark cherry and blackberry.

There is a lot of concentration and fruit weight in this bottle, with a blast of pretty freshness on the close.

Castello di Bolgheri Superiore 2020

Bordeaux Red Blends from Bolgheri Tuscany Italy
$100

Made with 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Cabernet Franc, this boasts aromas of blackskinned berry, vanilla and Mediterranean brush.

The juicy balanced palate doles out ripe black currant, licorice, tobacco and white pepper alongside fine-grained tannins.

This estate is on a slow growth trajectory, showing results that deliver more satisfaction with each year that I taste them.

This 2020 vintage, with 30,000 bottles made, follows closely on its heels.

This blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Merlot is not too dense or heavy.

It can’t be faulted for being overripe or too astringent like some of its peers. Instead, the wine shows smooth fruit integration and solid background notes of blackberry, spice and cured tobacco, worthy of a sampler plate of wild boar charcuterie.

New Italian Red Wine Finds – Fattoria La Massa ‘Giorgio Primo’ Toscana IGT 2019

Tuscany Italy
$100

Giorgio Primo is the best of the best for Giampolo Motto, the visionary behind La Massa since its founding in 1992.

This is a weighty, imposing, classically endowed, and extremely lush Super-Tuscan that models itself after First Growth Bordeaux – cabernet dominant, with complementary players of merlot and petit verdot. T

o do all this, in the very heart of Chianti Classico, requires a bold and worldly perspective – not to mention a penchant for risk.

Three decades later, Giampolo has proved to be just the man for the task!

This Giorgio Primo 2018 is carefully selected from the estate’s best parcels of clay and schist soils sprinkled with limestone remnants of an ancient sea.

Ten plots made the cut in 2018, for a final blend of 55% cabernet sauvignon, 40% merlot, and 5% petit verdot.

The wine is reared in 50% New French oak barriques – granting a weight and polish to the wine that helps to integrate the structured and mineral edge of the powerful fruit.

Initial aromas of deep and rich black currants, blackberries, and roast coffee open to reveal nuanced accents of new saddle leather and pipe tobacco.

The mouth is velvety, round, and lacquering – with flavors of more dark berries, plums, cedar, sage, and juniper.

A hint of graphite underneath carries the wine into a chocolatey and elegant finish.

This is classy, sassy, and just now beginning to showcase its immense potential.

Podere Grattamacco Bolgheri Superiore 2019

Tuscan Blends from Bolgheri Tuscany Italy
$115

The 2019 Podere Grattamacco Bolgheri Superiore is a bright ruby red color.

The nose is filled with intense aromas of small red fruits with balsamic and Mediterranean scrub hints.

The palate is characterized by an austere flavor, of notable freshness and of ample volume with a balance between minerality and an enveloping tannic texture and persistent finish.

Ideal with game and game, with local wild boar preparations, with braised red meat stews and medium-aged hard cheeses

Here is another one of those vintage-defying wines to emerge from a very challenging growing season with lots of rain and below average temperatures.

The 2019 Bolgheri Superiore Grattamacco benefits from extreme fruit selection and careful management in the winery.

This is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sangiovese from one of the most celebrated estates on the Tuscan Coast.

The bouquet is full and generous. It peels back with thick intensity revealing luscious tones of blackberry fruit with spice, leather and tobacco.

There is structural firmness here but the tannins are well integrated within the fleshiness of the wine.

New Italian Red Wine Finds – Altesino Brunello di Montalcino 2016

Sangiovese from Montalcino Tuscany Italy
$65

Brilliant ruby-red color, this classic Rosso offers sumptuous aromas of ripened blackberries and dark cherries.

On the palate, the wine is generously well-rounded and rich with fruit-forward notes complimented by hints of leather and mesquite.

The Altesino 2016 Brunello di Montalcino is ripe and round with lots of pretty textural richness and juicy fruit flavors.

These qualities tie in nicely with the character of the vintage that saw long and hot summer days.

Dark fruit, plum and blackcurrant pave the way for savory spice, tobacco and limestone.

The effect is soothing and rich, and the wine remains perfumed and silky to the end.

The tannins are well managed in this hot-vintage wine.

Fruit is sourced over 25 hectares of vines with tufo soils and alberese rock.