Italy

98 Points! Intense, vibrant aromas of strawberries and raspberries, together with cola and flowery notes. Milk and mint nuances, too. Shows a lot of licorice elegance and blood-orange freshness on both the nose and palate with firm, velvety tannins and well-packed, brilliant acidity and a polished finish. Good aftertaste and amazing potential. Very classic. Drinkable now, but best from 2025. - JamesSuckling.com

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Points, Wine Spectator's #3 Wine of the Year 2024! Laced with pure cherry, strawberry, graphite and tobacco aromas and flavors, this red is beautifully supported by a backbone of vibrant acidity and taut, refined tannins. Everything is framed by vanilla and toasty oak in the best sense, revealing harmony, with a long, orange-tinged finish and, yes, even drinkability at this stage. Best to give this a few more years in the bottle. Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. - Wine Spectator

98 Points! The 2021 Tignanello is every bit as impressive from bottle as it was from barrel and then just after bottling. Silky and polished, with exceptional finesse, the 2021 has all the pedigree become a modern benchmark for Tignanello and Italian wine more broadly. Bright dark red fruit, blood orange, spice, cedar and sweet pipe tobacco all soar out of the gals, framed by a discreet touch of French oak that adds raciness. In some vintages, the elements are discernible. In 2021, it is the total harmony of the wine that makes the strongest and deepest impression. The 2021 spent 17 months in wood, three months in neutral oak during the malolactic fermentation and then 14 months (50% new) for the rest of its aging. Superb. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

98 Points! First made in 1971, this legendary Italian wine now celebrates its 50th birthday. Happy Birthday, Tignanello! The Marchesi Antinori 2021 Tignanello (made with 79% Sangiovese, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Cabernet Franc) pulls on all the heartstrings. To be released in May, the wine shows a quintessentially pretty taste profile with tart fruit flavors, redcurrant, tea leaf, heritage rose, crushed white pepper, licorice, nutmeg, clove and chopped mint. It opens slowly to reveal more richness and exuberance with time, becoming downright voluptuous and heady a short while later. The through line, however, remains the bright freshness and minerality of Sangiovese. Compared to the 2018 vintage (which I also loved), this vintage has more overall fruit weight and volume. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com

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98 Points! The 2021 Barolo Villero soars from the glass with intensely spiced, balsamic-tinged aromatics. Deceptively medium in body, with superb persistence and class, the 2021 is simply magnificent. Beams of tannin shape the unforgettable, persistent finish. This is another wine that demands patience. The Villero is not an easy wine, rather it is a Barolo that offers a more inward, at times intellectual, expression of Nebbiolo. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

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98 Points! Filippo Chia and his team kill it in this vintage. The Castello Romitorio 2020 Brunello di Montalcino Filo di Seta is a beautiful and balanced wine. This estate is making some of the best Brunellos from Montalcino today. In the not too distant past, its vineyards were once considered too cool for ideal fruit ripening, but with climate change, the vines are now in a prime position for balanced phenolics, sugars and acidity. This wine shows a wide and complete bouquet, spanning many aromas, all delivered with direct vertical intensity. This is one of the delightful oxymorons that occurs with fine wine. It shows soft, building intensity, but most importantly, the fruit quality is bright and fresh (with 7,760 bottles made). This is a keeper. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com

97 Points! A silky texture announces this cherry-, blackberry- and violet-flavored red, along with notes of graphite, tobacco and wild herbs. Well-structured, with profound yet finely wrought tannins and an extra dimension of finesse that stands out. Boasting superb balance and a seemingly never-ending aftertaste, this is multidimensional and focused. - Wine Spectator

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97 Points, Wine Spectator's #3 Wine of the Year 2024! Laced with pure cherry, strawberry, graphite and tobacco aromas and flavors, this red is beautifully supported by a backbone of vibrant acidity and taut, refined tannins. Everything is framed by vanilla and toasty oak in the best sense, revealing harmony, with a long, orange-tinged finish and, yes, even drinkability at this stage. Best to give this a few more years in the bottle. Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. - Wine Spectator

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98+ Points! Drop-dead gorgeous, the kaleidoscopic 2019 Aglianico del Vulture Superiore Riserva Titolo seduces with a cascade of violets and lavender, giving way to shavings of pine, incense, and a core of crushed black cherries. It's deeply textural, with masses of mineral-infected red and black fruit flowing across a stream of pure velvet. The 2019 folds in upon itself throught the finale yet maintains exceptional freshness, finishing with a pleasantly bitter tinge of cocoa as notes of tobacco fade. The titolo Riserva hails only from Elena Fucci's oldest vines, between 60 and 70 years old. It is refined in a single 500-liter barrel for 40 months. This edition marries the majesty of the Titolo vineyard and its old vines with the magic of the 2019 vintage. Fantastic. - Eric Guido, Vinous Media

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100 Points! The Antinori's 2021 Solaia is another wine that captures all of the potential I sensed when I tasted it some months ago. More than anything else, the 2021 is a fine example of the style Antinori favors these days, an approach that favors finesse more than opulence. Dark plum, mocha, licorice, chocolate, spice, lavender and menthol build effortlessly in the glass. Oak and tannin are impeccably balanced. The 2021 spent 18 months in wood, three months in once-used barrels during the malolactic fermentation and then 15 months in 100% new barrels for the rest of its aging. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

97 Points! All said and done, the Marchesi Antinori 2021 Solaia is a monument to perfect winemaking. This coiffed supermodel does not show a single hair follicle out of place. However, it doesn't quite have the same sex appeal of the Tignanello. In my conversations with Estate Manager Renzo Cotarella during this tasting, it was expressed this way: "Tignanello is unexpected. Solaia is expected." Whereas Tignanello is a wine of vertical lift and energy, Solaia is a wine of lasting power. The wine offers generous depth and layering with soft tannins and some of the spicy pink peppercorn you get from the 9% Cabernet Franc (added to 77% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Sangiovese). The finish is extremely velvety and soft, but I notice that the flavors seem to become sweeter and riper the longer this wine stays in the glass. This newest release will hit the market in September. - Monica Larner, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

97 Points! This is a beautifully curated Solaia with blackcurrants and raspberries plus lavender and violet undertones. Graphite highlights it all. Just some new wood coming through. It’s full-bodied with fine velvety tannins that run the length of the wine, caressing the palate. Give this three or four years to come around. Best after 2027. - James Suckling

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98 Points! So floral and fresh with rose stem, sandalwood and orange blossom. Cherries, too. Full-bodied yet reserved and held back with creamy fine tannins and a beautiful finish. Shows brightness and finesse. Silky texture. One of the best I have had from here. A Brunello that emphasizes purity of fruit. Give this three to four years more. Try after 2026. - JamesSuckling.com

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98 Points! The captivating Baricci 2019 Brunello is another gorgeous wine from this storied producer. It offers enticing scents of woodland berry, new leather, camphor, pipe tobacco and dog rose while the full-bodied, elegantly structured palate delivers juicy Morello cherry, red plum, licorice and cake spice before a flinty mineral finish. A backbone of tight, refined tannins and fresh acidity provide support and racy tension. While it’s still youthfully austere, it already shows great balance and precision. - Kerin O' Keefe

97 Points! The 2019 Brunello di Montalcino is youthfully inward and darkly floral with an herbal tinge and hints of crushed ashen stone that give way to vivid black raspberry and exotic spice. This is juicy and spry, with racy cherry-berry fruit and stimulating acidity that creates a sensation of boundless energy, even as a saturation of primary concentration settles in toward the close. The 2019 finishes with incredible length and youthful tension, leaving balsamic spice, sage and licorice notes lingering over a bed of dusty tannins. - Eric Guido, Viinous Media

97 Points! Baricci shines with this stunning 2019, from the estate’s south- to southeast-facing plots at 300 metres on the Montosoli hill. It is still far too young, but everything is in place for a long and gratifying life. Preliminary cedar and vanillin nuances melt into sumptuous cherry, and there's a pronounced stony, mineral edge along with juicy blood orange to impart further intricacy. Refined and graceful with layered substance, it has long, chalky, perfectly ‘al dente’ tannins and sappy, mouthwatering acidity. - Decanter Magazine

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98 Points! The 2019 Brunello Di Montalcino pours a bright red color and shows more aromatic restraint than the 2021. The nose shows wild raspberries, darker berries, and dried floral tones, with a more muted, understated frame. Medium to full-bodied, it offers ripe tannins, balanced acidity, and solid length, although it feels a touch less polished than the 2021 at this stage. It should drink well over the next 12 to 15 years. Drink 2026-2041. - Audrey Frick, jebdunnuck.com

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100 Points! Complex aromas of walnut, dark fruit, stone, oyster shell, chalk and dried fruits. This shows fabulous intensity and balance with layer upon layer of fruit and polished tannins. Builds on the palate. It goes on for minutes. - JamesSuckling.com

95+ Points! Made from the estate's oldest vines, the 2010 Brunello di Montalcino is a bold and powerful wine that shows enormous precision and grit. On the Brunello scale, this expression from Siro Pacenti offers more dark fruit, plum, spice, tar and smoke. The wine reveals beautiful density and an important mouthfeel that hits the palate with seductive determination. This wine is holding up beautifully since I tasted it last and has even improved in terms of its complexity and overall elegance. It still has a long way to go. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com, 2019

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98 Points! I really appreciate the dark-berry and burnt-orange aromas that follow through to a full body, very integrated tannins and a ripe, juicy fruit character. Savory, succulent and salty. Hints of chocolate and salted nuts. So juicy and gorgeous. A fabulous red. - JamesSuckling.com

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100 Points! The 2010 Brunello di Montalcino is every bit as thrilling as it was on the many occasions I tasted it from barrel. Black cherry, hard candy, plum, rose petal, menthol and lavender saturate the palate in a sumptuous, racy Brunello endowed with magnificent depth and pedigree. An utterly stunning, sensual wine, the 2010 constantly changes in the glass as it conquers all the senses with an exotic kaleidoscope of aromas, flavors and textures. I remember tasting the 2010 from cask a few years ago when Diego Molinari was too unwell to go down to the cellar. Nora Molinari tasked me with essentially serving myself as we went from vintage to vintage and cask to cask. For days after, I was mortified that I might not have closed some of the spigots tightly enough. Fortunately, that was not the case. In all of my years tasting the wines of Montalcino, I have only come across two wines with this level of textural unctuosity and sweetness; Gianfranco Soldera's 1983 Brunello and 1990 Riserva. Cerbaiona's 2010 Brunello di Montalcino will leave readers weak at the knees. It is every bit that profound. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

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98 Points! Subtle and beautiful on the nose with currants, flowers and light sage aromas that follow through to a full body with ultra-fine tannins and a long and flavorful finish. Extremely polished and poised. Classy. - James Suckling

97 Points! The 2020 Solaia is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, and Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple in color, it needs a little coaxing to bring out notes of warm cassis, black cherry compote, and black raspberries, followed by hints of cedar chest, unsmoked cigars, violets, and cardamom. The full-bodied palate is densely laden with rich, bold black fruits, supported by a firm backbone of ripe, grainy tannins and jaw-dropping tension, finishing long and lifted. - The Wine Independent

97 Points! The 2020 Solaia is an infant. I expected a more exuberant wine, but the 2020 is built along more classic lines. Black cherry, plum, gravel, incense, smoke, pencil shavings and spice all open effortlessly. As always, Solaia is a Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine, but it is a Cabernet that is distinctly Italian, with plenty of Tuscan acid and structure driving through the mid-palate and into the finish. The 2020 is a terrific example of the recent stylistic shift at Antinori. In the past, richness and opulence were qualities of a vintage that would have been amplified in the vineyard and cellar. Today, the aim is to capture a more balanced expression of these kinds of vintages, and that very much comes through. - Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

 

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96 Points! With vines planted in 1992 in a cozy and protected position within the folds of hills above Gattinara at 400 meters in elevation, the Molsino vineyard is known to produce extra fruit weight, concentration and power. This is definitely the case with the Conterno Nervi 2018 Gattinara Vigna Molsino. Of the two single-vineyard wines made at this estate (the other being the Vigna Valferana), I'm giving the aging edge to this bottle and have extended the drinking window as a result. During my tasting with Roberto Conterno, he described this wine as having "broader shoulders" and "more bite to the mouthfeel." Those are exact descriptions, and I would add that Molsino shows special dimension, in terms of both width and depth, with red and purple fruits that spread evenly over the palate. The wine's finish is powered by tarry smoke and campfire ash that add vertical lift and length. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com

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98 Points! Not made since the 2011 vintage to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the winery and before that not since 1964, the Paolo Scavino 2016 Barolo Riserva is gorgeous. Made with a selection of the best grapes from the estate’s historic vineyards, it’s intensely fragrant, boasting multifaceted aromas of forest floor, iris, ripe woodland berry, camphor and brown exotic spice. Combining power and finesse, the delicious palate offers cherry marinated in spirits, raspberry compote, licorice and tobacco set against a backbone of firm, fine-grained tannins. Fresh acidity keeps it balanced and energized. Still primary and youthfully austere, it needs a few more years to unwind and develop. Drink 2028–2046. - Kerin O’Keefe

98 Points! Dark red/magenta in color, the 2016 Barolo Riserva is remarkable, offering loads of kirsch, polished leather, balsamic, dark chocolate, and crushed violets. The list goes on and on as it opens and begins to show more mineral aromas of graphite and truffle. Medium to full-bodied, it’s an exquisite red, with ripe, polished tannins, a seamless structure, and a long finish. It retains wonderful purity and ripeness and leaves a haunting sensation as it tapers ever so slowly. This stunning wine from the Scavino family is built for the long haul. Drink 2026-2056.-Audrey Frick, JebDunnuck.com

98 Points! Though still a bit shy in aroma, this red offers a deep well of ripe cherry, strawberry, raspberry, mint, mineral and tobacco flavors. Intense and vibrant, combining finesse and power, with terrific tension and a long, complex aftertaste. Drink now through 2042. - Wine Spectator

 

 

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98 Points! The Elio Grasso 2016 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is immediately expressive and bright. The wine is savory and rich with a generous bouquet of dried berries, spice, crushed flowers and even a hint of market-fresh blueberry that we don't see in the other wines. The bouquet moves toward balsam notes with mint and rosemary the longer it stays in the glass. I also get anise flower and fresh licorice root as a pretty signature on the close. With aging in large Slavonian oak casks, the tannic integration is spot-on and so is the freshness and purity of those beautiful Nebbiolo nuances. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com Learn More