Italy

Ripe black cherries, wild blackberries, blackcurrants, nutmeg, licorice, mahogany, musk and some dried thyme on the nose. It’s full-bodied and polished with intense blue and black-fruit flavors, wonderfully balanced with wood, spice and smoky notes. Velvety, integrated tannins.

Salita is our truest and most unique representation of Sangiovese in Castagnoli. Olive trees grow together with the Salita alberello bush vines, like it has been traditionally done in Tuscany for centuries. At the highest elevation of Castagnoli at 450 meters above sea level, the vines produce fascinating complexity and character.

Colleoni grows organic Sangiovese in less-heeled areas of Montalcino that he has identified as top terroirs. This is one great example: it tastes like the Gang of Four might have given him a tip or two on his vinification. Expect ripe Sangiovese fruit with a streak of bitter cherry and a pleasant dusting of Tuscan tannin.

Eucalyptus leather underbrush and licorice aromas. Linear, firmly structured palate offers dried cherry orange zest coffee bean same licorice note as nose alongside grainy tannins, drying tannins.

La Gerla Brunello di Montalcino is known and valued for its special elegance and pleasant aromas; extremely aromatic, soft and velvety to taste, aged in the bottle for at least eight months.

Silvio Giamello Vincenzia Barbaresco presents a wonderfully rich, intense aroma of classically styled Barbaresco, layered with underbrush, tobacco, and bitters. A dense and savory palate, framed by firm tannins and plenty of cooling acidity.

Not so intense ruby colored with orange shades. Delicate scent, dry taste.

For six generations, Massimo Benevelli’s family has farmed the steep hillsides in southeastern Barolo. Massimo, now forty-one, has worked among its vines since he was fourteen, and he knows exactly how to translate this distinctive terroir, which produces wines with the structure and concentration that epitomize great Barolo from Monforte.

Produced in the tiniest of quantities, this absolutely stunning Barolo is a delight! Texture like velvet and extremely elegant, it is open, generous and layered with juicy red cherry flavours overlain with herbs and spices, plus notes of raspberry and cranberry.

An absolute live wire of a white grown at high elevation in the shadow of jagged Dolomite peaks, Nössing’s Müller features a lustrous perfume bursting with exotic aromas of guava, passion fruit, lime, and wildflowers. This sleek, bracing mineral bomb epitomizes mountain refreshment in its purest form.

Manni is a towering, stubbly, Alpine hulk of a man with a comical cynicism about the modern wine world, as if Woody Harrelson grew several inches taller, threw on a baseball cap, and launched into a bombastic tirade in a mixture of German and Italian, grunting and sighing about Italian consumers’ tasteless appetite for insipid bulk wines.

Two brothers, Alessandro and Gian Natale Fantino, run this family estate in Monforte d’Alba. Alessandro managed the vineyards and served as the enologist at Cantina Bartolo Mascarello for 20 years, from 1978 to 1997.

The Salvatore Molettieri Taurasi Riserva Cinque Querce is full-bodied with notes of fig, black berry, and an underlying herbal touch. The tannins and acidity are present but work harmoniously to give a smoother mouthfeel.

Shiny straw yellow color with greenish tinges. The nose is refined and elegant with complex aromas and flavors of juicy white peaches.

Nose: Distinct red fruit aromas, especially cherry and a hint of marasca with a hint of spice and shrubs.

Taste: The fruity sensation it perceives on the nose. It is elegant, with an excellent balance of acidity and softness. Silky tannins leave a lingering finish.