Superlative Tuscan Trio
These really are some of the best Tuscans I’ve ever tried, and easily the best producers from the region that we’ve had through the Vinomofo doors. Both biodynamic, small estates with tiny production, and this is the good stuff. The ’13s are starkly different thanks to subregional variation - both awesome, just different. The two Riecine wines are the other almost-matching pair. Vintage and oak treatment (or complete lack thereof) differentiates the two, in wonderful ways. Ah, sangiovese. You’re giving nebbiolo a run for its money. A run for mine, and the future money I don’t have, more’s the point.
Every bankruptcy-worthy pack contains a bottle of each of the following incredible vinos:
Red
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- Sangiovese
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- Tuscany
- Sangiovese
- Tuscany
There’s a reason this was one of the only international wines at Justin’s wedding (CEO at the 'fo). Come to think of it, the only one. The wine for when Barolo doesn’t make the cut. San Polino is the first biodynamic estate in Brunello, and they’re a subscriber to the saying, ‘wine is made in the vineyard’. It shows. A tiny producer, they make their organic (biodynamic practices) red in old Slavonian oak, and age it at least a couple of years. It’s brilliant, if still a little young. Brooding, but fresh, with black and blue fruits galore, tied down by red cherry-like acidity and fine, strapping tannins. Yet, there’s a milk chocolate ease to it, a coffee bean-like energy, a raspberry-like simplicity. This simplicity belies the layers; polished yes, but complex and oozing potential. Long, perfumed, youthful. Age, decant. Love it long time.
Red
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- Sangiovese
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- Tuscany
- Sangiovese
- Tuscany
I probably shouldn’t repeat what my gentle, good-natured sister Nicci said when she first tasted this, but I will - sorry mum. “Oh my god, that’s just a mouthful of f*cking delicious!” As always, she’s right. There was considerable conversation around the Tasting Bench, when we were trying this with its sibling, La Gioia. We recalled that one of the wines had aged for a couple of years in newer oak (albeit large barrels), while the other had mostly seen concrete. Full disclosure: I really wanted to like the concrete-aged one more. And you know what? I did. Give it a few years, and maybe it’ll be a different story. But for now, as Eddie the Wine Guy says, this wine’s ‘the complete package’. And - spoiler alert - this is the one that’s spent most of its short life in concrete. There’s all the cherry, tarry rose, fine licorice, spice and fruit weight you could ask for from a sangiovese, plus a richness to it that you’d swear come from some oak treatment, even when compared side-by side with its oaked sibling. The colour’s as light as the palate’s intense, with spicy acidity being ridden gleefully by glorious red fruits and just-sandy, rounded tannins. Refer back to what Nicci said. Buy for now or over the next five years. It’s too good to wait longer.
Red
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- Sangiovese
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- Tuscany
- Sangiovese
- Tuscany
There was considerable conversation around the Tasting Bench, when we were trying this with its sibling, the Riecine di Riecine. We recalled that one of the wines had spent a couple of years in newer oak (albeit large barrels), while the other had mostly seen concrete (plus a little bit of older oak). Full disclosure: I really wanted to like the concrete-aged one. And I did - with a catch. So the Riecine di Riecine is the one without the new oak element, and I love it for its lack of winemaking artefact, and purity of fruit. The catch is that I love that wine more right NOW, while I love this wine - La Gioia - for its shining future. It’s a choc-mulberry-cherry delight right here, and wow - there’s such impressive savoury depth to this. It’s darker in colour and fruit, but with brighter acidity and more textural presence. It’s richer but more linear. I think this wine is about depth and concentration, while the Riecine di Riecine hangs its hat on breadth and latent power. They’re both great wines, and for the same reason: 100% sangiovese from one of the best producers in the world (there, I said it). I guess this is a case where you really need to have both in your life. I’d save this a year while you drink the other. It certainly lives up to its name. This is the vinous embodiment of joy when you have such wines to choose between.