The 2020 Rosato Negroamaro Primerose lifts up with a delightfully spicy and perfumed bouquet. Rich textural depths are nicely offset by a mix of brisk acids, young strawberry fruits and chalky mineral tones. Inner rose blends with peach herbal tea as the Primerose finishes with refreshing persistence. If you’ve never experienced a Negroamaro Rose, this would be a great place to start.

The 2020 Rosato Susumaniello Askos slowly evolves in the glass, at first just dusty and floral, then developing a vivid display of melon and sweet spice over time. It’s soft, almost creamy in feel, soothing further with ripe citrus-tinged fruits, as a wave of juicy acidity lifts the experience nicely. This concluded perfumed and spicy to notes of ginger and kiwi. Very nice.

This is really something, showing all the depth and intensity of a top nebbiolo with strawberry, light cherry, stone and floral aromas. Some spice and dried fruit, too. It’s medium-bodied with fine tannins and a long, flavorful finish. Some chocolate and dark fruit. Burnt-orange undertone. Shows intensity and depth. Drink after 2023.

Made with organic fruit, the 2016 Carmignano Villa di Capezzana is an 80/20 blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is open and accessible, showing a graceful and pure quality of fruit with dark cherry, blackberry, spice, tar and tobacco. The mouthfeel is streamlined and compact, but what this wine lacks in power it makes up for in elegance. This sample from 2016 was sent along with a bottle from 2010 so that I could track its impressive bottle evolution. In fact, I widened my suggested drinking window after tasting that older bottle.

Though not far from Poliziano's Le Caggiole, Asinone offers a more powerful Vino Nobile derived from the denser, clay-rich soils at south and southwest expositions. That dark power is accentuated in the warm 2017 vintage, with plenty of rich black-cherry flavors, layered with notes of licorice and baking spice, a profit that would find a warm welcome in a steakhouse. 

Lively acidity and tangy salinity drive this creamy, light-bodied white, whose flavors of pineapple, apricot and lemon thyme show a zesty orange peel edge, followed by a lingering finish. Drink Now. 

The 2017 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione shows all the signatures of this site, all turned up to the maximum. I am not sure I have ever tasted a Vietti Castiglione with this much heft. Super-ripe dark red fruit, rose petal, mocha, dried herbs and menthol all build in an ample, resonant Barolo. Readers should be prepared to cellar the 2017 for the next handful of years, perhaps longer. A whole range of floral and savory notes punctuates the explosive finish.

The 2019 Pinot Grigio Mongris is a spicy, savory expression of the grape, fresh and more floral than fruity. It’s silky textures usher in citrus-tinged orchard fruits and salty minerals, creating an energetic and tactile display. Hints of lime and residual acids sizzle through the finale, making it hard to resist another sip.