Provencal herbs and fresh plums on the nose. The palate is medium- to full-bodied, chewy and delineated, showing plums and a touch of orange zest. This needs some time to soften. Try from 2027.

Wonderfully fresh from the first tilt of the glass, the 2020 Ghiaie della Furba opens with a blend of minty herbs, spiced orange peels and sour cherries. It’s silky and refined with a saturating core of red primary fruits. Hints of sour citrus and tactile mineral tones form toward the close. Edgy tannins tug at the senses as this tapers off long and staining, leaving a pleasant bitter sensation, nuances of cedary spice and a tart cranberry crunchiness. The 2020 is powerful and impossibly young at the moment. Five to six years of cellaring are highly recommended.

Dusty and floral, the 2022 Barco Reale opens in the glass with a pretty blend of autumnal spices, cedar shavings, Tuscan dust and dried strawberries. It sweeps across the palate with ease, soft-textured and supple, while mineral-tinged red berry fruits slowly saturate toward the close. A web of fine tannins frames the experience as the 2022 finishes with hints of orange citrus and a tart cherry twang.

The 2023 Trebbiano Capezzana is youthfully coy, mixing hints of ginger with wildflowers and lime. It's round and supple with a whiplash of zesty acidity and a saline flourish offsetting nearly oily textures and depths of ripe nectarine. It finishes tense and incredibly long, tapering off with a cheek-puckering lemony concentration. The 2023 is painfully young today but full of potential.

Complex and viscous, this dessert white exudes caramel, brown butter, molasses, dried fig, orange peel and bitter walnut aromas and flavors. Its intense sweetness is cut by balancing acidity, while the flavors ply the seemingly endless aftertaste. Trebbiano and San Colombano. Drink now through 2038. 255 cases made, 50 cases imported.

Barco Reale di Carmignano fits the Italian “rosso” category, as in Rosso di Montalcino, a fruit-forward rendition of a structured age-worthy wine. Capezzana, a leading producer in Carmignano, has fashioned a fragrant and refined one, filled with red cherries counterbalanced by earthy savory notes. Fine structure imparted by Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend is apparent and prevents overwhelming fruitiness.

JAMES SUCKLING TOP 100 ITALY 2025 - #13

This is an excellent Vin Santo with stunning, vibrant complexity and freshness. The nose shows lifted aromas of prunes, apricots and dates, dried figs and nuts, orange marmalade and a whiff of celery. Full-bodied and dense, oily and mellow, balanced by zesty acidity that keeps the palate polished and drives the very long and bright hazelnut finish. Drink or hold.

Opening like a veritable spice box, the 2020 Carmignano Villa di Capezzana entices with its autumnal blend of allspice, clove, and star anise before giving way to steeped plums and sage. It’s silky and refined, with supple textures and ripe red and blue fruits that swirl across a stream of vibrant acidity. It leaves a pleasantly chewy sensation while finishing with fine-grained tannins and a staining of primary concentration. Wait a full minute and hints of white pepper still linger. Wow. While richer than usual and easier to appreciate out of the gate, the 2020 is balanced for a long and steady evolution.