The 2017 Toscana Sangiovese is the last wine I tasted with Gianfranco Soldera before he passed away in 2019. I had a visit scheduled for late August that year, but an unusually early harvest required Soldera to push back my tasting by a few days. By the time I arrived at Case Basse in early September, all the grapes had been picked, and our tasting started with those young musts. Today, the 2017 is sensual and racy, showing all the open-knit, seductive character of this dry, warm vintage. Soft contours wrap around a core of red berry fruit, kirsch, rose petals, mint and cinnamon. This will be a gorgeous wine to follow over the next two decades or more, but cellaring is not at all essential.

The 2017 is a remarkably pretty yet kaleidoscopic style of Sangiovese, with a whimsical bouquet of fresh rose buds, stems and all, bright cherry with spicy underpinnings of clove, shavings of cedar and mentholated herbs. It hovers gracefully across the palate, lifted and ethereal, with tart red berries and exotic spices cascading across its chiseled acidic core. A contrast of sweet fruit and savory saltiness keeps you guessing with each passing second. The 2017 finishes with round tannins, utterly unaffected by the harsh conditions of the vintage. Violet-tinged wild berries and a caking minerality seem to encase yet crackle upon the senses. It’s difficult to understand how this complex beauty hails from such a warm and dry vintage. If anything, a more immediate character is encapsulated here, yet it's still just as deep as collectors would expect. Due to the dry heat of the 2017 vintage, Gianfranco Soldera decided to begin harvest on August 26th, the earliest ever at the estate.

Bottled end of July 2021 and released in Italy in March 2022. Very difficult vintage with 40 °C temperatures. A risk of sunburn, as in 2003. But apparently the vines showed no water stress 'because of our terroir' with its well-drained soils and the vines' deep roots. Grapes had to be very carefully selected after the earliest harvest ever, which began on 26 August. Just 11,000 bottles produced (15,000–17,000 is typical.) Very fresh nose and marked acidity on the palate. Lovely fragrance but it needs a bit of time for that youthful acidity to subside and the fruit to assert itself. Impressively long but not ready yet. (JR)