The 2008 Tenuta di Trinoro sweeps across the palate with layers of beautifully articulated fruit, violets, spices and minerals, while avoiding the heaviness and overripeness that characterized some of the wines of the past. The tannins and the oak both need several years to fully harmonize, but this is a soft, impeccably refined Tenuta to treasure over the next two decades, perhaps longer. The 2008 Tenuta is approximately 40% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot.

(14% alcohol) Deep full ruby. Plum, blueberry, black pepper and sweet spices on the nose, complemented by hints of milk chocolate and cedar. Very pure, rich and dense on entry, with seamless flavors of spicy black fruits, bay leaf and vanilla. Finishes impressively long and suave, with a note of chocolate mint. (Incidentally, the '09, which has not yet been bottled, looks like another star in the making but in an altogether different style: bigger and more tannic, with considerable power and weight.)

The 2008 Tenuta di Trinoro is a weaker link in this exceptional succession of delicious wines. The growing season was characterized by heavy rains and soggy conditions. Despite the cooler year, fruit ripeness is pushed forward to its maximum to offer big inner warmth and opulence. However, the wine delivers less complexity and fewer of the fine nuances of the other vintages in this vertical (most particularly the delicious 2009 vintage that I tasted immediately before this sample). Although this edition is slightly more simple and monolithic in definition, it does offer plushness and dark fruit richness that extends generously to all the senses, both the nose and the mouth. Because there are some signs of premature oxidation, I will suggest a more conservative drinking window.