This is a beautiful wine with infinite depth. Born in a hot and dry vintage, the 2017 Tenuta di Trinoro (a blend of 69% Cabernet Franc, 23% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Sauvignon) never steps over the line into jammy or overripe territory. In fact, the wine is masterfully restrained and elegantly managed. Andrea Franchetti dealt with a harvest that, as he put it, yielded "tiny berries, all skin and seeds and no juice." I only feel the heat of the vintage in the tannins, which are a bit dryer and more astringent in this wine. This full-bodied Tuscan red boasts deep layers of black fruit, spice, tar and campfire ash. About 7,000 bottles were made. Give the wine an extra year or two of bottle aging to allow those tannins to soften up just a bit.

Frosted vintage. Then drought, so every morning they sprayed water above the vines pre-dawn to ‘ make a mist over the vineyards which would fall upon the foliage at the first light of dawn, when the plants open their pores. This we did every night, for three months until the reservoirs were emptied but, also, fall had arrived.’ Decision to fight the effects of frost and drought. Result was a lack of juice – tiny berries and dense musts that were hard to ferment. Winemaker Lorenzo Fornaini ’s first vintage. 69% Cabernet Franc, 23% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon. 7,000 bottles produced. Harvest: Merlot 27 September; Cabernet Franc 12–15 October; Cabernet Sauvignon 17 and 24 October. First bottle: TCA. Second bottle: very fragrant, complete nose. Gorgeously complete. Maybe very slightly dry but the balance and stage of evolution are truly delightful. (JR)