Calderara Sottana's soil is easily recognizable at first sight. Of all the crus of the Etna appellation it is by far the stoniest. So much so, that in the most remarkable examples you cannot see the soil for the stones: fist sized, light weight, black volcanic pumice. The word Calderara is reminiscent of "caldera" or "cauldron" probably due to the fact that the black rocks hold the day's heat through part of the night. The terroir in contrada Calderara is originated by lava flows and volcanoclastic deposits related to the effusive and explosive activity of the the Ellittico eruptive center, which dates back from 60,000 to 15,000 years ago. Although very young by geological standards, the soils from the Ellittico eruption are the oldest superficial strata in which one may plant. The reason is simple: millennia of lava flows have buried all older soils, leaving, in fact, only very small and rare parcels of Ellittico soils. On the northern slopes of Etna there are four or five Contrade that have terroir from the Ellittico. Three, however, have mixed soils, blending soil from Ellittico of igneous nature with alluvial soils of sedimentary nature due to the overflowing of the Alcantara river. Only two Contrade out of hundreds and hundreds are "pure" terroir Ellittico: Calderara and San Lorenzo. I wanted to mention this on their labels, so as to facilitate a distinction. The elevation is 600-700 metres. Harvest is sometime in the second to third week of October. Locally the cru has an outstanding reputation. Our Calderara Sottana is a single vineyard wine produced only from vineyards between 50-100 years old. Of all our single vineyard wines it is perhaps the most complete: much like a wide angle lens encompasses the most ample panorama, so Calderara seems to contain and display the widest spectrum of flavors, bouquets, nuances. Floral and spicy, leathery and aromatic, it delivers a wonderful filling sensation on the palate, yet stepping lightly. Don Peppino, whose devotion to Calderara led him to work our vineyards for seventy years, best describes the wines of Calderara: they are «creamy», he says. And he's right. Poultry, red meats, game, pasta, pecorino and bread. - Marco de Grazia, http://www.tenutaterrenere.com/

There is no such thing as «the best olive oil». And I would never say that ours is the best. I will, however, say that some may and do care for their trees and olives as much as we do, but none more than us. All our trees are organically raised and kept, the soil around them tilled and tilled again; all expertly pruned every two years. The olives are all hand picked, and every day's harvest cold pressed every evening. The oil is then left to naturally decant until February-March and is bottled without filtering. Our volcanic soils confer sweetness and finesse to it, and a lovely bouquet. The cold nights inhibit our fruit's worst enemy, the olive fly. The result is an outstanding Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Costs are very high. We lose a little money every year. Someday soon I hope to break even. It doesn't really matter that much, especially when you see the newly pressed gold-green olive oil gushing free from the press. Some things just have to be done. - Marco de Grazia, paraphrased from http://www.tenutaterrenere.com/

Dedicated to Riccardo Giusti, the ancestor who created the recipe at the beginning of the 20th century, this balsamic is obtained from sweet, sundried grapes. The aromas and flavors of plum jam and red fruits intertwine with hints of honey and vanilla in a considerably dense and sweet balsamic. It is perfect as a fresh dressing for various savory or sweet dishes.

Gaja's 2016 Barbaresco is positively stellar. A wine of poise and grace, the 2016 has so much to offer. Expressive spice and floral notes open up first, but what really stands out is the wine's nuance and delineation. There is a sense of translucency to the 2016 that is impossible to miss. Sweet red cherry, mint, cinnamon and rose petal develop in the glass, adding further shades of nuance. Quite simply, the 2016 is one of the very finest Gaja Barbarescos in recent memory. This is such a gorgeous wine. Don't miss it. Drink 2026-2041. Rated 96. - Antonio Galloni, vinous.com November, 2019

The 2013 Barbaresco is fabulous. In fact, this is one of the best Barbarescos I have tasted at Gaja in many years. Vibrant, perfumed and beautifully sculpted in the glass, the 2013 possesses tons of understated intensity. Sweet red cherry, mint, white pepper and anise are all lifted in the glass. The 2013 is an almost shockingly classic Barbaresco from Gaja. The translucent color, vibrant Nebbiolo fruit and austere but noble tannins represent a move towards a much more traditional style. For readers who can find it, the 2013 is simply a must-have wine. Drink 2023-2043. Rated 96. - Antonio Galloni, vinous.com October, 2016

One whiff speaks volumes. The vintage of 2015, l'annata solare, if certainly ripe, is a vintage of real consequence in this part of the world. And this 2015 Brunello from Caparzo, their 50th anniversary bottling, is just superb, demonstrating the gravitas of this hallowed appellation what with the "elegant and forceful"☨ aromas so very signature to Sangiovese from Montalcino: burnished leather, tart cherry, Italian blue plum, a parched vineyard floor, macchea mediterannea and much, much more (Henry noted for himself characteristic sun-dried tomato); starting out merely ample, the wine seems to build, expanding on the palate to more potent and full yet still supple and caressing in texture with flavors that follow the aromas straight down the path, both savory and satisfying. And Caparzo has always offered itself up as splendid value among the various superb Brunello di Montalcino that we might propose.

The Il Poggione 2015 Brunello di Montalcino shows a darker and more concentrated appearance than many of its peers. The wine is beautifully abundant and fragrant in the most exuberant and expressive manner. You will recognize aromas of moist soil, tobacco and smoke. Candied cherry hovers over the entire bouquet. Fruit is sourced from older vines (all over 25 years old). Il Poggione occupies a special spot within the Montalcino appellation, and the area always produces slightly more concentrated and powerful wines. I find that to be particularly true in this gorgeous 2015 vintage. I am also very attracted to that almost dusty note of crushed mineral that rides long on the full-bodied finish. Il Poggione's Brunello is also distinguished by firm, youthful tannin that need a few more years to unwind. Luckily, there are quite a few bottles to go around, with some 200,000 made. Drink 2021‑2045. Rated 97. - Monica Larner, Wine Advocate January, 2020

Podere Il Palazzino is owned by Alessandro and Andrea Sderci and is located in Monti in Chianti, 20km northeast of Siena in the southern part of Chianti Classico. The estate has a total of about 20 hectares (roughly 50 acres), the greater part of which is dedicated to viticulture and a small part to olive groves. Given the small dimensions of the estate working procedures are strictly manual and the soil is cultivated using organic methods. Grosso Sanese originates from a vineyard covering about 2 hectares just below the casa and cantina of the estate. The fairly compact clay/calcareous soils here are composed mainly of alberese and galestro. The vines are pruned in the spurred cordon method, leaving a maximum of six buds per plant. Production is limited to 5,000 to 6,000 liters per hectare for a total production of about 10,000 bottles per year. Fermentation takes place in 5,000-liter oak barrels. The wine is refined in barriques made of Alliers oak, 30% of which are replaced each year. Here it stays for eighteen months before the final blending and bottling. The wine then ages for another six months in bottle before being released for sale. Produce of 100% Sangiovese; deep ruby to crimson at the edges in color; formidable from the get go with a seeming wall of aromatic power forcefully suggesting leather, taut red and blue berry fruits transformed, spices, macchia mediterranea, woodsmoke, pulverized stone and more; at once, powerful on the tongue, potent and warming in essence while mouthwatering (in this humble taster's opinion, this is all a marker for the very finest of wines) and savory long on the finish. In our humble estimation, there may be no finer example of the world-class table worthiness of fine Chianti Classico.

Acquired by Virginie Saverys in 2009, Avignonesi has become a leader in biodynamic viticulture in Italy. Since the acquisition and thanks to Virginie’s respect for the ecosystem, her staff and the final consumer, the winery has started producing and crafting organic wines that are truly authentic to their origins yet singular and unique. Their 2015 Vino Nobile is a joy of a wine. Produce of 100% Sangiovese fruit, the wine is a lovely translucent crimson to just tawny at the edges with delicate aromas of Italian blue plum, fleshy red berries, baking spices, burnished leather, macchea mediterranea and more; supple on entry, delicate and silky on the tongue. Is this a Burgundian expression of Sangiovese? Sì, sì, sì! And surprisingly so from the sunny and quite warm 2015 vintage. With all elements in balance and polished tannins that carry delicate but persistent flavors long on the finish; and simply brilliant value, too!

The 2016 Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia is a wine of extreme complexity and precision. It offers monumental depth with profound layers of black fruit, coffee, licorice and baking chocolate. I tasted this 2016 vintage beside the less-impactful 2015 vintage (which was reviewed last year). These two editions are very different when compared side to side, and this 2016 release is clearly superior in terms of the quality, clarity and intensity of its offerings. This Ornellaia delivers glossy shine and a polished texture that segues to important richness, concentration and textural fiber. It wraps thickly over the palate, imparting waves of sweet dark fruit and dark spice that linger for many long minutes. This beautiful wine is hitting the market now, but collectors will want to put it straight into their cellars for safekeeping. Drink 2021‑2045. Rated 98. - Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate April,*nbsp;2019

Just bottled, the 2016 Ornellaia is a dense, powerful wine. Naturally, the 2016 is just at the beginning of its life, but I am struck by how polished the tannins are for such a young wine. Ornellaia is at its best starting around age ten, but there is little doubt the 2016 is a hugely promising wine. Black cherry, chocolate, plum, new leather and a range of spice notes all build into a veritable crescendo of aromas, flavors and textures. Drink 2026‑2041. Rated 96+. - Antonio Galloni, vinous.com March, 2019

The 2016 Tignanello is flat out stunning. Dark, dense and resonant, the 2016 is a wonderfully complete wine that will provide readers with decades of pure drinking pleasure. The 2016 is especially dark and brooding, and yet the tannins are incredibly polished to the point of being perceptible. In the glass, the 2016 is complete and regal, perhaps because of the super-classic blend of 80% Sangiovese, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. The pedigree of the vintage comes through in the wine's extraordinary balance and total sense of finesse. I don't think there is another wine anywhere in the world made entirely from estate fruit that can match Tignanello for quality, consistency and value within its peer group of top-flight reds. Drink 2022-2046. Rated 98. - Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com August, 2019

The 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna del Sorbo is a wine of tremendous aromatic intensity, freshness and nuance. Sweet floral and spice notes meld into a core of blue/purplish fruit, lavender, licorice and leather, with veins of bright acids that perk things up nicely. Readers need to be patient with the 2016, as it is going to need at least a few years to come into its own. But I have seen this before with Vigna del Sorbo. Sometimes the more reticent vintages turn out the be the most complete and thrilling wines with cellaring. I imagine that will be the case here as well. Drink 2022-2041. Rated 97+. - Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com August, 2019

Seghesio's 2013 Barolo is absolutely gorgeous. An exquisite bouquet laced with orange peel, Christmas cake, rosewater and kirsch makes a strong opening statement. Deceptively medium in body and light on its feet, the 2013 offers a lovely interplay of aromas, flavors and textures. Because of its light to mid-weight structure, the 2013 can be enjoyed with minimal cellaring, although naturally there is some tannic grip to the wine. This is a very strong vintage for Seghesio's straight Barolo. Drink 2018-2025. Rated 91. - Antonio Galloni, vinous.com October, 2017

The 2016 Barolo Castiglione is a dazzling wine that will show readers just how compelling this vintage is, even among entry-level wines from top producers. Rich, ample and explosive, the 2016 possesses tremendous richness and resonance from the very first taste. Bright red cherry and red plum fruit, wild flowers, mint, blood orange and spice build as this sumptuous, dramatic Barolo shows all it's got. As always, the Castiglione is built on a core of fruit from Ravera. In 2016, the Castiglione benefits from the inclusion of several new sites, including Ginestra, Mosconi, Bricco Ravera (in Monforte), Le Coste, Costabelle, Meriame, Briccolina and Codana. All I can say is: What a wine! Drink 2024‑2041. Rated 94. - Antonio Galloni, vinous.com, February, 2020

From the Terra Alpina, this special land of contrasts in northern Italy between the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea. Limpid pale yellow gold in color with Alpine fresh aromas suggesting brisk pure clean mountain air, crisp apple, straw, fiori bianchi, and a kind of 'easy like Sunday morning' quality; easy on the tongue, too, with lovely interplay between ripe fruit and gentle fresh acidity, this is a quaff among quaffs; pure, flavorful, fresh and clean on the finish as the Alpine summer days are long.

"Unquestionably the number one small estate of Orvieto" according to Stephen Tanzer, Palazzone produces delicious white wines from indigenous grape varietals of Umbria, balancing irresistable fruit aromas and flavors with an oh-so stony backdrop and nerve; produce of 50% Procanico, 30% Grechetto and 20% of Verdello, Drupeggio and Malvasia, vinified in stainless steel to keep things fresh; medium-bodied, supremely-balanced white wine with aromas that speak clearly of cool of the morning harvest fresh grapes and notions of floral honey, beeswax and something like hazelnut and elderflower and, yet again, stone; at once, just ample and round, crisp and dusty, citrusy dry and alive with fresh grapey flavor. C'mon downtown 'n get yourself some of this delicious wine!

'Okay, finally,' sez our wizening wine buyer, 'a way to drink an orange wine and actually have fun doing it.' Actually, the word ramato translates directly as auburn, but being as we are here in Austin, Texas, we're gonna take a bit different a direction. This is, to be sure, Pinot Grigio from Orvieto, Umbria, Italia, an address just an hour or so's drive south and east of Montalcino in Toscana. Not everyone knows that Pinot Grigio is not actually a green grape for making only white wines. The skins of Pinot Grigio have color. A kind of greyish purple color. And what to do if you really wanted Procanico and Grecchetto and the harvesters brought you this northerner called Pinot Grigio? Make some 'pink' wine, of course! Although this is actually less pink and more a burnt orange in color, if a rather glistening burnt orange with fresh cool of the morning giddy grapey aromas beckoning along with suggestion of citrus (more like tangerine), stone fruits and cool fresh melon; fresh, vibrant, almost thirst quenching, mouthwatering quality on the tongue with a delicate minerality and all the while so pleasingly plump and round. Okay, UTers (and all the rest of you), this is it! Burnt orange wine, without the burn. Show your colors!

Produce of Grechetto, Procanico, Pinot Blanc and Viognier from the vineyards of the Marchesi Antinori estate of Castello della Sala in Orvieto, Umbria in central Italy, about an hour's drive southeast from Montalcino, Toscana. Pale straw yellow in color with glints of green in color; aromas suggesting floral, citrus and pesca della vigna, at last it is, of course, mineral and grape; spherical in shape, this is a wine that demonstrates a high pedigree what with its brilliant balance, ripe fruit and restraint, holding shape long on the tongue, this is a tactile wine, both supple and persistent, poised, delicious and fresh, almost irresistible — no, it surely is irresistible. Sì, sì, sì!

From 100% Pinot Grigio fruit grown in the Bressanone valley basin at elevations of 600m-900m, well on your way into the Alps from Bolzano and what is one of the loveliest vineyard situations one might imagine (there is even a ski area above the town of Bressanone); pale golden yellow with glints of green in color; brisk, mountain fresh aromatics suggest taut cool of the morning grapes, pine, mint, orchard fruits, hazelnut (knowing where this wine is grown really just stirs the imagination); crisp, vibrant and fresh on the tongue yet ample in body, supple and satisfying with a lovely Alpine intensity of flavor that lasts.

We've recommended Brigaldara for years for the quality and value of various of their red wines from Valpolicella. Their splendid white wine from Soave is a more recent discovery. Produce of 100% Garganega fruit hand-harvested from vines in Marcellise east of Verona and trained in the Pergola veronese fashion, the fruit undergoes temperature-controlled fermentation including selective cryoextraction (a partial freezing of the grapes) that protects them from oxidation and furthers all the eventual wine's aromatic potential; brilliant light yellow gold in color with hyper-fresh aromas that conjure a cool morning harvest of just ripened green grapes with further suggestion of straw, chamomile, peach and citrus (Ian sensed a kind of golden delicious apple); supple and just rounded in texture with all the nerve of fresh acidity keeping everything lively and tantalizing on the tongue. Remarkable value, too!

Produce of 100% Chardonnay from deep sandy soils on gravelly deposits in the otherworldly gorgeous SüdTirol-Alto Adige of northeastern Italia. Temperature-controlled (read cool) fermentation in stainless-steel tanks (read unoaked), the new wine subsequently matures for several months on the fine lees. The result is a brilliant, shimmering lemon yellow gold with glints of green in color; ultra-fresh aromas suggestive of vines in flower, flesh and skin of fresh green apple, melon and mango; supple and nicely rounded on the tongue with just a hint of citrus and saline mineral tang; both satisfying and refreshing, and all for a price so gulpably easy on the pocketbook.

Dogliani is a new(ish) DOCG which denotes highest quality wines produced from Dolcetto grapes in this cooler, higher elevation growing area in this southern part of Piemonte. Vigna Tecc «pronounced veen-yuh tetch» is produced from 100% Dolcetto fruit from vines planted to the marl/calcareous and clay soils from 2 hectares of favored south facing old hillside vineyards on the estate near the village of Dogliani. Deep ruby in color with fermentive aromas of grape pomace and pencil shavings, bitter almond and a waft of liquirizia; at once, ample grapey and firm on the palate, with an almost crunchy fruit character and that telltale hint of bitter almond on the mouthwatering finish.

A lovely if modestly modern claret-inspired Tuscan red wine from La California, as it is called there on the Tuscan coast near Bolgheri and Magliano. Produce of 60% Merlot along with an admixture of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, the wine undergoes a temperature-controlled fermentation, manual punch-downs and pump-overs. It is aged one year in barrique and a minimum of six months in bottle before release. Lovely ruby red in color with typical claret aromas suggesting ripe cherries, wild berries, a hint of spice, a scent of vanilla from barrel aging, but with a telltale and toothsome seaside saline quality; medium-bodied on the palate with a gentle richness and structure and long, smooth finish. Superb value, too!