The Drink Business
par Colin Hay le 28/02/2025
The harvest finished here on October 20, almost three weeks later than in 2020 – and the extended hang-time really takes this to another level. Vibrantly red-fruited as is ever more evident when this is tasted in the context of a little vertical (where the other recent vintages are all darker in their fruit profile). The altitude here is crucial to the freshness and that, in turn, is what holds this wine together. Fuller and richer than the 2020; indeed, this is more voluminous than any previous recent vintage. Compact and quite powerful, dense and charged at the core. Full, but essentially soft. Chocolate and quite a distinct floral component – peonies and gladioli. There’s also a hint of medicinal herbs and a touch of TCP and iodine. In the mouth this is voluptuous. Supple, plush and with the highly tactile fine-grained spherical tannins providing considerable layering. This is quite sunny (solaire) in personality for I Sodi San Niccolo, with plenty of liquorice. On the finish there is something very ‘Sangiovese’ about the touch of the tannins that brings an additional sense of detail and pixilation. They seem also to collect in the lower layers accentuating the sense of depth. Very impressive for the vintage and quite serious, this is a wine that will need time to fully express itself aromatically. A Super Tuscan made in a way more Super by climate change. 96+.
Alberelli di Giodo Nerello Mascalese 2022 (Terre Siciliane; 100% Nerello Mascalese from the upper planted slopes of Mount Etna at 950 metres above sea level; just 9000 bottles produced). An exquisite wine that is both so essentially expressive of its terroir and yet that also screams ‘Giodo’ in its clarity, focus and precision. This is incredibly luminous and the tannins are like little beads that seed a process of crystallisation in the mid-palate. Spicy, but with wild herbal notes too – eucalyptus oil, wild oregano and marjoram, maybe a little sage. The fruit is bright and crisp and crunchy – redcurrants and raspberries popping in the mouth spraying sapid fresh juice across the palate. There’s also a ferrous-manganese note to the minerality (though I suspect it comes from something altogether more volcanic). So fresh and so quaffably refreshing. As for the white, one can almost taste the altitude and the freshness of the nights that it locks into the grapes. Top value! 94+.
Giodo La Quinta 2023 (IGT Toscana; 100% Sangiovese;