The Tenuta di Trinoro 2018 Palazzi is a pure expression of Merlot that boasts seamless power, intensity and concentration. With a precious 1,660 bottles produced, you are treated to a full-throttle expression from Tuscany that exudes generous black fruit, spice and sweet tobacco. Black cherry and plum give the wine soft contours and sweetness. Palazzi sees 15 days of fermentation on the skins and is racked into new barrels for eight months of aging. It is then put into cement for a final 10 months of rest. To the palate, the wine is structured and concentrated, suggesting a pairing with a succulent cut of red meat marinated in rosemary and olive oil. What a beautiful treat. - Monica Larner

During the 2018 vintage a strange wind and drop in temperature arrived in the Orcia Valley, thus Palazzi should be considered of a cooler vintage. 'In the last days of summer, we were dizzy with the silver of the new moon. From the 21st, there was a sudden density in the Merlot: the astronomy signaling. This variety is showing dark and soft, and we began bringing in twenty tons of grape a day. The juice was low in alcohol, high in acidity, rich in taste – complex Merlots, reminding one of Saint-Emilion,' said Andrea Franchetti. Dark and plummy, with precise fruit and clean leathery notes, full of floral layers and buttery sweetness at core, it will age developing balsamic notes now whispered. The tannin shows a great progression on the palate with noble extraction and an almost crisp mineral finish.

The 2018 Palazzi, 100% Merlot, is plush, silky and so inviting. Like all of these wines, the Palazzi is quite overt, and yet all the elements come together so well. Dark raspberry fruit, chocolate, spice, leather, licorice all flesh out in the glass. Flamboyant and exotically ripe, Palazzi is a quintessential wine from Tenuta di Trinoro. -- Antonio Galloni