So much promise on the nose, your mouth starts watering in anticipation even before the vivid fruit hits on the opening beats. This holds the line throughout, delivering classic Sangiovese character of raspberry, fresh cherries, and cut herbs, with concentrated liqourice, tobacco, tar and leather. Sculpted and precise, and that perfect Italian signature where you just want to grab a bottle and a plate of food to go alongside. So easy to love, and more proof of how enjoyable the 2019 vintage is in this part of the world. 3.5ph, 70% new oak in barrel and cask format, plus four months in concrete tanks before release. A classic vintage also, with the right amount of rain at the right time, everything went right, so a great production year in terms of yield. Gionata Pulignani winemaker, owned by Marchesi Mazzei.

Such a fragrant and appealing burst of aromas here with milk chocolate, blackcurrants, dried herbs and flowers. A blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon, this has a core of cherries and raspberries alongside savoury olive and oak elements with round, just-there tannins that give support to the fresh and lively fruit. Great power, depth and concentration. The wine is aged for 18 months in small French 225l oak barrels, 70% new, before moving to concrete tanks for four months.

This is very fine grained, with polished, silky tannins that provide wonderful texture and length to the wine. Plenty of cherry, blackberry, chocolate and mahogany flavors that follow through to the palate. Complex and refined. Drink after 2024, but already very elegant and beautiful.

95+ Made with mostly Sangiovese supplemented by the structural heft and texture of Cabernet Sauvignon (that makes up roughly 20% of the blend), this is a profound and important red wine from Tuscany. The Mazzei 2019 Concerto di Fonterutoli is your proverbial steak buddy, or all-round meat wine, with abundant black fruit, spice, tannins and acidity to cut through the fat and the gristle. By a hair, I prefer the depth and intensity of the 2019 vintage compared to the 2018 vintage that I tasted at this same sitting. This wine is slightly more etched and angular, making it a good bet for extra bottle aging. - ML

The 2019 Concerto di Fonterutoli, the estate' 80% Sangiovese and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon blend, is quite the powerhouse. Cabernet very much drives the blend in 2019, in its aromas, flavors and overall structure. Dark cherry, herbs, licorice, menthol and spice abound. Whereas the 2020 is already quite open, the 2019 needs a year or two in bottle, if not more, to be at its best. -- Antonio Galloni