Maremma is a rising-star coastal region on the western edge of Tuscany, only about 20 miles from Montalcino, and extending all the way up into Bolgheri. This might just be the next great star of Italian wine, with significant investment and development from major players like Biondi-Santi, Frescobaldi, Gaja, and even the Lafite-Rothschilds. Fattoria Le Pupille Saffredi is one of Maremma’s OGs – and you can argue that no one does this region better. 99 points is one heck of a statement, and this Super-Tuscan style red doesn’t disappoint!\n\nWe’ve been on a bit of a kick exploring the lesser-known Maremma region as of late, so when this arrived, we popped a bottle and...wow! Plush, layered, complex, and sure to age gracefully over the next two decades plus! A great one to have in magnum, too, so we’re stoked to have 15 magnums to share, as well! But a little background here to start – Elisabetta Geppetti is the matriarch and superstar of this house...a visionary winemaker who was inextricably drawn to the land of Maremma, and well ahead of her time when she planted Bordeaux varietals here all the way back in the early 1980s, in what was once considered a forgotten wasteland of Tuscany. Seriously, I’m not being hyperbolic – since the times of Dante, Maremma has been mocked and bedraggled as a land of pestilence and pirates, swamps, foul beasts, and rogue cowboys.\n\nThe 2021 release boasts a mix of some 60% cabernet sauvignon, alongside 30% merlot and 10% petit verdot – all aged for 18 months in French oak barriques, 70% new. This is a flashy and immediately seductive wine – with aromas of Tahitian vanilla, graphite, black plums, sandalwood, and smoldering sage. Giving and textured in the mouth, with currants, black cherries, crumbled rocks, and toasted walnuts – this is a complete and full-bodied gem that reveals a whole lot now...and yet whispers at a greater depth and complexity to come. My two cents – grab a magnum while you can, plus a few 750s to help you gauge the best time to open it! No matter how you shake it, this is a must-have Tuscan for your collection!
