And Solengo, the Montalcino SuperTuscan
'The 2018s from Argiano are unique yet totally thrilling to taste.' - Eric Guido, vinous.com, October 2022
'It's hard to recognize today's wines from what this winery was producing twenty years ago', writes Eric Guido on vinous.com; he lists Argiano as making one of the greatest wines of Montalcino. The 2018 is lovely, full of orange and mandarin notes, and a fine floral character. For me, this lifted beauty breezed past most other contenders at a recent line-up of 2018 Brunellos.
Manager and winemaker Bernardino Sani admits that when he arrived at Argiano a decade ago, he found the wine a little heavy. He made it his mission to change that. In the cellar, he quickly moved away from small oak barrels. Intensive soils studies led to him rethinking viticulture at the estate, and he transitioned the vineyard to organics. 2018 presented challenges; the very wet May and June forced him and his team to spend more time in the vineyards. 'We didn't force the vintage in the cellar… we avoided over-extraction of tannins and tried to make a Brunello that is balanced.' The result is a wine that is (as Guido puts it) 'performing at the highest level'.
It's not just Brunello; Solengo is an alternative expression of the Argiano terroir. The name means 'solitary wild boar' in local dialect (boar sometimes terrorise vineyard workers), and it is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Sangiovese. It is a wine that perfectly epitomises the compelling marriage of French varietals and Tuscan terroir that we think of as SuperTuscan. /NT
Offered subject to remaining unsold; available Winter 2023
