The 2016 Cristal is a taut, incisive rendition of this benchmark bottling, unwinding in the glass with youthfully reserved aromas of citrus oil, white flowers, wet stones and subtle hints of sweet, buttery pastry. Medium to full-bodied, chiseled and racy, it's almost as electric as the brilliant 2013, with serious concentration, a pure core of fruit, chalky structuring dry extract and a long, intensely mineral finish. Given its tightly wound profile, my advice is to forget it in the cellar for a few years and work on the more open, outgoing 2014 in the meantime.

Made from organic grapes and weighing in at a modest 12 percent stated alcohol, the lithe Domaines Schlumberger 2021 Pinot Noir “Les Princes Abbés” dances on the palate.  Like the head of Janus, it displays both the aromatic red fruitiness and leafy nuances, the hallmark of fine Pinot Noir

Made from organic grapes and weighing in at a modest 12 percent stated alcohol, the lithe Domaines Schlumberger 2021 Pinot Noir “Les Princes Abbés” dances on the palate.  Like the head of Janus, it displays both the aromatic red fruitiness and leafy nuances, the hallmark of fine Pinot Noir

“The Campo del Drago vineyard is the very highest in elevation in the Capanna area and is Castiglion del Bosco’s coolest vineyard site, so this wine comes in at a touch less octane than the Normale in 2019, at 14.5 percent alcohol. The 2019 Campo del Drago is outstanding on the nose, with the bouquet wafting from the glass in a refined blend of red plums, cherries, Cuban cigars, bonfire, a lovely base of soil tones, a touch of brown spices, just a wisp of fresh oregano and a judicious framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and structured out of the blocks, with a good core of fruit, firm, chewy tannins and fine length and grip on the well balanced and youthfully complex finish. This has plenty of tannin that will need to be resolved before this wine starts to drink with generosity, but it should absorb its oak nicely over the long haul and eventually drink very well indeed. 2035-2075+.”

Despite the higher elevation of the vineyards used for the Castiglion del Bosco Brunellos, this wine comes in listed at a full fifteen percent octane in 2019. Readers may recall that this wine is fermented with native yeasts and raised in barriques, with twenty percent new oak used each vintage. The 2019 version offers up a deep and impressively pure bouquet, revealing scents of red and black cherries, red plums, cigar wrapper, a lovely base of soil, brown spices, woodsmoke and a gentle touch of new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a beautiful core of fruit, fine soil undertow and grip, firm tannins and a long, impressively well balanced and complex finish. This wine is impressively cool on the backend, with perhaps only a touch of heat on the finish. One feels the ripeness of 2019 most noticeably in the texture of the oak tannins on the finish, as the higher octane of the juice will leach out a bit more wood tannin from the new barrels, so this is a bit chewier out of the blocks than previous examples I have tasted. It should resolve nicely with extended cellaring, but will take a bit longer in this vintage. 2035- 2075+.