The 2018 vintage of Gran Selezione from Querciabella is a touch lower in octane than the 2019 version, as this wine comes in at an even fourteen percent alcohol. It was handled identically to the 2019 in the cellars, with its malo in barrels and its aging done in large oak botti. The 2018 Gran Selezione delivers a superb bouquet of red and black cherries, spit-roasted gamebird, coffee bean, campfire, a very complex foundation of galestro minerality, fresh oregano, incipient notes of hazelnut and a very discreet framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, precise and very pure, with outstanding depth of fruit at the core, great mineral undertow, ripe, seamless tannins and a long, bouncy and very complex, impeccably balanced finish. This too needs a good decade in the cellar to really start to hit its stride, but it is going to be another brilliant wine. 2034-2075.

When I wrote my feature on legendary Chianti producer Querciabella a few years back, I mentioned that I felt their Mongrana Rosso bottling, made from relatively new vineyards in the coastal region of Maremma, may well be the finest value in Tuscan red wine for the cellar to be found anywhere in Italy. Their beautifully refined 2022 version has done nothing to dissuade me of this notion! The wine comes in at 13.5 percent octane in this vintage and is composed from its now traditional cépages of fifty percent sangiovese and twenty-five percent each of merlot and cabernet sauvignon. The wine’s refined aromatic constellation wafts from the glass in a mix of sweet dark berries, cassis, cigar wrapper, dark soil tones, fresh oregano and a topnote of distant bonfire. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and still quite tightly-knit, with a good core of fruit, fine soil transparency and grip, firm tannins and lovely balance on the long and promising finish. This is a structured vintage of Mongrana and will need plenty of cellaring to soften up its undercarriage of tannin, but in due course, it will be a lovely wine. 2035-2065. 

The Chablis “Grand Régnard” bottling from Maison Régnard is a blended bottling that includes fruit from several premier crus and grand crus in the cuvée. The 2021 version is excellent, offering up a bright and complex aromatic constellation of green apple, pear, a touch of lemon peel, oyster shell, chalky minerality, a wisp of anise and a topnote of dried flowers. On the palate the wine is crisp, full-bodied, precise and complex, with a lovely core of fruit, a fine foundation of minerality, lovely balance and a long, complex and quite classy finish. This is lovely juice. 2025- 2050.

Maison Régnard’s 2022 Chablis “Montmains” is crafted entirely from hand-harvested parcels of vines, with ninety percent of the cuvée raised in stainless steel tanks and ten percent in older oak casks. The wine’s aromatic constellation is bright and complex, delivering scents of apple, pear, a complex base of chalky soil tones, just a touch of paraffin, white flowers and just a whisper of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is crisp, full-bodied and still fairly youthful in personality, with good depth of fruit at the core, fine soil signature, a good girdle of acidity and a long, well balanced and still quite primary finish. This is of course already quite approachable, but in reality it is still a young wine and more precision and complexity will certainly develop if the wine is given just another year or two in the cellar to blossom. It is a very good bottle of Montmains in the making, but its best drinking days are still a couple of years down the road. 2025-2050.

All of the grapes used for the Chablis “Saint Pierre” bottling from Maison Régnard are hand harvested, which is a fairly rare occurrence for villages level bottlings in this region, where many examples are still made from machine-harvested grapes. The wine is fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks and the 2023 version comes in at a svelte 12.5 percent octane in this vintage. The wine’s bouquet is lovely, wafting from the glass in a mix of lemon, pear, chalky soil tones, a touch of beeswax, a nice touch of Chablisienne straw tones and a topnote of citrus blossoms. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied and youthfully complex, with a lovely core of fruit, good soil undertow and grip, lovely balance and a long, poised and focused finish. This is a very good example of Chablis AC. 2025-2040+.