Caiarossa Toscana 2020

This is aromatic with dried cherries and plum skins as well as spiced chocolate, lilacs, walnut shell and nutmeg. Some wet stones, too. It’s full, structured and wide on the palate with super-fine tannins. It’s powerful but not heavy with freshness and crunchiness. Shows intensity and richness. Give it time. Made from biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Try from 2026.

• Review Date: April 2023

Combines the structure of the Bordeaux varieties and the generous welcome of Tuscany, here translating into dark fruits that soften to delicious toasted spices, and plenty of liqourice, cloves, incense and underbrush. This was the warmest vintage since 1800, with harvest from the end of August until September 22, but the concentration of the vintage is mitigated by plenty of acidity. Excellent structure, and it's a thoroughly enjoyable, precise and well made wine, with a kick of eucaplyptus freshness on the finish, along with fragrant spices. Jerome Poisson winemaker, 31ha of vines, owned by AJ Domaines. 30% new oak. Axel Marchal consultant. Vinified in a mix of concrete and wooden tanks, then barrel ageing followed by a year in bottle before release.

• Drinking Window: 2025 - 2038
• Reviewer Name: Jane Anson
• Review Date: August 2023

Scented herbs and warm, sun-kissed black fruit on the nose - no surprise given it was the warmest summer since 1800 but with significant rain in June and at the end of August that allowed the grapes to ripen correctly. This smells like baked blackcurrants and roses. Supple and ample, generous and filling with gorgeous plump, but also quite defined, tannins that give the structure and the sense of tension. Fruit is tangy and ripe and with the acidity you get a push-pull of sharpness and ripeness. Round, direct, forward, this has energy and sculpting and I love the freshness that really lingers on the tongue. Well executed with lots of fragrance and a mineral, stone grip on the finish alongside dried herbs and liquorice spice. A delicious Tuscan wine with French flair (same owner as Châteeau Giscours in Margaux, AJ Domaines). Jérôme Poisson general manager of both estates since 2020 and Axel Marchat consultant since 2016. A blend of 28% Cabernet Franc, 23% Syeah, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 13% Sangiovese, 4% Petit Verdot and 1% Grenache. Each plot and variety was vinifed separately and spontaneously in concrete and wooden tanks. After malolactic fermentation the wine was blended and aged for 14 months in barriques, 30% new, before spending two months resting in concrete and a further year in bottle before release.

• Drinking Window: 2024 - 2038
• Reviewer Name: Georgina Hindle
• Review Date: August 2023

The 2020 Caiarossa is a blend of 28% Cabernet Franc, 23% Syrah, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 13% Sangiovese, 4% Petit Verdot, and 1% Grenache. Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, it is a little broody to start, with notions of tar and rubber followed by a core of baked plums and cracked black pepper with touches of dried herbs and damp soil. The full-bodied palate is full of pepper-laced black fruits with rounded tannins and compelling freshness, finishing long and spicy.

• Drinking Window: 2024 - 2039
• Reviewer Name: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
• Review Date: August 2023