2003 Trinoro

The estate's 2003 Tenuta di Trinoro (42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Cabernet Franc, 16% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot) presents notes of jammy, over-ripe dark fruit and a plush personality. Made in super-concentrated style, the full-throttle 2003 comes across as somewhat heavy and ponderous. It should be accessible relatively early. “Obviously 2003 was a very hot vintage. Still, I am happy with our result. I think the wine is very well-balanced considering the conditions we had to work with,” says Franchetti.

The 2003 Tenuta di Trinoro is the wine that surprised me most. Given the decadently overripe style that Andrea Franchetti pursued during these years, and the scorching heat of this infamous vintage, I frankly expected a massive, amorphous fruit bomb. Instead, this wine shows a much higher level of definition and focus than I would have ever imagined. This proves the old adage that the best winemakers should be judged in the worst vintages. Specifically, this blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot reveals a refined mineral personality with granite stone and flint that keep the wine's aromatic parameters firm and tonic. Franchetti says the secret is in the high density planting. With vineyard rows so close to one another, the grapes were kept in the shade during the hottest part of the day. Clay soils absorbed enough moisture to keep the vines from going into heat stress, he says. The wine delivers moderate complexity and the finish is not as long as some of the other vintages. But if you are expecting an evolved and flat wine, you would be wrong. The 2003 vintage has much more life and vitality than the other great Tuscan reds produced in this difficult vintage. Dec 2015, www.robertparker.com