Antinori Solaia Toscana IGT 2020
Pre-Arrival Offer: ETA September 2024
Full & Final Price Listed - (Includes all Taxes & Landing Charges)
98 POINTS: Jane Anson
98 POINTS: James Suckling
98 POINTS: Alexandre Ma
96 POINTS: Monica Larner
97 POINTS: Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent
97 POINTS: Antonio Galloni
97 POINTS: Decanter Magazine
Solaia 2020, Tuscany at its best. An ideal growing season without extreme weather events that awarded us with well-balanced, perfectly mature grapes that can elegantly reflect Solaia’s terroir. A wine with great character, enveloping and complex, rich and elegant, with outstanding aging potential but is also so expressive right out of the gate boasting full rich flavors.
“A great vintage of the iconic Solaia, full of cloves, sage, graphite, grilled dried herbs, underbrush and roasted cherry pit. There's fruit too, bilberry and cassis, juicy and mouthwatering, both understated and exuberant, ensuring a Tuscan fingerprint despite its majority Cabernet Sauvignon construction. Has grip and length, and effortless charm, reflecting an excellent vintage with low yields after a hot dry summer. Antinori family showing once again why this wine, that comes from 20ha the sunniest slopes of the Tignanello estate, set at 350-400m altitude, is so hard to resist. Winemaking director Renzo Cotarella.”
— Jane Anson
“The deep comprehension of the terroir exhibited by Solaia is truly admirable. It’s as if every grape variety, upon entering its kingdom, naturally embodies the elegance of Solaia – a kind of sophistication bathed in the essence of the Italian Renaissance, showcasing both liveliness and delicate refinement. Each juicy sour plum and jujube exudes such fullness that, with a single bite, bursts with succulent, sweet-tart flavors. The subtle hints of pine and the delicate fragrance of red roses interweave to create a scene of refreshing, ethereal beauty; upon reflection, it emanates the cultured allure of literary connoisseurs. This skillful narrative approach deeply resonates with me, and I enthusiastically recommend it to those who share an appreciation for the essence of Tuscany.”
— Alexandre Ma
“Baked black fruit, ripe, fragrant and intense on the nose. Bright and sour fruit on the palate, quite a sharp initial tang from the high acidity before rich, sunny, ripe strawberries and raspberries come into play with liquorice, toast and cedar aspects giving the spiced element to the expression and graphite offering minerality. This is a powerful wine no doubt, bordering on too hedonistic at times - a result of the hot and dry summer, it's sensual, rich and flashy but the sense of control and layers of juicy freshness help balance the opulence with refinement. Clearly confident and charismatic, fans of this style will delight with Solaia in 2020.”
— Decanter Magazine
“A very accomplished and impressive Solaia. The minerality is very evident. Tasted alongside Massetino, this is a little richer and broader aromatically, but also less effusive and more held back at this stage too. There’s a subtle florality, a little note of sage too, and freshly grated liquorice root. But it’s the patchouli and the parfumiers’ essences of dried flowers that give this its aromatic identity. On the palate this is pure and quite classical, with incredibly soft tannins and lovely cedary and graphite notes. It’s rather more Bordellais than Massetino in a way. Lithe and with great layering and complexity, this is very long and exudes harmony and balance. As ever for me, this seems the most stylish and refined of the super-Tuscan superstars.
— Colin Hay, The Drink Business
“The 2020 Solaia is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, and Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple in color, it needs a little coaxing to bring out notes of warm cassis, black cherry compote, and black raspberries, followed by hints of cedar chest, unsmoked cigars, violets, and cardamom. The full-bodied palate is densely laden with rich, bold black fruits, supported by a firm backbone of ripe, grainy tannins and jaw-dropping tension, finishing long and lifted.”
— Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Independent
“The 2020 Solaia is an infant. I expected a more exuberant wine, but the 2020 is built along more classic lines. Black cherry, plum, gravel, incense, smoke, pencil shavings and spice all open effortlessly. As always, Solaia is a Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine, but it is a Cabernet that is distinctly Italian, with plenty of Tuscan acid and structure driving through the mid-palate and into the finish. The 2020 is a terrific example of the recent stylistic shift at Antinori. In the past, richness and opulence are qualities of a vintage that would have been amplified in the vineyard and cellar. Today, the aim is to capture a more balanced expression of these kinds of vintages, and that very much comes through.”
— Antonio Galloni
ABV: 14.5%