Castellare I Sodi di S. Niccolò 2020

96 POINTS: Jane Anson
96 POINTS: Colin Hay
98 POINTS: Antonio Galloni (Previous Vintage Score)
97 POINTS: Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate (Previous Vintage Score)
3/3 Glasses Gambero Rosso

14%Abv, 85% Sangioveto, 15% Malvasia Nera

I Sodi di San Niccolò was created in the early 1980s to demonstrate that native grapes could produce a wine with all the power and grace of a Super Tuscan.  The name "I Sodi" refers to land that is difficult to till (the grapes must be hand-harvested), and "San Niccolò" is an abandoned church on the Castellare property.

“I Sodi di S. Niccolò 2020 is characterized by a great olfactory intensity and a dense and elegant texture of sweet and silky tannins. The acidity of Sangioveto gives to the wine great freshness and makes the sip particularly pleasant and crunchy, with a long and highly persistent finish. Ready immediately and, at the same time, suitable for a very long aging."
— Alessandro Cellai, Winemaker

“Aromatic white pepper, dried roses, sage and bay leaf spices, you are taken right into the heart of Tuscany. Elegant, structured, raspberry, pomegranate and redcurrant fruits, savoury and mouthwateringly dry, rippled with savoury aromatics of black tea, tobacco and underbrush. Alessandro Cellai winemaker, 66% new oak, 10 months in bottle after barrel ageing. Such a fan of this wine, just built to be shared.”
— 96 Points, Jane Anson

“Lovely. Dark and lighter cherry fruit, quite intensely so. A pleasing natural sucrosity immediately evident aromatically. Candlewax. Acacia. Sandalwood perhaps. Impressively spice-light and pure. Vibrant, cool and dark in its fruit profile in the mouth with great purity. A little espresso note. A touch of pleasing austerity. Fresh and more glistening in its clarity on the palate than the more substantial and perhaps more age-worthy 2019 but I prefer this. Vivid. Natural. Energetic. And likely to represent super value”
— 96 Points, Colin Hay

14% ABV