Petrolo Galatrona 2022 (18.0L)

100 JS / 99 DB

#4 James Suckling Top 100 2024

The floral aromas are spellbinding, with aromas of violets, lilacs, orange peel, raspberries, rose petals, and some oranges. It’s medium- to full-bodied with crunchy and open-grain tannins that are creamy and caressing. It’s endless in the finish. Crunchy and energetic. A wine that is thoughtful and gives you such great pleasure. Such purity. It’s like eating perfectly ripened grape must. Pure merlot. Drinkable in many ways, but will come together beautifully. A new reference point for merlot in Italy. Drink after 2028. - James Suckling

(Val d’Arno di Sopra; 100% Merlot; spontaneous vinification in glazed concrete vats; malolactic and aging in French oak tonneaux and barriques for 18 months, a third of them new; pH 3.54; 14% alcohol; certified organic). A wine famously referred to as Tuscany’s Le Pin – and you can see why. So gracious and gently opulent if still a little introvert at first. Subtle spice – a mix of green Szechuan and more classical cinnamon, mace and nutmeg – slowly gives way to lavender and wild rosemary, all gently enveloping and enrobing the dark berry and lighter stone fruits. Brilliantly poised and beautifully contoured in the mouth, with a gloriously crystalline and limpid luminosity in the mid-palate that invites comparison with the other great monocépage Merlots of the world. Staggeringly beautiful and perhaps the most eloquent and articulate expression of this fabulous terroir to date. - Colin Hay, Drinks Business