Batzella’s 2010 Bolgheri Superiore Tam opens with a deep blackened color followed by very generous aromas of mocha and sweet blackberry. The harmony and balance are of special note and the wine promises a long evolutionary road ahead. This is my favorite wine of the flight. The luscious dark chocolate you taste now should transform over time into spice and fragrant pipe tobacco. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2025. To avoid confusion with a similarly named vineyard in California, Batzella recently changed the name of the wine previously known as Bliss. Husband-and-wife team Franco Batzella and Khanh Nguyen (born in Vietnam) have embraced a raisonnee agricultural philosophy based on the principles of organic farming since founding their estate in 2000. More recently, they have started to convert vineyard parcels according to an even stricter organic approach. The couple worked at the Work Bank before embarking on their winemaking adventure and studied winemaking at universities in Davis, California and Bordeaux, France. Franco and Nguyen are presenting a new wine, the Viognier Vox Loci for the first time and have also changed the name of their Syrah from “Bliss” to Vox Loci. The Latin term means “the voice of a place.” Importers: Total Wine & More; www.totalwine.com; Simon’n Cellars; www.simonncellars.com

Mellowing yet still powerful, this dense, firm red evokes leather, plum, iron and tobacco flavors, with a coating of tannins wrapped around the fruit, and mineral notes on the aftertaste. Drink now through 2023. 2,000 cases made, 200 cases imported.??–BS??Region: Italy / Bolgheri Select to Add