The 2008 Rocca di Frassinello is especially inward and brooding. Dark cherries, tar, smoke and licorice flesh out nicely with time in the glass. The 2008 remains quite reticent and inexpressive despite the wine’s considerable juiciness. Ideally, the wine is best left alone for another year or two, if not longer. Sweet hints of oak frame the finish. The Rocca is 60% Sangioveto, 20% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2023. Proprietor Paolo Panerai is a bit of a Renaissance man. Panerai publishes Milano Finanza, Italy’s equivalent of Barrons (for which he also writes one of that country’s most widely read editorial columns), publishes a number of other more lifestyle oriented magazines and has a joint venture with CNBC, to list a few of his business interests. Oh, and he makes pretty good wines, too. Since the 1970s Panerai and his family have owned Castellare, one of the leading estates in Chianti Classico. More recently, Panerai has set his sights on making first-rate wines in Maremma through this joint venture with the Rothschild family. Rocca di Frassinello is a young winery, and the best is clearly yet to come.Importer: Vias Imports, New York, NY; tel. (212) 629-0200