This is a stunning wine and one of the best in this report covering the icons of Tuscany. The 2019 Tenuta di Trinoro is a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc. Fruit is sourced from the very best parcels, and the blending formula changes according to vintage and the style desired by vintner Andrea Franchetti. These vineyard parcels vary in altitude, ranging from 400 to 600 meters above sea level, and the soils are quite varied with pockets of clay, sand and rock. The Trinoro is profoundly deep and pure with a solid core of black fruit that is framed by an elegant contour of spice, tobacco, smoke and crushed stone. To the palate, the wine is long and the finish can be counted in minutes, but the entire experience is beautifully streamlined and velvety. This vintage saw an important freeze event on the 7th of May, and 9,000 fire candles were lit in the lower vineyard blocks to fight off frost damage.

Andrea Franchetti's 2018 Tenuta di Trinoro reminds me of the wines he made a decade ago or more. This dark, full and concentrated red blend shows a good amount of the power and the ripe, fruit-forward appeal that I associate with the wines made from those golden years from 2001 to 2007. There is a beautiful fullness and opulence here that wraps thickly over the palate with blackberry, rum cake, charred meat and black licorice. This blend of 59% Cabernet Franc and 41% Merlot offers up aromas of spice, mahogany and some of the grilled herbs or rosemary that you would associate with the Cabernet. The finish is super long and rich, with elegant tannins and lasting fruit momentum. Despite that slightly retro or nostalgic full-throttle bouquet that I described above, the mouthfeel is more tapered, fine and ethereal that you might expect. Some 7,000 bottles were made. You get all sorts of surprises from this beautiful, soulful wine.