Decanter World Wine Awards 2026 Best in Show 97pts
"Our second Tuscan Best In Show wine this year is, like the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, a debutant in dry red-wine form within the Top 50 selection. It's a wine from the small but deeply historical DOCG of Carmignano, a zone first acclaimed by Cosimo III de' Medici in the early C18, and revived in 1975 as the first DOC to sanction use of Cabernet Sauvignon in its blend (though Cabernet is limited to just 10 per cent in this wine, with a further 10 per cent of the softening Canaiolo; Sangiovese accounts for the wine's core). This Riserva from 2021 is dark black-red in colour, with splendidly ripe aromas of dimpled black plums, sage leaf and woodland undergrowth. It's full and expansive in the mouth with a rich, succulent tannic frame, sweeping yet fruit-saturated acidity and a long and reverberatively savoury finish: one of the most generous of this year's Top 50 reds, yet without sacrificing the nerve and nuance that seems to be a birthright of fine Tuscan red wines."
