Antinori Le Mortelle Poggio alle Nane 2019

Drink now or cellar for up to 15 years. No need to decant before serving.

The Antinori family have been making wine in Tuscany since at least as early as 1385 when Giovanni di Piero Antinori became a member of the Florentine Winemakers’ Guild. More recently, they helped put Tuscany on the map for powerful Super Tuscan wines thanks to their magnificent Tignanello cuvee. In 1999 they purchased the 667 acre Fattoria Le Mortelle estate in Tuscany’s coastal Maremma region where the terroir is well-suited to Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

The estate’s Poggio alle Nane cuvee is named after the local word for duck since there used to be duck breeding farms here. It’s composed primarily of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc along with a small amount of Carmenere. The fruit is typically harvested in late September or October when it has reached optimum ripeness while still retaining some freshness and aromatics.

Once in the winery the grapes are carefully sorted to ensure only the best make it into the bottle. After vinification the young wine is aged in French oak barrels for 16 months before bottling, adding enticing hints of ripe dark fruit, woodsmoke, tobacco leaf, and baking spice. On the palate there’s a generous full body with firm tannins and a long, complex finish. An ideal partner for red meat dishes or tomato-based pasta sauces.