Antinori Guado al Tasso Bolgheri Superiore DOC 2017

Guado is a Bordeaux-style blend of mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, with Cabernet Franc and Merlot in good measure. It is affectionately known as a Super Tuscan due to its bold use of non-indigenous grapes as a blend grown in the amphitheatreshaped vineyards facing the Tyhrreanean sea in the DOC of Bolgheri, on the coast southwest of Florence. Nocturnal sea breezes and sea light reflection are indulgently a strong element in the making of Bolgheri. Soils are alluvial clayey sands and silts with fine gravel stones known as scheletro or agglomerate. Bolgheri got its shot to fame when a relatively unknown Sassicaia won the hearts of critics in a 1978 Decanter contest featuring Bordeaux heavyweights.

Antinori’s Guado al Tasso 2017 starts all rich aromas of meringue, fresh cream, forest fruit medley; crushed, fresh, ripe and juicy. The colour a brooding dark purple with a touch of crimson. The bouquet is complex, intertwined, dynamic, warm and inviting. Spices abound with well-integrated fruit layers astonishing for a young wine and pithy tertiary notes of wet undergrowth, floral fragrant oils, peppery geranium and cinnamon; all speak of layers of clay and ancient alluvium before even tasting. The attack follows through with racy ripe fruit, Mediterranean spices, juniper, aniseed and mint, with a medium plus bodied blend of plum, wild cherries, forest berry pulp skin and stems ending in a seething blueberry roast and raw hazelnut Sambuca finish.

This is a gently sleeping giant beginning to stir astonishingly palatable for a young vintage, generous for a 17 with soft silky but weighty tannins very different from the normally steep fare from the hot vintage where I suspect the gentle littoral sea breeze did wonders to Bolgheri in contrast to the Tuscan hinterland. With a one-day decant, intimate velvety textures, medium dryness, plusher body weight filled in with a volatile yet astringent, powerful yet docile concentrated syrup of dense fruit, dark cherry and grenadine, molasses and chocolate. This is exquisitely delicious, multifaceted, high-octane stuff yet has an Italian dolcezza all of its own and will only get better. The best 2017 I’ve had so far.

Gaja Ca’Marcanda Magari Bolgheri 2020

€85, exclusively represented by Mirachem

For the tech curious: Magari is largely Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon with a touch of Petit Verdot grown on silt, limestone, clay and stony terrain. Ca'Marcanda is Gaja’s estate in Bolgheri, chosen for its claylimestone terroir at the foot of the iron rich hills. 2020 was a hot ripe vintage in Tuscany topped off by late harvest rains to jump-start the final ripening stage. Wines can be characterised as rich, concentrated yet aromatically delicate and if harvested early having enough acidity for moderate aging.

Gaja's Ca'Marcanda Magari 2020 is ripe red cherries, smoked cedar, cinnamon, and red flowers (rose and geranium) with a beautiful entry of sweet fruit having a lush mid-palate of elegant primaries paired with a stone and gravel minerality that sees you off to a lasting finish. This is young, vibrant and elegant, more on the lines of a pop and pour quick rich phenolics stance but also precise in its traditionally Gaja style with its Burgundian focus on pure terroir as its raison d’etre. At first glance hard to believe this is a Bordeaux-blend of varieties such is its seamless initial feel.

Upon breathing a more texturised lengthy experience that holds you through from the ripe lush primaries to the serene secondary profile finesse, giving you a good picture of the soils involved here, limestone, clay and gravel are my guess. With time, more intimate aromas translate into flavours; a wide floral and spice spectrum; slight incense and Mediterranean herbs; are all well represented with tart plums and blackberries bringing the complexity of the primaries to the fore and middle, all wrapped in an underlying structure belying its elegance and immediacy. This can age as much as it can be drunk now.

Supplier details: Mirachem has a vast selection of Italian and French wines. Mirachem, Mira Building, Triq Kan K Pirotta, B’Kara. Tel 00356 2148 8590. Web wine.mt

“Sunday brunch is an easy, pleasant way to entertain a largish group, especially in the country. Americans who overslept invented the word brunch, but the ingredients and the casual atmosphere bear a strong resemblance to breakfast in an English country house or to a French midnight supper. The choice of menu can be as wide as the imagination. Practically anything goes - from hearty breakfast dishes such as filled omelettes, kidneys, chicken livers and bacon, sausages, and eggs Benedict. Something pretty in aspic, or a salmon mousse in a fish-shaped mold, makes a lovely centerpiece. Best of all, most of the meal can be prepared way ahead of time and it can be managed without outside help - if, that is, the hostess puts in a lot of work the day before and early that morning. People can wander in when they feel like it, so there’s no need to tint this one. Drinks are no problem. A big punch bowl with chunks of fresh fruit makes a nice starter, and mixings for bloody Marys, screwdrivers, or bullshots can be left on a table for guests to serve themselves. Of course there should be a big pot of very good coffee.”

Joan Crawford, My Way of Life.