2018 Lo Stralisco Riserva

Unbelievably pretty with an eyes-rolling-in-the-back-of-your-head bouquet, the 2018 Sangiovese Romagna Predappio Riserva Lo Stralisco shows wild strawberries in an air of crushed rocks as sweet sage and lavender give way to dusty dried violets. This washes across the palate with silky textural wild berry fruits propelled by juicy acidity while leaving a liquid-like floral staining in their wake. The 2018 reverberates with tension through the lightly structured finale as a caking of minerality slowly tapers off. Salted licorice hints are left to linger. Lo Stralisco is a selection from the Le Luciole vineyard. The grapes are foot-trodden and fermented whole clusters with indigenous yeast in open-top tini and then refined for two years in a ten-hectoliter cement tank. Only 550 bottles and a few magnums were produced. No lover of Chiara Condello should be without this.