2021 Bolgheri Superiore
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Tasting notes
The 2021 Argentiera leaps from the glass with lots of noble Mediterranean personality upfront. A youthful dark red hue, it boasts notes of dark stones, blackcurrants, fresh tobacco, lavender, and crushed sage. The palate offers the richest of the three vintages of this wine that I tasted at the estate. Full-bodied, it has rich extract along with a youthful, fruity cushion of fruit, supple, velvety tannins, and a long finish with a bit of meaty richness as well as a mouthwatering touch of saline. It deserves a few more years in bottle to give it time to improve and should age slowly over the coming 20 or more years.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
The Argentiera 2021 Bolgheri Superiore Argentiera (a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc) is quite dense and rich, showing the bold intensity of the vintage in no uncertain terms. The wine feels too extracted to my tastes and marks quite a step up in richness compared to the thinner 2022 vintage that I tasted at the same time. The bouquet offers blackberry liqueur and syrupy black cherry with spicy notes. The tannins are fleshed out for the most part, with a point of bitterness that still needs to settle. The 2022 is thinner and easier to drink, but this 2021 needs a few more years of bottle age to iron out.
'Revined' sample, from a test tube. Very tannic on the palate. The gruffest tenor tone. The flavour hides behind the intense structure. Tough to love, although it will doubtless reward patience. (RH)
Full bottle 1,351 g. 48% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc. 14 to 16 months in French oak barrels. Not much on the nose. Polished mahogany and plums. Broad, supple but emphatic, hierarchical tannins. The fruit is definitely under the control of the tannins. Warm, black spices in the Christmas-cake spectrum, raisins and Turkish coffee. Drying and slightly bitter in a planed-wood kind of way, but as a whole it works. (TC)