2011 Sammarco

This wine was part of a once-in-a-lifetime tasting that encompassed every vintage of Sammarco back to 1981 and provided a rare opportunity to trace the arc of one of Tuscany’s most compelling and groundbreaking reds. The only vintage that was not present was the 1980, the last bottles having being laid to rest with Alceo di Napoli. Sammarco was not bottled in 1992, 2001 and 2002. I tasted all of these wines during a visit to the estate in July 2015.

My most recent visit to Rampolla was one of the most memorable, as I had a chance to taste every vintage of Sammarco back to 1981. We will publish notes from that vertical soon. In the meantime, Rampolla fans will find much to admire in these current releases. Luca di Napoli describes 2013 as a warm year, but without excessive heat, that resulted in grapes with thick skins. Rain arrived towards the end of August and early September, which is a bit later than normal. The first two wines Rampolla has released from 2013 are quite intense. In 2011, the key was picking early, as the season precocious and dry the whole year. The two 2011 flagships - Sammarco and d'Alceo - have shut down hard since I tasted them just before bottling. That is hardly a surprise, given how structured these wines can be. Bottles opened today will only show a fraction of their potential. Where possible, a bit of patience is advised.

Brother and sister team Luca and Maurizia di Napoli continue to take Rampolla to even greater heights. Running a world-class estate with a brilliant track record of success after success isn't enough for the di Napolis, who seem to have their sights set on even loftier goals. Over the last few years, the di Napolis have been experimenting with terra cotta amphoras, which they are using for a new series of wines that will become a full-fledged range of small bottlings with the 2012 vintage. The wines I tasted from terra cotta are nothing short of dazzling. Those four wines will soon be bottled, with no SO2 and be made available in select markets. As spectacular as those wines are, I must caution readers that wines bottled with no SO2 can show significant amounts of variation and are hugely sensitive to poor storage and/or handling. I hope the trade will treat these wines as a highly perishable product, which they are, and suggest readers only buy the wines from the most reputable sources. As for the dual flagships Sammarco and d'Alceo, they are both alive and well. A recent vertical covering every vintage back to the inaugural 1996 showed the late Alceo di Napoli's fundamental instinct for this land was spot on. Today, his children are making the most of the treasure they inherited. Any way you look at it, this is a spectacular set of wines. Rampolla fans can look forward to notes from the d'Alceo vertical and two videos with Luca di Napoli in the coming weeks.