By Caiarossa
2020 Toscana Rosso IGT

Vintage Notes
Winter temperatures were mild, with a fresh early spring, followed by April and May with either maximum or minimum above-average temperatures. After copious rainfall in the first week of June, summer continued with no precipitation but cool nights and average maximum temperatures. A clear, bright sky marked the summer season until the end of August, when significant rainfall gave the plants new vitality and allowed the grapes to ripen properly. The 2020 vintage grapes show high-quality, gentle, well-ripened tannins across all parcels. The harvest was shorter than usual, from the Nocolino vineyards at the end of August through September 22nd.

Winemaking Notes
The harvest, done by hand, started on September 5th and ended on the 21st. All the different plots and varieties are vinified separately in concrete tanks and wooden truncated cones, with slow fermentation and extraction. Once the malolactic fermentation is complete, the wine selected for Caiarossa is blended. It then ages approximately 14 months in French oak barriques.

Technical Details
Varieties: 28% Cabernet Franc, 23% Syrah, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 13% Sangiovese, 4% Petit Verdot, 1% Grenache
Alcohol: 14.50%
[Information provided by DHI Selections]

Wine: 2020 Caiarossa
Score/Rating: 95
Suggested Drinking Window: 2025 - 2035
Review Date: 08/2023
Reviewed By: Antonio Galloni
Tasting Notes: The 2020 Caiarossa is the best wine I have tasted off this property in some time, perhaps ever. Rich, deep and yet not at all heavy, the 2020 offers up an exotic melange of dark cherry/plum fruit, mocha, licorice, new leather and incense. All the elements are so nicely balanced.

Wine: Caiarossa Toscana 2020
Score/Rating: 95
Suggested Drinking Window: Try from 2026
Review Date: 04/11/2023
Reviewed By: James Suckling
Tasting Notes: This is aromatic with dried cherries and plum skins as well as spiced chocolate, lilacs, walnut shell, and nutmeg. Some wet stones, too. It's full, structured, and wide on the palate with super-fine tannins. It's powerful but not heavy with freshness and crunchiness. Shows intensity and richness. Give it time. [...] Try from 2026.

Wine: 2020 Caiarossa Caiarossa
Score/Rating: 94
Suggested Drinking Window: 2024 - 2043
Review Date: 03/21/2024
Reviewed By: Monica Larner
Tasting Notes: This is an ambitious blend [...]. The Caiarossa 2020 Caiarossa is one of the Italian wines closest to Bordeaux both in DNA (the estate is French-owned) and winemaking. This is a full-bodied red with a bold and very exuberant personality. There is balance and depth with plenty of purple and black fruits, spice and oak toast to add dimension and complexity. The 2020 vintage is a little thinner compared to the more concentrated 2019 vintage.

Wine: 2020 Caiarossa
Score/Rating: 94
Review Date: 12/31/2023
Reviewed By: Danielle Callegari
Tasting Notes: The nose balances dark fruit and berries with the fresh levity of white pepper, mint and eucalyptus. On the palate, notes of vanilla bean and dark chocolate underscore the juicy broadness of the fruit, but a hot, peppery finish presents a thought-provoking contrast and prompts a meditative finish.

Wine: Caiarossa, Toscana, Tuscany, Italy, 2020
Score/Rating: 94
Suggested Drinking Window: 2024 - 2038
Review Date: 07/31/2023
Reviewed By: Georgina Hindle
Tasting Notes: Scented herbs and warm, sun-kissed black fruit on the nose - no surprise given it was the warmest summer since 1800 but with significant rain in June and at the end of August that allowed the grapes to ripen correctly. This smells like baked blackcurrants and roses. Supple and ample, generous and filling with gorgeous plump, but also quite defined, tannins that give the structure and the sense of tension. Fruit is tangy and ripe and with the acidity you get a push-pull of sharpness and ripeness. Round, direct, forward, this has energy and sculpting and I love the freshness that really lingers on the tongue. Well executed with lots of fragrance and a mineral, stone grip on the finish alongside dried herbs and liquorice spice. A delicious Tuscan wine with French flair (same owner as Chateeau [sic] Giscours in Margaux, AJ Domaines). Jerome Poisson general manager of both estates since 2020 and Axel Marchat consultant since 2016. A blend of 28% Cabernet Franc, 23% Syeah [sic], 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 13% Sangiovese, 4% Petit Verdot and 1% Grenache. Each plot and variety was vinifed separately and spontaneously in concrete and wooden tanks. After malolactic fermentation the wine was blended and aged for 14 months in barriques, 30% new, before spending two months resting in concrete and a further year in bottle before release.

Wine: Caiarossa Toscana 2020
Score/Rating: 93
Suggested Drinking Window: Drink now through 2040
Review Date: 12/31/2023
Reviewed By: Bruce Sanderson
Tasting Notes: Offers a combination of black currant, blackberry and loam flavors, with flourishes of iron and tobacco backed by dense tannins, which leave a burr on the finish. Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese, Petit Verdot and Grenache. Best from 2026 through 2040.

Wine: 2020 Caiarossa
Score/Rating: 92
Suggested Drinking Window: 2024 - 2039
Review Date: 08/21/2023
Reviewed By: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Tasting Notes: The 2020 Caiarossa is a blend of 28% Cabernet Franc, 23% Syrah, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 13% Sangiovese, 4% Petit Verdot, and 1% Grenache. Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, it is a little broody to start, with notions of tar and rubber followed by a core of baked plums and cracked black pepper with touches of dried herbs and damp soil. The full-bodied palate is full of pepper-laced black fruits with rounded tannins and compelling freshness, finishing long and spicy.

Wine: Caiarossa 2020 IGT Toscana
Score/Rating: 17/20
Suggested Drinking Window: 2025 - 2038
Review Date: 12/28/2023
Reviewed By: Walter Speller
Tasting Notes: Very dark, impenetrable crimson. Lifted nose of black forest fruits with just pinch of oak and a hint of damson. Supple black forest fruit and raspberry and just enough acidity to keep the overall tension. Medium-bodied feel rather than full-bodied. Long, finely grained tannins that are a tiny bit bitter and that make their mark on the finish, but this will improve with further bottle age. I would wait a couple of years for the tannins to settle.