2011 Galatrona Merlot Toscana Tenuta di Petrolo DBMG

This is a phenomenal pure merlot with blueberries, raspberries and hints of milk chocolate. Some nutmeg too. Full body with very fine yet chewy tannins and a long, intense finish. Reminds me of the amazing 1998. Best ever from here. Needs four or five years of bottle age to soften.

The 2011 Galatrona is an immense and profound wine with great fruit intensity and lovely layers of richness and opulence. Galatrona is a pure expression of Merlot and is one of the best interpretations of the wine made anywhere on earth. What sets it apart is its Tuscan personality. In addition to soft cherry and blackberry, you get Mediterranean herb, tobacco and polished leather. The warmth of the 2011 vintage has succeeded in adding extra padding and textural richness to the wine. The tannins are luscious, soft and very smooth.

Good full ruby. Dark plum, mocha, aromatic herbs, minerals and spicy oak on the nose. Sweet, pliant and inviting, with ripe but very refined flavors of flinty black cherry, plum, mocha and menthol complicated by dried flowers. Finishes extremely long, with exceptional balance, lingering flint and coffee nuances, and sweet, building tannins. Very dense and concentrated but there's nothing over the top about this remarkably elegant wine. One of Italy's greatest merlots and an exceptional showing in a rather hot year, something that merlot doesn't normally take a shine to.

Round and packed with violet, black currant, cherry, mineral and spice flavors, this red is polished, given support by dense tannins. The spice and toast accents linger on the extended aftertaste. Merlot. Best from 2016 through 2026.-B.S

Kølig, mineralsk og stringent duft med ung, rank, velpoleret frugt med diskret sødme. Udtalt elegance, stor detaljerigdom og charme. Rig og meget koncentreret vin med markant tæthed i frugten og intense, bløde tanniner. Sødmefuld på den kultiverede måde med friskhed, flot fylde og et meget givende helhedsindtryk. Høj klasse.