2020 Valtosca

I only tasted the 2020 Valtosca, the Syrah bottling from stony calcareous soils ("Valtosca" can be translated as "the valley of tuff," the name of the soil), because no 2019 was bottled. The grapes from brown limestone soils covered with tosca limestone fermented with 25% to 30% full clusters in underground stone pools with indigenous yeasts. It matured in 500-liter barrels and 5,000-liter foudres for 12 months. Syrah is not a variety they are going to pursue, so the idea is to produce this wine only from the finest vintages and skip the others, as Syrah tends to deliver very concentrated and powerful wines. This is powerful but balanced, ripe at 15% alcohol with some leafy Syrah notes but not really very varietal. It's juicy and round, with velvety tannins and a faint bitter twist in the finish. 26,500 bottles were filled in November 2021.