2013 Salcheto Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva DOCG 750 ml

“I’ve been waiting to open this,” one of our most trusted friends said as she swirled the dark liquid in her oversized Riedel stem. “What do you think?”

Aromas of flowers, dark cherries, and stewed plums filled the air, and all conversation came to a screeching halt once we began to taste: This was a wine that rendered a roomful of wine pros silent. With richness and concentration to spare, and flavors of licorice and mint that lasted for a seeming eternity on the tongue, we all stared at our glasses in wonder.

We were in love. Back at our Napa office the following Monday, we immediately began to track down as many bottles as possible of the 2013 Salcheto Vino Nobile di Montepulciano that was so impressive the weekend before. The only problem was that there just weren’t that many to be had. With 94 points from Vinous, which called it a “wine of true distinction,” and 93 points from Wine Spectator for its “sweet cherry and berry, licorice, leather, tar, and iron aromas and flavors,” collectors had already snapped most of it up.

It’s grown in the rolling hillsides outside the town of Montepulciano, where the Salcheto estate began as a sleepy farm in 1984, the land dedicated to crops, sheep, and just a patch of Sangiovese. Yet thirteen years later, the property was jolted to life when Michele Manelli took ownership. 

Young, passionate, and brimming with new ideas, Manelli was part of the influx of talented, ambitious producers who rushed into the region at the tail end of the 20th century. With the abundance of energy that he’s become famous for, Manelli initiated an overhaul of the winery, gutting the cellar and rebuilding it in 2011 using the most innovative and sustainable technologies available.

Italy took notice: Salcheto won the “Sustainable Viticulture” award from Gambero Rosso in 2014, and in Vinous, Antonio Galloni proclaimed that, “Readers who haven’t yet discovered Salcheto are missing out on some of the most delicious wines being made in Tuscany today.”

This is a property that has absolutely everything going for it: It sits at almost 1,500 feet in elevation—one of the highest in the area—and benefits from both warm sun and brisk, cooling breezes. The grapes are grown organically and biodynamically in tufa clay, which allows them to reach stunning maturity year after year.

This particular wine was crafted using the ancient Tuscan Governo system, in which a portion of air-dried grapes are added to the must as it's fermenting to add depth, richness, and concentration to the blend. The resulting wine is magnificently rich, yet maintains plenty of energy.

And this impeccably mature 2013 Salcheto Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva hits all the right notes. It wasn’t easy to get our hands on the few bottles that we have, but it was well worth the effort.