2018 Fattoria Piazzano Ventoso Toscana IGT 750 ml

Discovering a $15 Italian red that dazzles the palate and packs a 92-point score is rare. Finding one that is sourced exclusively from top lots of estate-grown grapes is practically unheard of, which is why we claimed every bottle we could of the 2018 Fattoria di Piazzano Ventoso Toscana for Wine Access members.

Ventoso is raised on the clay loam-heavy soils of the Bettarini family’s gorgeous estate south of the Tuscan commune of Empoli, where only the top estate-grown selections qualify to wear the Piazzano label. That’s why this bottle bursts with uncommon quality. With its tons of warm dark red fruit, high tones of red raspberry underpinned with savory herbs and pepper, and impressive energy and persistence, 2018 Ventoso is the kind of soulful, mouthwatering red that you’d be happy to linger over all night at a trattoria bar.

We’ve got this hearty, soulful 92-point Italian red for just $15 per bottle. The way former Wine Spectator European Bureau Chief James Suckling described the wine is also how we sum up a case-buy: It’s simply “Hard to resist.”

Our wine radar has no off switch, which can be a very good thing—we discovered the top quality and belief-defying prices of Fattoria di Piazzano while picking up grab-and-go Italian food. But what we thought was a one-time strike turned out to be our introduction to the Bettarini family, an oasis of superb value in Tuscany.

It makes sense that the Bettarinis can pack this kind of quality and charm into a bottle whose price comes in well below that of a New York-style pie. They have farmed Piazzano in the rolling hills south of Empoli ever since their forebear Otello purchased the property in 1948, which means they can turn out high-quality wine for next to nothing.

The winegrowing tradition in the area goes back much further than Otello’s day, with excavations on the property revealing amphorae that date back to the 4th century. Those ancients clearly knew what they were doing: The estate runs across a fault, which (as we see all over the world) results in an incredible array of soils throughout the vineyard. 

Siblings Rolando and Ilaria Bettarini have taken that soil diversity and run with it, vinifying the best expressions of Sangiovese, Canaiolo, and Malvasia Nera in glazed concrete tanks on native yeasts. They sell what doesn’t make the cut—in other words, only the estate’s best makes it into a bottle with the Piazzano label on it. And in the superb 2018 vintage, they’ve outdone themselves on quality.

Piazzano is our new font of top Tuscan quality. We invite you to tap into it as often as you like. At this price, it’s all upside.