2023 Fattoria Le Pupille Saffredi Toscana Rosso 750 ml

Elisabetta Geppetti has been making wine in Maremma since 1985, when she took over a small family estate in the coastal hills south of Grosseto at the age of 20 and decided she was going to do something no one had done yet. Working alongside the late Giacomo Tachis—the oenologist behind Sassicaia and Tignanello, and one of the principal architects of the Italian Super Tuscan—she began planting international varieties and, in 1987, produced the first Super Tuscan from Maremma. She named it Saffredi, after Fredi—her father-in-law and the estate’s previous owner, the man who first ignited her passion for wine.

Forty years on, the estate’s 85 organically farmed hectares roll across the hills of Pereta, where the Saffredi vineyard sits at 250 meters above sea level. The proximity to the Tyrrhenian Sea is the terroir argument here: cool coastal breezes moderate the heat and preserve the wine’s freshness, allowing the Cabernet Sauvignon to ripen fully without losing its edge. It’s a natural advantage you can taste in every vintage.

Over the years, Le Pupille has been quietly refining its approach to oak, pulling back on new wood in favor of highlighting what’s in the fruit. The shift is especially visible in the 2023—what you get is brightness, fruit purity, and the kind of forward energy that speaks more to the vineyard than the barrel.

The 2023 was a test of exactly that terroir. Across Tuscany, the year was challenging—heavy spring rains, mildew pressure, hailstorms, and summer heat that stretched many producers thin. Maremma’s coastal position offered shelter, and Le Pupille’s team produced fruit that outperformed what the broader vintage narrative might suggest. What the wetter year gave the wine was something the harder, more tannic 2022 couldn’t: elevated aromatics and a fresh, lifted herbal quality that threads through the entire wine.

In the glass, the 2023 is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot—dark cherry, ripe blackberry, and raspberry, with a distinct floral imprint of violets, potpourri, and Mediterranean herbs, and a lick of salinity on the finish. The tannins are round and silky; the fruit is crunchy and forward. Decanter found it “a deep sip full of dynamism and juxtaposition,” and that’s exactly right. This is a wine that rewards attention without demanding patience.