2023 Tenuta di Frassineto Cabernet Franc Le Fattorie Toscana 750 ml

Tenuta di Frassineto sits in the heart of the Val di Chiana, the broad valley that unfurls south of Arezzo in eastern Tuscany. The estate centers on a 16th-century villa with deep roots in the region's history—among those who passed through its halls was the Renaissance painter and architect Giorgio Vasari. The Miserocchi family farms its 30 hectares of vines, working the valley's sandy soils under the guidance of consulting enologist Massimo Bartolini.

Le Fattorie is the estate's 100% Cabernet Franc, bottled as a Toscana IGT. While the grape is best known as a supporting player in Bordeaux and a bright, leafy specialty of the Loire, Tuscany has quietly become one of its great homes. Benchmarks like Le Macchiole's Paleo and Duemani have shown the world what Cabernet Franc can do on Tuscan soil.

Here the grape shows its fuller, darker-fruited side—closer in spirit to Bordeaux and Napa than to the Loire—with genuine depth and structure beneath its signature florals. Grown inland in the Val di Chiana and aged in French oak barriques, Le Fattorie balances power and perfume, the combination that marks the finest expressions of the variety.

The 2023 is a standout. Across Tuscany, the vintage demanded relentless attention in the vineyard, and the estates that rose to it made wines of real freshness and focus. At the Decanter World Wine Awards—one of the world's largest and most rigorously judged wine competitions—the 2023 Le Fattorie earned a Platinum medal, among the rarest distinctions the competition confers.

In the glass, it's all lift and polish: blackcurrant, dark cherry, and plum shot through with a cool whisper of mint and a gloss of vanilla oak. Flowers bloom across a palate carried by bright acidity and finely tuned tannins, and the finish runs long and focused. It has the structure for hearty Tuscan fare—a charred ribeye, braised short ribs, a wedge of aged pecorino—and the energy to keep drawing you back to the glass.