The 2021 Italian vintage is that rare beast, a stellar year that has produced outstanding wines everywhere — no mean feat given the multitude of unique wine styles, soils and climates there, plus the hundreds of indigenous Italian grapes. Yet from the chilly alpine north down to the hot, arid island of Sicily in the south, all are agreed that 2021 is a great vintage.
Certainly low yields almost everywhere greatly helped to concentrate flavour and finesse. It’s also true that Italy’s grandest age-worthy reds have hit the heights rather more than its whites — but that’s exactly what you’d expect from a mostly warm Mediterranean country. For all that, regardless of colour, if you see 2021 on an Italian wine label I doubt that you will be disappointed.
Starting in northeast Italy’s Veneto region, the big name is amarone della valpolicella, made as the ancients did it from dried raisined grapes. Quality is variable but if you know where to look amarone can hit the spot (see star buys) and there’s some lovely valpolicella too. Both have richer fruit flavours owing to yields being concentrated by hail and heavy rain.
Head west to Piedmont and it’s a humdinger vintage: little rainfall, lower yields and the slow ripening winemakers dream of has resulted in a gilded run of costly barolo and barbaresco — or buy Sottimano’s Langhe ’21 instead (see star buys).
Take a hop further south to hot, dry Tuscany, where growers claim it’s one of their finest years yet — even Lidl’s 2021 Chianti Riserva, £6.99, is a delicious, bold, oaky, potpourri charmer.
Nip across to the Marche on the Adriatic coast, where a hot year and low yields have made for some truly magnificent wines. Splurge on the Mancini’s magical French oak-aged 2021 Focara Pinot Noir, with truffle and silky strawberry pizzazz, strictlywine.co.uk, £32.85. Or opt for the abutting region Abruzzo’s best buys from a similarly hot, dry year, the lovely 2021 Finest Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, £8.50, from the Citra co-op, which is brimming with elegant, restrained sour-cherry fruit.
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Further south it’s been a struggle for growers to hang on to refreshing acidity, particularly for their whites, and yields are well down — in a few spots in Campania, behind Naples, by as much as 50 per cent. Still, the warm year has made some cracking reds almost everywhere, with little disease and wonderful, concentrated flavours, especially among those grapes picked late.
It’s Sicily, though, that has bucked the 2021 trend, with decent quantity as well as brilliant quality — only 15 per cent down at most. Judge for yourself with the delicious, plump, plummy, fruit of The Society’s 2021 Sicilian Reserve Red, an £8.95 gem, thewinesociety.com.
From left: Amarone della Valpolicella; Langhe Nebbiolo Sottimano; Vino Nobile di Montepulciano; Forteto Morellino di Scansano
2021 Italian stars
2021 Taste the Difference Amarone della Valpolicella, Italy
14.5 per cent, Sainsbury’s, £22.50
Punching well above its weight, this awesome amarone is all mature, velvety, savoury, herby charm.
2021 Langhe Nebbiolo Sottimano, Italy
14.5 per cent, leaandsandeman.co.uk, £28.50
Half the price of a fine barolo, this floral, raspberry-ripe nebbiolo from the Sottimano family is a joy.
2021 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Italy
13.5 per cent, Lidl, £8.49
Tuscany’s sangiovese grape gets a surprising lick of elegance in Lidl’s perfumed, smoky-oaky, red-fruited ’21.
2021 Forteto Morellino di Scansano, Le Rogaie, Italy
14 per cent, allaboutwine.co.uk, £18.99
From Tuscany’s cooler coast comes a fine, juicy, dried rose petal and meaty old vine red with a mocha finish.
From left: Nyetimber Classic Cuvee Brut; Marques de los Zancos Rioja Blanco; The Society’s Australian Chardonnay; Makaraka Marlborough Pinot Noir
Star buys
Nyetimber Classic Cuvee Brut, England
12 per cent, Booths, £30, down from £41
Go on, celebrate Easter with this consistently delicious English fizz — it’s a rich, creamy, lemon-shortbread charmer.
2024 Marques de los Zancos Rioja Blanco, Spain
12 per cent, Tesco, £6.25
The 2024 vintage has just landed and its pleasant, nutty, sappy, vanilla pod fruit is as good as ever.
2024 The Society’s Australian Chardonnay
13 per cent, thewinesociety.com, £7.50
A new-wave Aussie white, zhuzhed up with a dab of vermentino, making for a light but lively citrusy sip.
2022 Makaraka Marlborough Pinot Noir
12.5 per cent, Aldi, £9.69, down to £4.99
Back at last, this light, leafy, floral red berry and clove Kiwi really is down to £4.99 on Monday — a steal.
Dining and Cooking