This is very firm and dense with fantastic structure and a superb depth of fruit and silky tannins. Full body showing a core of ripe fruit featuring currants and blackberries. Minerals and fresh mushrooms to add. Better in 2018.

The 2011 D’Alceo is exotic, bold and luscious. It captures the natural richness of the warm, dry growing season, yet possesses magnificent balance. Black cherry, plum, new leather, licorice and spice fill out the layers nicely. The 2011 is in a great spot for drinking today, as it shows some signs of maturity but remains fleshy and vibrant, with compelling inner sweetness and terrific balance. The 2011 was fabulous when it was first released. It is just as compelling today, not to mention a triumph for the year. -- Antonio Galloni

The 2011 D'Alceo is a stunning blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon with 15% Petit Verdot. The bouquet is perfumed and enticing with dark rose, cherry fruit, spice, leather, cola, grilled herb and so much more. Fruit comes from a six-hectare single vineyard (whereas fruit for the Sanmarco represents a special selection from various vineyards.) The intensity and purity is what sets this wine part. Both are impeccable. In the mouth, D'Alceo feels long, linear and meaningful. Castello dei Rampolla practices biodynamic farming. - Monica Larner

Smooth and structured, this blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot opens with intense aromas of ripe blackberry, red currant, exotic spice, menthol, blue flower and a hint of grilled bell pepper. The dense, concentrated palate offers juicy black cherry, raspberry, vanilla, mocha, Asian spice and a hint of game alongside velvety tannins that give it a polished texture. — K.O.

The d’Alceo vineyard’s bush-trained (alberello) vines are rooted in the galestro soils of the Conca d’Oro, a south-facing amphitheater at the heart of Chianti Classico’s Panzano subzone. The warmth of the site is palpable in this wine, a blend of cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot. It’s saturated with cassis flavor as well as sweet spice from months in a mix of small and large French oak barrels, and balanced by savory notes of black olive and blood that lend a salty tang to the finish. It’s an immense wine that needs a good five to six years in the cellar for its complex flavors to unfold.