The blue fruits and lavender with crushed stone aromas are very impressive and alluring here. Medium-bodied with fine tannins that are very polished and long. Some crushed berries. Turns to orange peel at the end. Merlot. Needs time to come together and open. Try after 2028.

Made with 100% Merlot, the Castello dei Rampolla 2021 Liù shows a note of spice and dried herb that frame a dark core of fruit. The wine is rich in appearance, but the mouthfeel remains elegantly slender and polished. There is pretty structural softness here that speaks to the spirit of the variety and the sunny brilliance of Panzano in Chianti. Peppery notes appear on the close. - Monica Larner

The 2021 Merlot Liu' is fabulous. Dark and inky to the core, the 2021 saturates the palate with layers of blue/purplish fruit framed by incisive tannins. Graphite lavender, spice and menthol, appear later, but it is the wine's pure intensity that impresses most. What a gorgeous wine this is. -- Antonio Galloni