Castellare di Castellina, Sodi San Niccolo, IGT 2013

The 2013 I Sodi di S. Niccolò is 85% Sangioveto (a more antique name for Sangiovese) and 15% Malvasia Nera from a single vineyard. This wine opens to a darkly saturated appearance and shows ruby, garnet and purple highlights. The bouquet is powerful but seamless at the same time with smooth transitions between dark cherry, spice, tobacco and moist clay. In the mouth, this wine shows dense extraction, but it never feels too weighed down by that mass. Instead, the freshness of the fruit and the natural acidity give the wine a bright and buoyant personality. Aged in barrique for 30 months, this is a delightful Tuscan red.

The flagship 2013 I Sodi di San Niccolò is classy and polished to the core. In many vintages, the I Sodi di San Niccolò can be more overt and extroverted, but in 2003 it is a wine of cool sophistication and polish. A rush of dark red and purplish-hued stone fruits, wild flowers, mint and licorice rounds out things out. The 2013 is a stylish, captivating Sodi. All it needs is time in bottle. For my money, Sodi remains one of the world's most pedigreed under-the-radar wines.

This is really serious with dense and deep fruit, citrusy acidity and a fantastic mouthfeel. Medium to full body, linear and racy. Made from a blend of sangioveto and malvasia nera. Drink now.