MESSORIO

A crazy good wine that flirts with perfection, the 100% Merlot 2013 Messorio comes from two vineyards, the Puntone vineyard planted in 1993 and the Vignone vineyard planted in 1999. Aged 20 months in 70% new barrels, it knocks it out of the park with its plum and black cherry fruit and background oak, chocolate, smoke, and mineral bouquet. A sensational wine in every way, with a huge, concentrated, viscous texture, building tannin, and no weight, it's going to stand toe to toe with the best Merlots in the world. Drink this beauty anytime over the coming two decades. Drinking range: 2018 - 2038 Rating: 99 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (Mar 2018)

An impressive array of plum, cherry, vanilla, toast and stone flavors are the hallmarks of this powerful yet polished red, showing excellent concentration and purity matched to freshness and length. There is a sense of youthful harmony that should improve as this mellows with time. Merlot. Drinking range: 2020 - 2038 Rating: 96 Bruce Sanderson, The Wine Spectator (Sept 2017)

It is the wine that best symbolizes the vintage. Fruity, very fresh and perfectly integrated wood on the nose. Delicate entry on the palate, with a very long finish featuring the finest tannins. A “monumental” vintage, perhaps one of the best of the past few years, as harmonious and elegant as a great Merlot wine must be. Here are the words of Ernesto Gentili, former curator of the Espresso Guide and probably the world’s greatest Bolgheri wine expert: “The color is bright and lively. The nose is rich, deep and complex, with uncommon floral notes. The balance is perfect, the finish very long, the wood is unperceivable and the tannins are very fine. The fruit is so unusually and amazingly focused”.Winemaker's notes (Dec 2016)

The 2013 Messorio is the highlight in this range of new releases from La Macchiole. Ample and flamboyant on the palate, the 2013 exudes depth. The 2013 is naturally quite primary at this stage, but it will be magnificent with a few years in bottle. Messorio has a way of becoming exotic and visceral over time. Today, the 2013 is at the very early stages of that journey. Drinking range: 2020 - 2033 Rating: 97 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Dec 2016)

The 2013 Messorio is a truly divine creation that puts Merlot on a well-deserved pedestal. This is a complete wine that accurately doses out its intensity and persistence with stopwatch precision. Dark fruit, blackberry, spice, leather, tar and tobacco are folded together into a homogeneous whole. The wine is supported by finely integrated tannins with lovely dark fruit flavors and beautifully plush textural richness. Thanks to the vintage warmth, the 2013 vintage is similar to 2011. But this current release presents a more delineated sense of freshness that holds it firmly stitched together. The finish is succulent and beautifully layered. Some 10,500 bottles were produced. This is a stunning wine that will not fade for decades to come. Drinking range: 2018 - 2040 Rating: 98 Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate (www.robertparker.com) (Oct 2016)