Wine Review: Villa Antinori Toscana Rosso 2022

This wine breaks all the rules. But does this baby Super-Tuscan hold up as a fine entry-level wine?

When you start your wine journey, you face an appellation overload. “What do you mean you don’t know the difference between Burgundy and Bordeaux?” “You fool, of course Piedmont is nothing like Puglia!” There are so…SO…many pyramid diagrams.

At night I dream of triangles…

But dig deep enough, you’ll hear rumblings. Whispers on the (grape)vine. There are wines that don’t follow rules. That shrug off the restraints of DOCs, AOCs, or AVAs. Wines that, despite having abandoned these assignations of quality, have skyrocketed to become some of the most sought-after bottles in the world. I am, of course, referring to the Italian Super-Tuscans.

A wine over 600 years in the making.

Wine: Villa Antinore Toscana Rosso 2022
Producer: Antinori
Grape(s): Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Syrah
Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany
Alcohol: 13.5%
Vintage: 2022
Price: £13 from Waitrose (was £19)

So, what exactly are Super-Tuscans? Well, for a good long while, most winemakers stuck to the rules of whatever region they were growing wine in. Why would anyone choose a Vin de France if there was a Burgundy or Bordeaux across the table? Appellations, and putting effort into following the rules, were meant to be some sort of assurance of quality to the buyer. If you buy a red wine labelled Burgundy, you know you’re getting 100% Pinot Noir. If you buy a wine labelled Chianti Classico (already a distinction from regular Chianti), you should be getting at least 80% Sangiovese grapes.

That’s all well and good, but some winemakers in the Chianti region felt it was a bit restrictive. They loved the blends from bordeaux, why couldn’t they grow and blend them over in Italy? Especially when it was so very, very tasty. So some winemakers said “To heck to it, better to ask forgiveness than permission” and used grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah in their wine - all varieties that were not supposed to be in Chianti wine! While certainly not the first (that privilege goes to Mario Incisa della Rocchetta with the world-famous Sassicaia), Piero Antinori (part of a winemaking family literally over 600 years old!) added Cabernet Sauvignon to his “Tignanello” blend. The board was taken aback, as it went against the appellation rules! And so, they relegated Tignanello to bog standard Vino da Tavola – Italy's lowest wine quality tier. But he believed in the quality of his wine. And so did the rest of the world.

Tignanello, along with a few other Italian superstars, quickly became the hot cool things of the wine world. Wines that bucked traditionalism and broke all the rules. It also helped that they were delicious to boot! The Super-Tuscans had been introduced, and there was no putting the genie back in the bottle.

This wine is nearly £400…how does its little brother do for under £20?

While Tignanello still commands a high-price today (and keeps getting progressively higher!), Antinori produces a variety of different wines. Today’s star, the Toscana Rosso 2022, is what some would call their entry-level wine. Usually retailing for around £19-£20, the term “entry-level” is doing a lot of heavy lifting! But as of writing, it’s on sale at Waitrose for £13, so I thought we should have a little tango in Tuscany!

So, looking into it, there’s about a billion different grapes in this bottle (Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Syrah) which certainly disqualifies it being anything other than Toscana IGT - the basic first run of the Tuscany ladder. However, what this means is that the other grapes have been added to the Sangiovese to help round out it’s character and bring to the forefront the qualities that Antinori wants to showcase - supposedly.

Oooo that’s a good looking wine!

Looking at the colour, it’s definitely a sign your getting in big, bolshy territory, with a dark purplish hue that draws you in. On the nose, it’s a very pleasant melange of spice, vanilla, and a bunch of dark fruit, namely black cherry. It’s very inviting indeed! When it strikes that palate, there’s a velvety luxury to the mouthfeel, then out of nowhere it grips you with its relatively high tannins. Not altogether unpleasant, mind, but just know it’s a very muscular wine, big and powerful. The taste lingers at the end, filling my mouth with ghosts of dark chocolate and tobacco.

So, is it a good wine? I daresay, yes! But is it an interesting wine? This is where my appraisal gets a bit murky. It’s powerful, dark, tannin-loaded and would go very well with red meat. All’s well and good, but I feel that describes 80% of red wine I’d find on a restaurant menu. It’s nice to have a “go to” if I wanted to bring a red to a party that involves people who insist on having their steak still mooing. But it’s an “idea” of wine that I just don’t find that interesting at the moment. And certainly not a full whack around £20. I’d much rather take the Gran Passione if I’m doing Italian red blends, it’s a far more interesting experience!

So if you find yourself in the supermarket, and not sure what to have with dinner or bring to a party, this is a very solid recommendation. But you’ll be paying a premium to go with the very safe option. Life’s too short for that, grab some shite wine and have a laugh over it with your friends. Or cry by yourself if you don’t have any. Whatever floats your boat.

Chin Chin,

Your Super-Tuscan-Trying, Too-Many-Grapes-Researching, Hate-Playing-Safe, Wine Reviewer Ben

If you want to see my review of another Italian red blend, have a gander below!

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