The 2016 Ghiaie della Furba is a blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with smaller parts Merlot and Syrah. From a classic vintage, the wine opens to a darkly saturated color with rich ruby and garnet highlights. Fruit is sourced from a site not too far from the Furba River, from which the wine takes its name. It closes with an open-knit texture, big structure and an accessible style that makes it perfect to drink straight out of the gate.

The 2015 Ghiaie della Furba is a super-charged, warm-vintage blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 25% Syrah. The wine was first produced in 1979 because then proprietor Ugo Contini Bonacossi wanted to create a Bordeaux blend in Carmignano, Tuscany. The original blend consisted of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Fruit was sourced from a vineyard site with gravel alluvial soil next to the Furba River after which this wine is named. In 1992, the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon was increased thanks to the new S. Alessandro vineyard that came online. And in 1998, Syrah was added to the blend. This is a dark and thickly concentrated red wine that holds firm to the palate thanks to its full-bodied approach. The wine offers ripe fruit aromas and a touch of alcoholic heat on the finish. Some 10,000 bottles were made.

The 2012 Ghiaie della Furba is a seamless blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 25% Syrah. The wine offers the inner structure of the first variety and the aromatic softness and richness of the last two grapes. Black fruit, pipe tobacco and sweet rum cake add to the wine's pretty layering. This blended red is aged in barrique for 15 months and those oak tones are lavish and savory. The texture is velvety and dense.

The historic Capezzana estate produces excellent wines in a little-known wine region northwest of Florence. This hearty blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah shows the best of Tuscan winemaking thanks to the purity of the fruit and the warm background etching of smoke and spice that complete a very pretty picture. ——M.L.(12/15/2010)—— 92