A pure expression of Merlot, the Castellare di Castellina 2020 Poggio ai Merli is extremely generous and soft from a textural point of view. This hot vintage Merlot is beautifully opulent and round with ripe fruit, black cherry, barbecue spice, smoke and mahogany. The oak element is quite evident especially now as the wine is so young. You also get the added volume and fruit padding of the vintage.

The Castellare di Castellina 2018 Poggio ai Merli is a pure expression of Merlot with 3,813 bottles in existence. This is a rich and succulent rendition with high notes of dried mint and graphite that hover over the bouquet with an almost suspended or lifted quality. Those pretty aromas set the stage for the dark and nicely concentrated fruit that you find directly underneath. This expression from 2018 shows some dryness on the close, but the smooth and creamy richness of the fruit successfully, and gracefully, takes over the palate. Serve it with a platter of soft pecorino wedges dipped in honey.

The 2017 Poggio ai Merli (a pure expression of Merlot) is a bit weighed down by the heat of the vintage with a very black and succulent quality of fruit that goes a bit overboard in my opinion. This is an exuberant, oversized expression of the grape with leather, spice and Spanish cedar on the close. The finish is enormous and very soft. I suggest a medium-term drinking window. Only 3,000 bottles were made.

The 2016 Poggio ai Merli is gorgeous. That's the short and the long of it. Merlot shows some of its best performances ever in Tuscany in the 2016 vintage. This wine is exceedingly smooth and silky, yet its tightly knit fiber supports a generous profile that ranges from dark cherry to spice, to tobacco and fresh potting soil. On the palate, the wine is rich and large in scope, yet it never leaves behind any residual heaviness. Castellare di Castellina has created a true beauty (with only 4,000 precious bottles made).