The Casanova della Spinetta 2018 Sangiovese Il Nero di Casanova reveals a very Mediterranean personality with black olive, rosemary and dried lavender, like what you might see in the fields of southern France. There is a ripe, warm-vintage quality to the wine that translates into softness and accessibility.

A pure expression of Sangiovese with fruit from young vines, the Casanova della Spinetta 2017 Sangiovese Il Nero di Casanova is bright and brambly with sour cherry and wild plum. Despite the heat and drought of this vintage, the wine shows a tart and stemmy quality that adds to the intensity of the bouquet and the linear structure of the mouthfeel. This is a mid-weight red with the acidity to cut through a wood-oven pizza with extra melted mozzarella.

With fruit from young vines, the Casanova della Spinetta 2016 Sangiovese Il Nero di Casanova opens to an inky appearance with dark garnet and sepia hues. Roto-fermenters are used to extract extra color and fruit intensity, and you most certainly feel the results here in this dark, muscular and brooding interpretation. The wine is aged in large botte, and the oak tones are not too intrusive. However, the fruit remains richly concentrated and dense with blackberry, dried cherry, spice, smoke, scorched earth and tarry asphalt (which is almost too much). This wine shows a slightly aged or evolved quality to the fruit. Production is an ample 90,000 bottles.

This is a pure expression of Sangiovese from 15-year-old vines in the little-known Terre di Pisa appellation. The 2014 Terre di Pisa Sangiovese Il Nero offers aromas of pressed rose, wet earth and wild Mediterranean brush. The Tuscany signature here is very strong indeed. The wine offers a level of distinct structure and power that is not unlike a Brunello di Montalcino or a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. It is aged in ten-year-old oak casks for further integration, definition and stability. Menthol-like freshness appears on the close.

The estate’s 2008 Il Nero di Casanova (Sangiovese) presents an intriguing profile of dark cherries, leather, licorice and tobacco, all of which come together in a medium-bodied, relatively delicate frame that is typical of Sangiovese. The Nero shows lovely inner sweetness and perfume through to the long finish. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2016. Importers: Indigenous Selections, Fort Lauderdale FL; tel. (954) 530-4021; Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300