Bruno Besa | Garnet to pink. Mature, black-fruits nose, with ripe black cherries, smoke, and dried Mediterranean herbs. Medium body, with ripe prunes and black cherries. Refined tannins yet a touch short on the finish. | 90

Andrew Jefford | Deep though clear black-red, and a much deeper hue than for most of its peers. Sweet, warm, rounded, softly spicy fruits, with a little oak-leaf and holly-leaf freshness: a very attractive aromatic proposition. Outstanding aromatic finesse here. On the palate, this is a very serious and ambitious effort for the vintage, with density and persistence, and the aromatic subtleties are evident on the palate, too. Too much ambition in this vintage could be dangerous, since you might push on and extract what the drinker may wish had been left unextracted—but this has stopped just short of the danger zone. There is bitterness on the finish, but it’s acceptable and even (this is Italian fine wine, after all) desirable. | 91

Michael Palij | Deeply pigmented and still closed on the nose, this displays a baked character, with prune and cassis allied to vanilla, forest floor, and a gamey note. There is a wealth of tertiary character here that suggests the more subtle elements may have been buried beneath the combination of oak and bottle age. The finish is dominated by the warming alcohol and shows a drying note made more obvious by the absence of fruit. Drink now. | 85