Wine Advisor
Fattoria Le Pupille, Morellino di Scansano Riserva 2016
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
The 2016 Morellino di Scansano Riserva has made a great leap forward in recent vintages. The blend is 90% Sangiovese and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the wine is aged in old Saffredi barrique along with larger botte. The wine shows a stunning crispness and a sharp focus in this vintage. It opens to black cherry notes and generous red fruit, with very lightly toasted almond and spice at the back. The mouthfeel is full, and while the bouquet starts off a bit closed, the finish grows steadily in volume and girth. It would be a nice accompaniment to grilled portobello mushrooms. Some 60,000 bottles were made. This wine offers excellent value from coastal Tuscany.
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
The 2016 Morellino di Scansano (85% Sangiovese, 10% Alicante and 5% Malvasia Nera) is a cheerful and easy-drinking wine to pair with grilled meats or oven-roasted lasagna. The bouquet offers red cherry aromas with grilled herb, black olive and crushed white pepper. This is a fruity and fully loaded wine that offers great value.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
This is very dense and polished with a beautiful texture of fruit and polished tannins. Creamy and caressing. Full body. Tight and intense. Complex flavors of berries, spices, cedar and chocolate, as well as light meat. Equal to the excellent 2015. Sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon. Drink or hold.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2016 Morellino di Scansano Riserva is a big, powerful wine. Black cherry, spice, leather, espresso, cedar and grilled herbs give this boisterous Riserva tons of richness and intensity. The addition of ten percent Cabernet Sauvignon gives the 2016 distinctly savory top notes that, while attractive, add a vegetal quality that is evident. Perhaps in the wine's early days, the Cabernet gave something to the wine, but today, I am not sure it does.
About the Producer
Fattoria Le Pupille is a leading wine estate in the Maremma region of coastal Tuscany. It is best known for Saffredi, a Toscana IGT blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot that has been described as the Lafite of Tuscany. Owner Elisabetta Geppetti is known as the Lady of Morellino and the Ambassador of Maremma. In 1992 she became head of the Consorzio for Morellino di Scansano - the region's association of grape growers and wine producers. She was the first woman to gain that position in any Italian wine region. The estate has 75 hectares (185 acres) of vineyards in total, the core of which are located around the village of Peretta. These vineyard holdings include the 25ha (62 acres) of the original Pupille vineyard and the 5-ha (12-acre) plot responsible for Saffredi. There is also a 20-ha (50-acre) plot near Magliano, and the winery itself is located near Grosseto. This is a modern facility located within the traditionally-styled building that features on the label. As well as Saffredi, Le Pupille makes three Sangiovese-based Morellino di Scansano cuvées. These are a "normale", a Riserva, and the Poggio Valente Riserva, which is aged for 15 months in a mix of small and large barrels. There is also a IGT Maremma Toscana Rosso, named Pelofino, which is a blend of Sangiovese and Syrah with a small amount of Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc. 2015 saw the first release of Le Pupille, a 100 percent Syrah aged for 12 months in 300-liter French oak barrels. This is priced above the flagship Saffredi. The estate also makes a Rosamatti rosato and a Poggio Argentato white based on Sauvignon Blanc with Petit Manseng, Traminer and Semillon. Piemme is a recently introduced single variety deluxe white wine from Petit Manseng . The lineup is completed by SolAlto, a botrytized white wine made from Traminer, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. In total around 500,000 bottles are produced each year.
