Tasting Report: My Top New Italian Merlots In 2013

Italy is one of the few wine-producing countries capable of making world-class merlot. Its best merlots rival the best in the world – meaning they can compete with the quality and complexity of the reds of Bordeaux's legendary region of Pomerol.

Over the weekend a dear friend brought a bottle of 1998 Chateau Petrus to share over dinner (for note and score check out my latest In My Lalique by clicking here), and we served it against a 1997 Petrolo Toscana Galatrona and 2004 Maculan Veneto Crosara. Of course the great Pomerol did ultimately outclass the two Itailans, but what was more striking was that they still held their own. The Galatrona was most similar in character with its black olive and berry character. The Crosara was more jammy in a Venetian style, but remained fresh and bright.

I have tasted hundreds of wines this summer 2013 in Tuscany. And some of my most exciting reds were merlot. Tuscany dominates the production of great merlot, but this year I also found outstanding wines from other regions such as Sicily and Northeast Italy.

Tuscany's 2011 Tua Rita Toscana Redigaffi comes first in “My Top New Italian Merlots In 2013”. It’s a stunning young red and one of my best wines of my summer tastings overall. I remember first tasting the wine from barrel at the winery, and it was so intense and powerful yet already racy and refined. It showed strength with class. That's why I rated it 99 points. This wine is in the same league as the fabulous 1997 Redigaffi.

"The 2011 Redigaffi is a special wine," admits Stefano Frascola, one of the owners of the Tuscan winery located on the coast just north of the city of Grosseto. "The 2011 vintage was a very hot year but our merlots came out surprisingly fresh and harmonious."

Luca Sanjust, the owner and winemaker of Petrolo Galatrona, agrees: "The incredible quality of the 2011 Galatrona is a big surprise for us. We had no idea how great the wine was in the beginning."

That said, I had already been told for a while about the greatness of the 2011 vintage for merlot from Leonardo Raspini, the dynamic head of Ornellaia and Masseto. He thinks the 2011 Masseto may be one of the best ever - perhaps even better than the legendary 2001 that I gave a perfect 100 points. I can't wait to taste it when it is available in bottle. It should be even better than the 2010, which I gave 98 points this year.

Below are “My Top New Italian Merlots In 2013”. These are mainly 2010s and 2009s plus the available 2011s. A few have small amounts of other grape types in them but are mostly merlot.