Tasting Report: My Top 50 Super Tuscans In 2013

One of Tuscany's greatest winemakers, Antinori's head of winemaking Renzo Cotarella, calls the 2010 a fabulous vintage for wines from the region of Chianti Classico thanks to the long growing season for the grapes. And it certainly benefited Antinori’s legendary reds Solaia and Tignanello – the classic that created the category for Super Tuscan wines. The two may be the best ever in over a decade.

In this report, I’m posting my best 50 Super Tuscan wines from my summer tastings this year, and the majority are 2010s. A number of them have already been posted on the site. Just last week I reported on my best Italian merlots tasted, and two of the top wines in this report, Tua Rita's Toscana Redigraffi and Petrolo's Toscana Galatrona, have already been talked about in detail. But there are many others not to miss this year, just like those from Antinori.

Take for example two great reds from Bibi Graetz, a winemaker located in the hills above Florence near the village of Fiesole. Bibi Graetz thinks he has never achieved such quality with his wines until now. I scored his tiny production Colore 99 points and the Testamatta 98 points. The latter got the same score as I gave the legendary 2006, which was one of my best wines in Tuscany from that vintage.

Yet the hills of Florence and Chianti Classico are not the only areas that excelled in 2010. Montalcino absolutely killed it as well. I have tasted barrel samples of Brunellos di Montalicino that are mindboggling. Unfortunately, these won't be available until 2015.

However, this does mean that there are already some superb Super Tuscans from the region now on the market. Luce della Vite is an example. It's the best ever at 98 points. It shows stunning depth of fruit and firm and intense structure.

"The 2010 vintage was an outstanding year for late-ripening areas, whether for whole appellations or specific vineyards," says Carlo Ferrini, one of Tuscany's great consulting enologistis. "Great wines have been made in this vintage."

Overall, if you combine the great quality of so many wines in 2010 with the wonderful merlots made in 2011, no one can deny that the Super Tuscan category for Italy's most famous wine region continues to grab the attention of the wine world at large, despite discussion otherwise. Get your hands on some of the wine below, and you won't be disappointed.