Tua Rita Redigaffi Vertical: Toward Precision and Purity

Medieval swordfights, flamethrowing and dancers on stilts: the 25^th birthday party for Tua Rita’s Redigaffi was celebrated in style this summer at the winery’s estate in Suvereto, Italy, but it was still the wine itself that stole the show.

In the last couple of decades, Tua Rita has added fantastic wines to its portfolio, including a syrah made in amphora and a fresh white from ansonica, not to mention a new sweet Passito di Pantelleria from Sicily. The pure merlot Redigaffi has consistently stood out among these offerings, though, which was reason enough to mark the anniversary of its launching with a tasting vertical of all 26 vintages.

We were among a group of 15 Italian and international journalists offered the unique opportunity last month to participate in the tasting with owner Stefano Frascolla, consulting winemaker Luca D'Attoma and winemaker Marco Lamastra. The vertical highlighted Redigaffi’s evolution in precision and purity, as well as its unwavering reflection of each vintage as opposed to being simply another stylized Super Tuscan. "We have a terrain that gives a lot of potential,” Frascolla told the group.

Speaking at a separate tasting at our Tuscan office, he linked the freshness and minerality that can be seen in countless vintages of Redigaffi to the soil and climate of the region.

“Suvereto is a bit different to Bolgheri because of the kind of soil,” he said. “We have a lot of minerals."

At only 12 kilometers from the sea, the region is also very much influenced by the wind. The inherent potential can readily be seen in the first vintage of Redigaffi, 1994, which showed a wonderfully silky and soft core of sweet berry fruit - a supple and elegant expression of merlot.

"It was all a bit garage-iste," said Frascolla, explaining the decision in the 1990s to produce a pure merlot out of their first “winery” – a small garage. The first vintage of Redigaffi was made with just a couple of barrels.

One of the most impressive older vintages was 1997, a hallmark vintage for Tuscany overall. James has rated the 1997 Redigaffi between 98 and 100 points since it was first released in 1999 in various tastings. 25 years on, the wine is still powerful and structured, with muscular tannins. It will continue at its current level for years to come.

Meanwhile, there was some discussion of another 100-point wine, the 2000. Retired wine critic Robert Parker gave the wine a controversial 100 points even though the vintage was never considered a benchmark for Tuscany. The bottle in the tasting was excellent but didn’t have the freshness or structure of the top old vintages of the tasting like 1997, 2001 and 2007.

The last decade, however, seems to have shown a real improvement in precision in both the vineyard and winery. Each vintage of Redigaffi from 2012 vintage onward to the latest vintage of 2019 has achieved consistent greatness with scores above 95 points, including one 100-pointer, the 2015. This perfect wine has fantastic aromatic intensity. On the palate, it's seamless and endless, with an elegant power and velvety and well-integrated tannins. 2016, 2018 and 2019 are also some of the greatest Tuscan merlots ever made.

"We work on perfection," said D'Attoma Tua Rita’s winemaker. "We don’t want a heavy merlot, so you have to pay attention [and] find the perfect blend after maturation."

He explained a shift in approach starting in 2012: "We started things differently, continued to today: new approaches in the vineyard, more attention to the soil.”

They have also focused on different cultivation and vinification of specific parcels to “find the perfect blend after maturation.” The parcel- and soil-specific mindset has been combined with converting their vineyards to organic viticulture from 2009 to 2017.

STEFANO FRASCOLLA TALKS SUVERETO WINES

While powerful and structured, the silkiness of the tannins in Redigaffi may be explained by greater attention to temperature and shorter length of extraction in recent years, D’Attoma said. "Even if we do a long extraction, like 20 days, it is more of an infusion of the skins rather than a hard extraction, so that we can make wines with more elegance," he explained. "Alcoholic potential is a problem for us and for everyone who makes merlot, so we have to work on the freshness with pumping over, lower temperatures for vinification, and the toast level of barrels."

Here are the tasting notes for all the vintages of Redigaffi produced to date. The youngest need at least five years or so to soften, while the 2000s and 1990s are aging nicely and drinking well – almost all with plenty of life ahead. Enjoy.

– Claire Nesbitt, Associate Editor