Le Macchiole Paleo 2020

Le Macchiole sits in Bolgheri on the Tuscan coast, one of Italy's most important red wine zones, founded by Cinzia Merli and Eugenio Campolini. Paleo is a single-variety Cabernet Franc, a grape the estate has championed in a region better known for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The vineyards are farmed organically on the gravel and clay soils of the coastal plain, where maritime warmth ripens the fruit fully while sea breezes preserve aromatic detail. The house style favours less extractive, more elegant wines, and the wine ages eighteen months in oak barrels, where slow oxygen exchange softens the tannin and adds spice and a fine grain. At 14.5 percent it carries weight without heat. The colour is deep ruby. The nose is classic Cabernet Franc, with red currant, plum, tobacco leaf and a green-tinged earthiness, lifted by black pepper. The palate is full and firmly structured, with ripe but gripping tannin, savoury depth and a long finish marked by cocoa and cedar. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees and decant young wines an hour ahead. It calls for red meat and game.