2012 Castello dei Rampolla d’Alceo Toscana IGT

$150 Super Tuscan Tops Masseto and Solaia

Collectors, take note: The magnificent 97-point Castello dei Rampolla d’Alceo is not only a showcase of Super Tuscan power and grace at its best, but a Cabernet-based gem that will shine in the cellars of both Italian wine collectors and Bordeaux aficionados.Wine Enthusiast named it #61 in their Top 100 Cellar Selections of 2017, and Wine Spectator gave it 97 points, making it their top-performing Super Tuscan of the vintage, ahead of Masseto and Solaia, which retail for $670 and $260!

Castello dei Rampolla d’Alceo may not have the wider name recognition of Sassicaia or Masseto, but it is far from a flash in the pan. It is a top performer, year in and year out, having earned 94-99-point scores from Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator 19 times in the past twenty years. Showing a deep purple core, along with dried cherry, plum, licorice, and dusty tannins, this massively over-achieving Tuscan homage to the Left Bank will cellar effortlessly for decades.

The name Castello dei Rampolla sends shivers of pleasure down the spine of any serious collector. The d’Alceo cuvée dates back to 1965, when Alceo di Napoli converted the di Napoli farmlands in the Conca d’Oro, or “Golden Basin,” of Chianti—family-owned for nearly three centuries—to vineyards. He planted a terrace of Cabernet Sauvignon in 1990, followed by Petit Verdot.

Alceo passed away in 1991, and his son and daughter, Luca and Maurizia, now honor their father with each bottle from this 14-acre vineyard. Thanks to Alceo’s pioneering high-density approach, each plant produces sublimely concentrated fruit—fruit that has driven the wine’s mythical status.

Luca believes that rigorous biodynamic farming methods and reluctance to stress the land are behind d’Alceo’s success, and the wines’ ability to enliven anyone who drinks them. Wine Spectator called the 2012 d’Alceo “focused,” “balanced,” with a finish that “goes on and on.” Antonio Galloni went on to sum up his feelings on the Castello dei Rampolla wines in an even more effusive manner: “Words feel utterly useless in describing just how profound and magical these elixirs are.”

Fortunately, numbers step up where words fail. Year in and year out, the critics hold d’Alceo up alongside the most famous Super Tuscans. And in some years, like 2012, d’Alceo rises above.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 13.00%
• 1 hour
• Now – 2026
• 85% Cabernet Sauvignon15% Petit Verdot
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork