Italian Container Tasting @ PWS David Jones November 2025

The 2022 Etna Rosso wafts up with a perfumed blend of rosy florals and hints of juniper berry. This is vividly fruit-focused, with a wave of ripe wild berries and sweet spices that flow across a stream of brisk acidity. It leaves a staining of primary concentration and mildly grippy tannins to resonate as violet inner florals slowly fade. While more extroverted than expected, the 2022 is a total pleasure to taste and maintains fantastic balance. ERIC GUIDO, Vinous

An iconic winery from Etna and one of the few with vineyards on all four slopes, Benanti has played a major role in the region’s rise. Considered a seminal, high-quality producer, they helped put Etna firmly on the global wine map. Their wines combine volcanic energy with elegance and structure.

Understated and youthfully coy, the 2019 Etna Rosso Riserva Rovittello Particella No. 341 Alberello Centenario slowly emerges with a blend of woodland berries, dried roses and spiced citrus peels. This is cool-toned and sleek, with pretty inner florals and saturating ripe blackberry fruits. The 2019 leaves a staining of primary concentration that puckers the cheeks as nuances of tart raspberry and clove ring out. Patience is required. (94+) ERIC GUIDO

Alessandria's 2020 Barolo Capalot is a wonderfully elegant, poised wine. It offers up hints of macerated cherry, spice, orange peel, cinnamon, dried flowers and earth. Deep and layered, yet also nicely finessed, the 2020 is super-impressive in this tasting. It's the finest wine I have tasted to date from Alessandria and a wonderful harbinger for the future. ANTONIO GALLONI

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

In the bottle with the black label, the Gianfranco Alessandria 2021 Barolo San Giovanni delivers depth and intensity with carefully etched aromas of blackcurrant, black licorice, rose hip tea and toasted spice. This wine executes an especially smooth glide over the palate thanks to its finely polished tannins. The power is fueled by a high 15% alcohol content. Production is 5,000 bottles plus magnums. (96) MONICA LARNER, The Wine Advocate

The 2021 Barolo San Giovanni emerges from older vines on the estate. There's a bit more textural richness than in the straight Barolo, but at this stage, the differences between the two wines are not so evident. Dark red-toned fruit, blood orange, spice and mocha open gradually. The San Giovanni feels a bit more affected by bottling but also shows plenty of substance. (94) ANTONIO GALLONI, Vinous

The 2021 Barolo San Giovanni boasts a deeper ruby color and offers more dark fruit and a deeper floral perfume on the nose with notes of violets, sage, black raspberries, and polished cedar. The palate is pure, well-detailed, ripe, and resonant with a medium-bodied frame, ripe tannins, seamless fresh acidity, and a good deal of balanced length through the finish. I’m impressed with this offering, which is a pleasure to taste now, although I imagine it will continue to improve over the coming 10-12 years. (94) AUDREY FICK, JebDunnuck.com.au

A perfumed nose of dried rose hips, tea leaf, grapefruit peel and red cherries on offer. Firm and structured with lightly chewy tannins, yet it has juicy and lively fruit character on the medium-bodied palate, ending with a mineral, lightly chalky finish. Try after 2027. JAMES SUCKLING

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

The grapes for this wine are late harvested from vineyards located in the hills of the Classica zone of Soave. After alcoholic fermentation, the wine is aged in stainless steel vats and then for a further 4 months in the bottle. This elegant and velvety wine is fruity with marked almond notes. It is an ideal pairing for appetizers, fish dishes, white meats as well as soft and fresh cheeses. TEDESCHI

Guido Porro remains one of the most underrated growers in Serralunga. ANTONIO GALLONI, vinous.com

They are traditionalist at heart employing large format oak, no fining or filtering nor any herbicides or pesticides in the vineyards. The approach across the board is thoughtful, deliberate and with a hands-off approach in the winery. The wines are all hand harvested with either concrete or stainless steel for fermentation. PWS

There are few clearer signs of an old-school Piemontese vignaiolo than his or her use of prized land not just for Nebbiolo but also for the region’s other traditional grape varieties like Dolcetto and Barbera. Guido Porro, for instance, farms all three within Barolo’s famed Lazzarito cru, a gorgeous amphitheater that stretches down from his winery in the village of Serralunga d’Alba.

When you stand on his deck, overlooking dramatic hillside vineyards, you can’t help but do a double take when Guido points out the Dolcetto vines whose grapes go into this bottling. There they are, at the top of the slope, peering down on acres upon acres of Nebbiolo destined for world-class Barolo. In such a prime position, the vines benefit from abundant and direct sunshine. Add to this the limestone-rich soils in which they’re planted and the warmer climate around Serralunga d’Alba, and it’s no surprise why this rosso shows a little more structure and heft than you find in Dolcetti from other parts of the Langhe. Evoking blackberries, earth, and stones, this red offers a great match for mushroom risotto or your favorite stew. TOM WOLF, Kermit Lynch Merchants

The 2022 Valpolicella Superiore Nicalò wafts up with a dusting of autumnal spice and cracked chalk before revealing crushed blackberries. It is lifted and spry with tart wildberry fruits, excited by zesty acidity as inner rose tones swirl throughout. Licorice hints mix with violet inner florals as the 2022 finishes long yet incredibly fresh. ERIC GUIDO

Lush cherries and plums dominate on the nose of this Valpolicella, with hints of bay leaves and pepper. The juicy, medium-bodied palate shows chewy acidity and tight, chalky, crunchy tannins. Savory in the finish. JAMES SUCKLING

The 2019 Amarone della Valpolicella Ansari takes its time in the glass, initially darkly floral with an herbal tinge. Coaxing brings about an attractive blend of wild berries, violets and crushed stone. Silky and refined, this impresses with its perfect balance of ripe red and blue fruits offset by salty minerals and savory spice. Brisk acidity maintains a wonderfully fresh persona as the 2019 tapers off structured and long. Grippy tannins linger, and the mouth is left watering for more. (95) ERIC GUIDO, Vinous

The name is an acronym reflecting the names of the three siblings. Fine, pure fruit of the density and amplitude that one expects from Amarone. Yet the wine is impressively fresh, marked by a gorgeous skein of acidity that keeps it light on its feet while towing good, sappy length. A paradox of power and balletic detail, almost suggestive of a warm vintage Pinot such are the redder fruit allusions. Dangerously drinkable. An excellent, somewhat modern interpretation of Amarone. Drinkable now, but best from 2025. (95) NED GOODWIN, JamesSuckling.com

100% Carricante grapes selected from vineyards located on the Eastern and Southern slopes of Mount Etna, which are particularly suited in terms of high elevation and abundant luminosity. The wine has a pale-yellow color, with bright greenish tints. The nose is intense and delicate with hints of apple. The palate is dry and mineral with pleasant acidity and salinity, persistent and harmonious. BENANTI