2015 Nittardi Nectar Dei Maremma Toscana 750 ml

Nittardi’s bold, richly regal 2015 Nectar Dei is a Super Tuscan value find we can’t stop crowing about. Boasting 95 points, born of prime terroir from a 1,000-year-old estate, it can confidently claim to belong in the conversation with regional standard-bearers like Ornellaia, Sassicaia, and Ilatraia.

“The nose here is just the sort that pulls you in immediately,” advises James Suckling of this ravishing 2015 release. “Full-bodied and very chewy but with beautiful tannin/acidity tension and fluidity.” Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate has called this flagship cuvée “the proverbial Big Boy wine.”

But for all its sleek power and intensity, we’re bringing this wine to our members at a fourth of the cost of its high-end, $200 Super Tuscan brethren. It’s a truly wild deal for a Maremma 95-pointer from an estate that Steven Spurrier called “one of my favorite producers.”

Rarely imported to the U.S., it doesn’t carry the same name recognition for most American drinkers as a Tignanello. But one sip, and you know you’re in the presence of greatness.

It was impossible to walk away after one swirl of this wine, which reveals dried cherry, black currant, and dried violets in the powerfully perfumed nose edged with clove, Maduro tobacco, and oak moss. Intensity only grows on the palate, where complex flavors of black fruits, mocha, and baking spices glide through in waves, as firm, granular tannins hold everything in place. This is indeed a big wine with muscle, but fans of restrained, intellectual Super Tuscans will fall hard for its structure and depth. 

Our conversion happened fast. We first discovered this wine at a trade tasting in San Francisco, where it was the clear standout—a surprise to us, as we thought we already had most of the great Super Tuscan territory charted. When we found out that the importer was an old friend of ours, we rang him up to give him the what-for. “How were you holding out on us this whole time?” we demanded to know.

Because it wasn’t available every vintage, he told us—but when there is some to be had, the Nectar Dei is a can’t-miss. “It’s one of the most beautiful estates in Tuscany, and the wine is just a crazy value,” he said. A bottle sent to the office confirmed it wasn’t just trade show hocus pocus—the whole tasting team was pulled in by the brooding depth and savory richness. 

Located on the border between Florence and Siena, the Nittardi estate was originally a military fortification called the Nectar of the Gods (hence the cuvée’s name, Nectar Dei). The artist Michelangelo actually owned it at one point, and sent bottles of wine from the vineyards to the Pope as a gift—a tradition that still carries on to this day.

Today the property is in the hands of publisher and gallerist Peter Femhert and his wife, historian Stefania Canali. Working with Wine Enthusiast Winemaker of the Year Carlo Ferrini, they tend to Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Merlot, Syrah, and a few other secret vines planted in sandy soils. After two years in French barriques and a few more in bottle, this wine is singing—a Super Tuscan prize for those first to the button.