2016 Antinori Solaia Toscana 750 ml

Every once in a while, a legend will remind you of exactly what made it a legend in the first place.

That’s what the dual-100-point 2016 Marchesi Antinori Solaia does: It displays why this seminal, must-have Super Tuscan is as essential to a serious cellar as any First Growth Bordeaux, and its perfect scores from both Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate and James Suckling (who declared himself “Speechless…”) put it alongside some of the most sought-after wines in the world. Just take a look at the 100-point Bordelaise company it keeps: Mouton Rothschild and Haut-Brion, both around $800 a bottle. Or how about Petrus, at a staggering $4423.

The 2016 Solaia is a one-bottle argument that Tuscany can rival Bordeaux for Cabernet Sauvignon supremacy. It’s deep purple in color, boasting beautiful cassis and black cherry fruit bursting from the glass, complemented by notes of licorice, toast, espresso, violets, and sage. On the palate, it’s got a ripe core of blackberry fruit balanced by notes of anise, savory herbs, and mocha, and shows the tight structure, freshness, and firm tannins reminiscent of the Bordeaux First Growths, in a wine that (like those icons) will last for decades and decades in the cellar. With its super-long and lingering finish, this is refinement and poise incarnate, and a bottle to build your cellar around.

For nearly four decades, the name Solaia has been synonymous with Bordeaux-style wines in Tuscany. But unlike its rivals, Solaia is not grown in Tuscany’s coastal Maremma, but at the Antinori family’s Tenuta Tignanello, in the heart of Chianti Classico. 

Solaia means “the sunny one,” and refers to the 50-acre southwest-exposed vineyard that produces the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Sangiovese that go into Solaia. The vineyard, which sits between 1150 and 1325 feet, consists of albarese (hard limestone) and galestro (flaky calcareous clay) soils that are known for stressing the vines and producing grapes of outstanding concentration.

Solaia is, unsurprisingly, handled with obsessive care all the way to the bottle. The grapes are carefully destemmed and sorted before fermenting in tanks. The components spend ten months in new French oak before the blend is assembled, and are then put back in oak barriques to finish aging. The result is pure perfection: A Super Tuscan that left two of the world’s most reputable critics either searching for words, or gushing about this flawless wine. Save a spot next to your First Growths.