2022 Petrolo Galatrona Val D'Arno Di Sopra DOC 750 ml

Masseto goes for $900. Messorio and Sassicaia, $300 and $250.

The most coveted Super Tuscans come with exorbitant prices. Petrolo's Galatrona stands with these gems, has the scores to back it up, and comes at a fraction of the cost.

Over the last decade, Luca Sanjust's estate has become one of the most critically decorated in Tuscany, with Spectator calling this top cuvée, Galatrona, the “Le Pin of Tuscany.” That mythical Pomerol trades for $4,000 or more. 

With a 100-point score from James Suckling, who called it “spellbinding” and “a new reference point for Merlot in Italy,” the 2022 Galatrona has reached new heights. It's a bona fide collectible that competes with the elite red wines of Tuscany.

We first visited Petrolo in the fall of 2013. Located in the Valdarno Superiore, in the center of a triangle made by Florence to the north, Siena to the southwest, and Arezzo to the southeast, it's the only notable estate in the neighborhood. But as you pull into the property and begin climbing—and climbing—you quickly get a sense of the passion and resolve that went into the planting and goes into upkeep of this world-class vineyard. 

The estate is a sprawling 672-acre mix of forest and hills, but just 11 percent of it is planted, with Sangiovese and Bordeaux varieties. And while Petrolo also produces other incredibly delicious wines—their Torrione bottling regularly scores in the 90s—it's Galatrona that has our heart.

This is a 100% Merlot that explodes from the glass with the kind of fruit you cannot help but adore right away, but it's still structured by the kind of tannins and acidity that promise decades more evolution in the cellar.