Montepirolo

(2009) A new DOC for me, the Colli di Rimini, this is a 'Bordeaux blend' of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot and Cabernet Franc matured in Alliers, Tronçais and Nevers oak for one year. It has a sumptuous nose, filled with dense, creamy, supple black fruit and underpinned by espresso and cocoa. On the palate the fruit is exquisitely ripe and sweet, the blackcurrant and plum flavours melding into a more structured, grippy mid-palate where sinewy, grainy tannins and plenty of extraction coat the mouth. The balance is very good, becoming chewy and savoury into the finish, in a bold, powerful and impressive wine.

San Patrignano is among Romagna's best and most respected producers and offers Bordeaux-inspired wines like this succulent Cabernet (with smaller percentages of Merlot and Cabernet Franc). The nose is rich with leather, vanilla, moist earth, coffee and licorice but there's enough ripe black red fruit to keep it fresh and lively. A beautiful Cabernet from a hot vintage and enologist Riccardo Cotarella.