BARBERA D'ALBA Campass Cigliuti 2023 vs BOLGHERI ROSSO Le Macchiole 2023

BOLGHERI ROSSO Le Macchiole 2023

Le Macchiole is among Bolgheri’s old guard, founded in 1983 by Cinzia Merli and her late husband, Bolgheri native Eugenio Campolmi, and today run by Merli with her two sons. The Rosso is the estate’s only blended red, positioned as the purest expression of Bolgheri, drawing on Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah from vineyards planted across the denomination between 1998 and 2020. The 2023 shows the vintage’s cooler side, opening with a delicate herbal-floral accord of linden, lilac and sage over wild raspberry and red mulberry fruit, all dry and withholding with undertones of oak moss and leaf litter, reflecting its maturation in 70% used barriques and 30% concrete. The palate has a glycerol-wrapped, almost jellied texture that holds the fruit at a distance, also leaning savoury with mushroom and underbrush notes. Tart lingonberry and goji berry fruit return on the finish, lifted by osmanthus florals, fresh acidity and graceful, almost feathery tannins.