Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana 2021

Tua Rita’s Redigaffi is one of the most decorated and sought-after among the cultiest of culty Toscana red wines. This is one of the finest Merlots in the world, and the cooler, ocean-driven, Maremma climate makes this one of the most elegant and perfumed expressions of Bordeaux you are likely to find anywhere in Italy. 99 POINTS is quite the marker, but when you know Tua Rita – you know that such scores are almost expected at this point.

Tua Rita was established in the early 1980s, in Tuscany’s lesser-known Maremma, a coastal region and former marshland that was drained by the medici in the late 16th century. For hundreds of years, the land was primarily allocated for raising cattle, or pigs, with most of the agriculture focused on less romantic crops than grapes for world-class wines. But around the time that Rita Tua and her husband, Virgilio Bisti, settled here, all that began to change. These two pioneers set out to prove that fantastic wines can be made in Maremma, and now, the region’s wines are quickly rising in renown and value – with efforts that compare and often outpace the top wines of Chianti, Montalcino, Bolgheri, and beyond.

This merlot bottling has become their flagship wine, made for the first time in 1994, and sourced from the steep slopes of their highest vineyards, where the rocky clay soils are interspersed with natural occurring metals and minerals – such as iron sulfite and sodium deposits that are thought to perfectly stress the vines, and influences the overall flavors from year to year.

James Suckling said it best… “Wow. The aromas are really something else with red fruits, black olives, spices like cardamon and nutmeg, as well as hints of tar and meat. It’s full-bodied yet in check and focused with fine, fine tannins that roll over the palate and create beautiful motion. Chewy yet silky and endless. A great young merlot and one of the best for a number of years.” So I’ll go no further. This is an excellent collectible bottling that would stand alongside anything from Bordeaux’s Right Bank, or beyond. Only 45 bottles to start, and like to move quickly!

PAIRING IDEAS: I’m serving this up with Cornish game hens, roasted hot and fast to crisp up that skin, and keep that meat tender and juicy. A red wine and game jus reduction for the sauce, to cover some roasted root vegetables like baby carrots, turnips, and shallots – and viola! A fantastically elegant meal to highlight a simply surreal wine.