2003 Tenuta Argentiera Bolgheri Rosso Villa Donoratico

Tenuta Argentiera is the region of Alta Maremma, southwest of Florence. The Maremma is one of Italy’s fastest-growing wine producing regions, and Tenuta Argentiera is in the Bolgheri DOC. The estate has historic precedents, and many centuries ago belonged to the prestigious Serristori family of Florence. Today it is owned by the brother Corrado and Marcello Fratini, who are well-known entrepreneurs and industrialists in Italy, with business ventures in fashion, real estate and finance. About 200 acres of the estate’s nearly 1,250 acres is planted to vineyards of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah. The estate produces a portfolio of red wines, mostly blends. The flagship wine is Argentiera Superiore, usually a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Gambero Rosso has written that “today this winery is a real point of reference for the Bolgheri territory.”

Bolgheri is a tiny village just inland from the western Tuscan coast with a storybook renaissance castle but no train station. To wine enthusiasts, however, Bolgheri DOC is perhaps Italy’s most exciting wine appellation. It is the cultural heart of the Maremma, the coastal stretch of Tuscany where some of the first Super Tuscans were produced commercially in the late 1960s. Various members of the legendary Antinori wine dynasty and other influential producers established estates in Bolgheri starting in the 1970s, creating such Super Tuscans as Guado Al Tasso and Ornellaia. Bolgheri was awarded DOC status in 1983. Red, white and dessert wines are made in this appellations, and many of the most renowned are the Super Tuscans made from blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese and other red varietals. The white wines are blends of Vermentino and Trebbiano. The reds are notable for being blends that have a distinctive Tuscan terroir.