Legit Cabernet Sauvignon IGT Toscana Rosso 2020 (750ml) *

Cabernet Sauvignon planted in Tuscany speaks with a different accent than it does in Bordeaux or Napa, and this bottling from Tolaini leans into that. It is 100% Cabernet, made in the IGT Toscana category (the designation Tuscan producers use when they work outside the traditional Sangiovese framework), from the 2020 vintage. The style is unmistakably varietal but shaped by a Tuscan sense of energy and lift.

The nose is warm and savory, with leather, cooked fruit, and a whiff of charred meat or barbecue smoke, the kind of atmosphere you might imagine in a dim music hall thick with cigar smoke. On the palate 2020 shows an opulent, almost weighty feel, though there is real focus underneath the richness. This is one of the more nervous, tightly wound wines of its kind, varietal character and Tuscan tension pulling against each other in a way that keeps it lively.