Castello della Sala Cervaro della Sala 2022

This is Marchesi Antinori’s top white wine, and it comes from the region of Umbria. The Castello della Sala 2022 Cervaro della Sala is based on Chardonnay and has a small part of the local grape Grechetto in the blend. The nose opens to a reductive note of flint or matchstick, but it lifts quickly to reveal soft orchard fruit, white peach and minty apple. There are delicately applied toasted notes with a hint of pecan or macadamia nut. To finish, you also get salty mineral notes that underline the extremely vertical or lifted personality of the bouquet. Renzo Cotarella tells me that tweaks to winemaking in recent years have attempted ‘to slim down the wine and not make it any bigger.’ This was a hot vintage, but Cervaro della Sala remains true to its leaner and meaner blueprint. However, given its accessible personality, we could expect a shorter drinking window for the 2022s. Drink date: 2024-2035. Score – 94. (Monica Larner, robertparker.com, March 21, 2024)