Haiku, Castello di Ama 2021

The 2021 Haiku is another powerhouse wine in this range from Castello di Ama. Rich, sumptuous and layered, the 2021 is beautifully persistent. Dark red/purplish fruit, pomegranate and rose petal open first, framed by clean mineral notes that lend palpable vibrancy. The long, sustained finish is a thing of beauty. Like all these wines, it needs considerable time. (Drink between 2026-2041)

Blackberries, black cherries and graphite on the nose. It’s full-bodied with very polished and lightly chewy tannins and a tangy finish. Minerally and citrusy at the end. Solid wine that needs two or three years of bottle age to soften.

A blend of Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the Castello di Ama 2021 Haiku presents an immediate and vertical set of aromas that are delivered with the concentrated intensity you can expect of this classic vintage. There is an inky quality to this wine with black fruit and blackcurrant. Additionally, there is a sweet versus sour theme that imparts both savory spice and summer-ripened fruit. Earthy tones and rosemary essence appear on the medium-acidity close.

Though Castello di Ama’s bottling of Haiku has only been produced since the 2016 vintage, this has quickly become one of my favorite Super Tuscans since that time. It is made from a cépages of fifty percent sangiovese and twenty-five percent each of cabernet franc and merlot. The wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts, undergoes malo in tank and is raised in one quarter new barrels for a year prior to bottling. The 2021 Haiku tips the scales at fourteen percent alcohol and delivers a deep and beautifully refined aromatic constellation of cassis, dark berries, cigar wrapper, dark soil tones, espresso, a deft touch of new oak and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nascently complex, with a fine core of fruit, superb soil signature and grip, firm, buried tannins and lovely balance on the long, focused and promising finish. This is going to be an excellent wine, but it is properly structured out of the blocks and is going to need an extended period of hibernation in the cellar before it will be ready to drink. (Drink between 2040-2100)