Winemaker Notes
Deep ruby red color with a nose expressing complex cherry, plum, and spice tones on a backbone of leather, black pepper, and almonds. Mint and eucalyptus sponsor the spice tones coming from perfect Cabernet Franc vines while sweet tobacco leaf notes offer depth supported by vanilla and toffee oak notes.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The nose shows perfect cabernet franc character with roses, flower stems, hints of herbs, fresh sage and lavender as well as blackcurrants and black berries. Full to medium body with tannins that melt into the wine and are wonderfully integrated. You feel them but don’t see them. They are very vertical and rather endless. A truly great cabernet franc from 1.5 hectares in Bolgheri. Best after 2028.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A very joyful vintage of this wine and currently on the market, the 2020 Ventaglio is the first time large casks were incorporated into the aging process. The color is a youthful purple/red hue, and the wine is generous on the nose, with a layered perfume of lavender, blackberries, pine, sweet tobacco, and fresh earth. The palate is charming and full, with ripe tannins, refreshing acidity, and a slowly tapering finish. It is deceptively easy to drink now, and it’s only going to improve over the coming 10-15 years. Drink 2026-2046.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Named after the beautiful fan-shaped vineyard that Argentiera has dedicated exclusively to Cabernet Franc, the 2020 Ventaglio opens to a rich, inky black appearance and thick aromas stacked high and wide. That considerable width and girth is a characteristic of this hot and very dry vintage that resulted in densely concentrated wines. To the palate, the wine is long and linear with pretty notes of graphite, spice and crushed rose.
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Decanter
Tenuta Argentiera's fan-shaped Ventaglio vineyard nestled among the woodland at the top of a hill covers both north and south exposures – the north-facing side is picked around one week later than the earlier ripening south-facing side. This Cabernet Franc project undergoes prolonged ageing in large casks, and the results are very often stunning. The 2020 is still rich and ripe, full of the vintage character, opening with coffee bean, dark fruit and wood scents which slowly part to reveal an intoxicating floral perfume. In the mouth, leafy black fruits stand firm, yet the mid-palate and finish are super-fresh and lifted. Give this another two years before opening.
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Vinous
The 2020 Ventaglio, tasted from magnum, is alluring right out of the gate. Crushed flowers, cinnamon, sweet pipe tobacco, menthol and blood orange grace the open-knit, beautifully lifted bouquet. Supple and silky with striking finesse, the 2020 impresses with its total elegance. From magnum it is especially fine.
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Wine Spectator
This is pure and elegant, exuding black currant, black cherry, iron, green olive and tobacco aromas and flavors. Harmonious, this keeps on giving on the lengthy finish. Drink now through 2036. 300 cases made, 50 cases imported.
Cabernet Franc, a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon, is the subtler and more delicate of the Cabernets. Today Cabernet Franc produces outstanding single varietal wines across the wine-producing world. Somm Secret—One of California's best-kept secrets is the Happy Canyon appellation of Santa Barbara. Here Cabernet Franc shines as a single varietal wine or in blends, expressing sumptuous fruit, savory aromas and polished tannins.
An outstanding wine region made famous by Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, who planted Cabernet Sauvignon vines for his own consumption in 1940s on his San Guido estate, and called the resulting wine, Sassicaia. Today the region’s Tuscan reds are based on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which can be made as single varietal wines or blends. The local Sangiovese can make up no more than 50% of the blends. Today Sassicaia has its own DOC designation within the Bogheri DOC appellation.