Winemaker Notes
Intense elegant wine with great structure and complexity, lovely balance between acidity, fruit and tannins. A great wine, beyond the grape varietal it is made from, must be expression of the piece of land it came from. Beyond being essentially good, it has to be a classic in its own way.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Blackberries and black cherries with lavender and violets on the nose. Full-bodied with velvety, chewy tannins, yet the fruit is very intense with vibrancy and energy. Muscular, yet agile. Pure and poised. A unique definition of merlot in Tuscany. Drink after 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made with organic Merlot grapes, the Petrolo 2019 Galatrona is soft and luscious, spreading evenly over the palate with elegance and sweeping intensity. The bouquet shows dark fruit, black cherry and sweet prune. Those dark fruit tones are woven into pretty layers of spice, leather and perfumed tobacco. I like the tight, compact, yet fundamentally rich quality that is part of the mouthfeel in this important vintage. This wine could be considered a bit lighter and more ethereal compared to recent past releases, but I found that all the wines in this batch of new releases go in this same direction. Best After 2023.
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Wine & Spirits
When Giulio Gambelli found a plot of clay-rich soil on the Petrolo estate in 1989, he recommended planting merlot to blend with sangiovese. The first vintage was 1994, and the results were so good that Petrolo bottled a portion separately, creating Galatrona, a distinctly Tuscan rendering of merlot. In 2019, the wine’s flavors of fresh plum are densely packed with notes of dark chocolate and tobacco and enlivened by flecks of graphite and mint. It’s hard to resist those vibrant flavors and supple tannins now, yet this has plenty of cellaring potential.
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Wine Spectator
A concentrated red, with an earthy, savory side contrasting its plum and blackberry fruit. A broad swath of tannins makes its presence felt on the finish, yet there's a beam of acidity keeping this focused and refined. Best from 2025.
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Decanter
Quite a green, herbal nose, with some older oak nuances. A fresh palate with bright herbs joining the juicy ripe plums.
Legendary in Italy for its Renaissance art and striking landscape, Tuscany is also home to many of the country’s best red wines. Sangiovese reigns supreme here, as either the single varietal, or a dominant player, in almost all of Tuscany’s best.
A remarkable Chianti, named for its region of origin, will have a bright acidity, supple tannins and plenty of cherry fruit character. From the hills and valleys surrounding the medieval village of Montalcino, come the distinguished and age-worthy wines based on Brunello (Sangiovese). Earning global acclaim since the 1970s, the Tuscan Blends are composed solely of international grape varieties or a mix of international and Sangiovese. The wine called Vine Nobile di Montepulciano, composed of Prognolo Gentile (Sangiovese) and is recognized both for finesse and power.