Castello dei Rampolla Liu 2020
Tax included.
Winery: Castello dei Rampolla
Vintage: 2020
Grape: 100% Merlot
Drinking window: 2025 - 2035
Region: Tuscany
Production: 9.000 bottles
THE ITALIAN GRAPE (96)
A truly grand and beautifully refined expression of Merlot. The 2020 Liù is all about elegance and softness, offering pure red and gentle earthy nuances. On the palate it is silky, polished and wonderfully gentle, with perfectly integrated tannins and a fresh, harmonious acidity. Everything feels in balance. Grandiosely smooth, delicate and graceful, with a long, serene finish.
ROBERT PARKER (94)
The Castello dei Rampolla 2020 Liù is a relatively new wine (the first vintage made was the 2018) and a pure expression of Merlot. The wine is generously endowed with lots of fruit flavor and a distinctive punchiness that adds a bright and lifted quality to the bouquet. It sports a mid-weight approach with plenty of summer fresh cherry, plum and other purple fruits. It's hard not to feel immediately attracted to this wine, especially given its very vivid and bright personality. You'll have a lot of fun drinking Liù straight out of the gate or likewise waiting for it to complete its bottle evolution.
About the wine
Since 1739, the Rampolla family has owned the agricultural farm Azienda Agricola S. Lucia in Faulle. The family's estate also includes the Castello dei Rampolla, where the farm is located. Alceo di Napoli inherited the estate in 1965. Back then, Rampolla was mostly a summer residence. They grew wheat and other mixed crops, and there was a large olive orchard, but there were no vineyards. In the late sixties, Alceo started planting his first vineyards. These vineyards are situated on both southeast and southwest-facing slopes, at an altitude of around 380 meters above sea level. In 1980, Rampolla produced their first Sammarco harvest, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese. This was during the early days of developing SuperTuscan wines with international grape varieties.
Liù 2020 is Castello dei Rampolla’s pure and elegant expression of 100% Merlot, focused on freshness, precision and terroir. Grown biodynamically in Panzano in Chianti, the warm yet balanced 2020 vintage delivered ripe fruit with excellent natural tension. The wine is fermented and aged mainly in cement, with a portion in terracotta amphora, avoiding dominant oak to preserve clarity and texture. Liù shows bright red and black fruit, subtle herbal notes and a refined mineral edge. The style is restrained and precise and powerful, a Super Tuscan Merlot defined by purity, balance and quiet depth.
