The last time that we that we made a big song and dance about a wine from Podere Le Ripi was back in 2014 and it concerned their humble Rosso di Montalcino, called ‘Amore e Magia’. We told everyone within earshot that it was on a par with the best Brunellos and it wasn’t a throwaway comment, we really felt the quality was there. Jump forward and in 2015, Podere Le Ripi reclassified the ‘Amore e Magia’ as a Brunello and it has been bottled as a Brunello ever since. Smug doesn’t even begin to describe our faces.

Imagine our excitement, therefore, when we tasted their new wine, called ‘Attenti al Lupo’ (‘Beware of the Wolf’) , and it tasted much better than its price tag (£28.50/bt). Wss it another Brunello di Montalcino in disguise? Was it called ‘Attenti al Lupo’, because it was a wolf in sheep’s clothing!? Well, the simple answer is no. It’s not a baby Brunello, despite being a pure Sangiovese from within the appellation. It is, however, a delicious Tuscan red, a little rough around the tannic edges, so not sufficiently refined (in our opinion) to be a Brunello, but a flamboyant, rambunctious, fruit-forward Italian red that fills the palate with Sangiovese’s closest analogy, cherries… macerated morello cherries, black cherry yoghurt, cherry juice and cherry liqueur chocolates. Delicious with roast lamb, duck or beef and we kept the open bottle for a week and it was a pleasure to keep dipping into, only giving way to its enemy, oxygen, towards the end of the week. 14% alc. Drink now-2030.