Antinori (Castello della Sala), Cervaro Sala Bianco

Antinori (Castello della Sala), Cervaro Sala Bianco2015 was a textbook vintage and this is a great Cervaro. Citrus, cream and white flowers on the nose lead seamlessly onto the palate, where you'll find pear and melon with a touch of under ripe pineapple and cool stone fruits. It has good acidity, minerality and savoury complexity, with excellent balance and a long, sleek, saline finish.

unless you're young

But it should please those who appreciate classic claret over the next 10 or so years

with gorgeous delineation throughout

perfumed and exquisitely beautiful

Strong reduction knocks down the nose

Starting the following year

length and precision

The palate is much better with sour lemon and quince on the entry

earth and tobacco scents open up what seems like an early maturing wine for this chateau

this both caresses and stimulates the palate with a kaleidoscopically interactive array of those diverse and exotic elements that on the nose signaled its ripeness and botrytis ennoblement

all framed by impeccably silky tannins

An expressive nose flirts with reduction yet not so much as to impair the attractiveness of the intensely floral nose where additional breadth is present in the form of orange peel