2017 le macchiole, messorio, toscana

Marketplace price

Bottle size (ML)

Why We're Buying

When people look for textbook IGT Toscana, they look at Le Macchiole. The Tuscan estate is responsible for Messorio, a 100 merlot that sells for more than $200 per bottle. The single-varietal wine is considered the estate's crown jewel due to its timeless elegance and graceful aging.

Critics Scores

James Suckling

This wine shows beautiful clarity and class on the nose with roses, tar, currants, green and black olives and plums. It’s exceptionally fine-tannined with such polish and finesse. So sophisticated and intense for this vintage. Long, chewy finish, yet this is mouth-filling and caressing. Pure merlot. Try after 2024.

Decanter

The harvest of Merlot for Messorio in 2017 commenced on 17 August and finished on 7 September, producing around 12,000 bottles. Since 2015 it has been fermented with selected yeasts in concrete vessels at a moderate 26°C then aged in 100 new French oak with a light and progressive toastiness. The result is a slightly herbal Merlot with precise sweet cassis and plum fruit and depth of star anise and leather. Dense on the palate with red fruit flavours, it imposes powerful yet ripe tannins with crisp acidity and balanced alcohol.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Messorio is a wine that beautifully reflects the characteristics of the vintage and is a very accurate measuring stick of how any single vintage will eventually perform both in terms of near-term accessibility and long-term cellar aging. That said, the Le Macchiole 2017 Messorio plays its strongest cards in terms of mouthfeel and texture, revealing a robust structure and firmly integrated tannins that come from both the richly concentrated fruit and the careful use of oak. The wine shows a heavy center of gravity and a solid base of dark fruit that is enhanced by caramel, brown sugar, spice and creamy blackberry preserves. It does offer immediate appeal, but I'd wait a few more years to give this 2017 Messorio more time to flesh out and evolve.

Vinous

The 2017 Messorio (100 Merlot) is classy and polished to the core. It is also incredibly young and not at all forthcoming. Messorio is a wine that needs a surprising amount of time in bottle to truly shine. I expect that will be the case here as well. Today, the 2017 is all about fruit and density. Time in the cellar should allow for its aromatics to emerge more fully. Overall, though, this is a fairly restrained style, in keeping with the showing of 2017 Bolgheri reds more broadly. All the elements come together so gracefully in this striking wine.