Alessandro Stefani Boccolo Sangiovese 2024
- 94
- $72
Share
Boccolo is immediately more expressive. Satsuma plum, charred heirloom beetroot, shiso leaf, orange bitters and iron, then this rush of very pure red fruit through the middle. More flesh, more tannin, more of everything really, although nothing feels inflated. The structure is much more apparent than La Vignola: fruit pushes forward with a more structural frame of tannins.
The following day there is fennel seed and anise, rhubarb moving towards compote, a fine chalkiness I hadn’t noticed initially, the texture a little more mouth-coating. The tannins remain beautifully fine. With every glass the flesh seems to increase rather than the wine becoming heavier. Slow reveal. It becomes more talkative the longer it sits with you.
Boccolo came to Australia at the same time as La Vignola but from another part of the family’s Tuscan history, an old, abandoned vineyard on their family farm, higher towards the forest. The two selections were once blended by Alessandro’s parents, which seems extraordinary when you see how differently the vines behave. La Vignola wilts and complains; Boccolo grows with vigour. It ripens around ten days earlier, carries heat more easily, and by the time Alessandro tastes its berries the skins and tannins are already ripe and the fruit bursting with flavour while La Vignola still tastes green.
He came home, tasted them independently and couldn’t put them back together.
Boccolo can also carry stems in a way La Vignola cannot. Sixty per cent whole bunch in 2024, influenced in part by Alessandro’s time at Domaine de Montille, where he became interested in what stems could do structurally with delicate fruit. He is not looking for a
stemmy aroma. He wants width, tannin, something around which the fruit can arrange itself. Élevage moves into barrique here, mainly old with around 10–15% new oak. It is more recognisably Sangiovese than La Vignola — the iron, acidity, bitter orange, red fruit — but there is still something outside the familiar frame. Pinot-like perfume perhaps, Grenache-like spice, yet neither comparison quite gets there. The purity is what keeps it toned.
Formidable.
Liinaa Berry is a Melbourne-based wine critic and consultant with over a decade of experience as a sommelier and wine buyer across Australia and around the world where she has built award-winning wine programs and championed independent producers with conviction. Now focused on reviewing and writing, Liinaa brings a floor-trained palate and commercial insight to her assessments. She is also the Melbourne Ambassador for Star Wine List and serves on the committee of Sommeliers Australia. An advocate for site-driven wines and thoughtful farming, Liinaa is particularly drawn to producers who articulate a clear sense of place. Her tasting philosophy centres on structure, balance and context — always asking not just how a wine tastes, but why it matters.
