Aldo Fiordelli: My top 10 Italian wines of 2023

Those familiar with Il Marroneto will notice that with the 2019 vintage, the name of the estate is now at the fore on all labels. This echoes proprietor Alessandro Mori’s conviction that the estate possesses greater significance than the denomination. Like the estate Brunello, this single-vineyard bottling is a study in what is enough. Without relying on any embellishments, it's a gorgeous expression of a very specific place. Heady yet youthful in aromas, an evocative whiff of roasted chestnut makes way for lavender, camomile, evergreen and mint. Dark cherry washes over the palate leaving stony, mineral undertones in its wake. Sturdy tannins are expertly chiselled, giving a confident frame. Perfectly pitched acidity serves to resonate perfumes, while giving a purposeful stride and enduring length.

<p>The 2019 vintage is the first Brunate fully tended by Carlotta and Marta, following their father, Beppe Rinaldi's death. Typically blended with 15% of the Le Coste MGA for an acid drive, its southern exposure seems to be beneficial in this austere vintage. Fermented in oak vessels with natural yeast and aged for 36 months, the nose is a smorgasbord of details from liquorice and earth to pot pourri and mint leaf. There's a fresh pomegranate and red cherry core, and a finish of rhubarb and orange peel. The elegance of the tannins is great –&nbsp;velvety and dense – with refreshing acidity and polite alcohol. This Brunate has gorgeous balance between grace and power that will keep it going for decades. The best 2019 tasted. It will be officially presented in April.</p>

The wine of the flight, this 1998 is a wonderful wine, and it's hard to believe this is 25 years old. It has aromatic notes of mint, blackcurrants, wood spice and cedar. Ripe fruit emerges on the mid-palate with fine, silky tannins and crisp acidity. There's dense flavour concentration in the mouth, offering tobacco, clove, black plums, wood smoke and a long, lingering finish. Drinking well now, but can age for another five years.

Pergole Torte 1990 Riserva was produced in small quantities of just 2,500 bottles, 1,000 magnums, plus around 400 in larger formats. The product of a great vintage, the 100% Sangiovese aged for 24 months in both barriques and botti grandi. The wine is still incredibly youthful, with a slightly garnet colour. Austere and dark on the nose, with an intoxicating violet aroma combined with cherry kernel and hematic, earthy notes. The attack is powerful, with almost zesty acidity, then long freshness and a mass of tannins which are silky at first and then chalky. A great wine, full of structure and energy, this deserves time to enjoy its evolution in the glass. An Italian jewel.

At the northernmost tip of Barolo, GB Burlotto's Monvigliero 2019 was harvested around 20 October. Fermented in big oak casks with its own yeasts and whole cluster grapes, it displays the typically elegant style of the MGA. A scented nose of sweet violets, cinnamon, rhubarb and bark of cinchona is fully focused on rooty and earthy notes before a fresh, delicate fruit character of wild strawberry and orange emerges. There's great concentration on the palate, with super-crisp acidity and elegant velvety tannins. The finish is lifted and refined. Chiselled to perfection.

Just below Biondi-Santi in southeast Montalcino, this is one of the most classic estates of the denomination. The 2019 has a deep nose of amazing fruit ranging from cherry to strawberry, soaked with fresh violet, liquorice and vibrant minerality. It's loaded with racy acidity and firm, velvety, super-ripe tannins; lavish and polished. The wine is aged for 29 months in Slavonian oak, of which a third is renewed every year.

The 2020 is probably not the best ever vintage of Solaia, but in the glass it shines. The wine is dark and concentrated, with restrained cassis mingling with leafy, flowery notes and the clove aroma of the 100% new French oak. Very youthful at the moment, it deserves more time to develop more complexity, but the attack is already soft and velvety, with tannins developing volume on the mid-palate, then a toasty tobacco finish. Fresh acidity is typical of the Chianti Classico region as well as the contribution of Sangiovese. Powerful, graceful and energetic.

There is a particular fashion in Castell'in Villa wines. Firstly, the style is more focused on power than the freshness of Chianti Classico, due to the soil in Castelnuovo Berardenga and its more southern location compared to the rest of Chianti Classico. Secondly, the managing of the must is both classic and post-modern, due to the detailed awareness of Coralia Pignatelli della Leonessa. This 2016 – an excellent vintage in Tuscany – is dark, with black cherry and violets, hints of tar and earthy tones, then full of liquorice root along with dusty yet ripe tannins allied to lifted acidity on the long finish. Powerful and broad.