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Tuscany’s best recent vintages plus the top wines to try

Each growing season seems to bring different but equally challenging conditions in Tuscany: it’s rarely easy. We explain how producers succeeded in the five most significant recent vintages, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016, and pick four standout wines from each to try.

The best Tuscan vintages are not always the easiest.

In 2010 there was a chance of real glory, but you needed to earn it right through a season seemingly laden with bear traps – life was easier for the perennially attentive producers able and willing to sacrifice crop for quality in order to capture 2010’s elegance, both in terms of fruit clarity and tannic finesse.

The follow-on 2011 was the difficult child, scolded by brutal Saharan heat just before harvest – a small crop required laborious selection, which the best producers handled with sweat and skill.

Tuscany 2013 can divide opinion, but it is a favourite of mine: wines with backbone, a sense of purpose and crystalline fruit expression.


Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Monty Waldin’s top four picks from five great recent Tuscan vintages


The final two vintages would be called ‘a pair’ in Bordeaux, almost as if in 2015 the oven had been turned up a notch too high, with 2016 providing a tempering correction.


Waldin’s pick: Four standout wines from each vintage to try


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