Bertinga Punta di Adine, Toscana IGT 2016 75cl

This is the Tuscan red for people who love Sangiovese, but want the slightly more curious version. Bertinga Punta di Adine 2016 comes from Tuscany in Italy under the Toscana IGT label, which means you get the grape’s classic cherry bite and savoury snap without it being boxed into the usual rulebook. It’s dry, layered and properly dinner-ready, with enough bottle age to bring out the good stuff: dried fruit, earthy spice and that old-leather note that makes you pause mid-sip.

• Appearance: Deep ruby moving toward garnet at the rim, a nice visual clue that the 2016 vintage has had time to settle and develop.
• Nose: Red cherry and dark plum come first, then dried herbs, violet, tobacco leaf and a little warm spice. Think Tuscan hillside after rain, but without the poetry homework.
• Palate: Dry and savoury, with bright Sangiovese acidity keeping the fruit lively. The tannins feel firm but polished, more like a clean grip than a hard shove, with cherry skin, cranberry, earth and a hint of bitter cocoa.
• Body: Medium to full-bodied, structured enough for proper food, but not so heavy that it needs a steak to make sense.
• Finish: Long and savoury, with red fruit fading into dried herbs, tobacco, spice and a little mineral edge. It keeps talking after the sip, which is always a good sign.

Food pairing move: pour this with roast lamb, wild mushroom tagliatelle, bistecca alla Fiorentina, tomato-braised short ribs, or aged pecorino. The acidity cuts through richness, while the tannins latch onto roasted, salty and umami-heavy flavours beautifully.

If Chianti Classico is your comfort zone, this is a brilliant next step. You’re still in Tuscany, still drinking Sangiovese, still getting that red-cherry-and-herb profile, but Toscana IGT gives the wine a little more freedom to show its own personality. Less box-ticking. More character. It’s the kind of bottle that makes a weeknight ragù feel suspiciously like you planned ahead.

The 2016 vintage is a big part of the appeal here. Instead of just bright young fruit, you’re getting the extra layers that arrive with time: dried cherry, tobacco, forest floor, spice and a softer, more integrated texture. That’s why mature Sangiovese can be such a sneaky obsession. It starts out as a food wine, then suddenly you’re sniffing the glass like a weirdo and not apologising for it.

Serve it slightly cooler than room temperature if your room runs warm, and give it a little air before you start judging. A simple decant, or even just opening it while dinner comes together, helps the savoury notes stretch out. This isn’t a wine that needs ceremony, but it does reward a bit of patience. Good glassware helps too, mostly because you’ll want to catch all those cherry, herb and tobacco details.

Best use case? A proper dinner table. Roast something, grate cheese over something, invite the friend who always says they prefer Italian reds, and let this do the convincing. It’s serious enough for a collector-curious wine drinker, but still approachable if you’re just starting to figure out why Tuscany has such a hold on people.

Fun Fact: Toscana IGT became famous because it let Tuscan winemakers work outside stricter appellation rules. In plain English, more room to experiment. For a Sangiovese like Punta di Adine, that means classic Tuscan character with a little more freedom in the glass.