2022 Petrolo - Val d'Arno di Sopra DOC Galatrona (750ml)

Fattoria Petrolo sits in the Val d'Arno di Sopra, a small and historic winegrowing zone between Florence, Siena, and Arezzo that dates back to the Renaissance yet remained largely overlooked until recently. The Bazzocchi family acquired the estate in the 1940s, and it was Luca Sanjust, grandson of Gastone Bazzocchi, who transformed Petrolo into one of Tuscany's most acclaimed addresses starting in the 1980s. Now joined by his son Rocco, Sanjust continues to farm the property's forested hillside vineyards, home to a medieval watchtower that gives Galatrona its name.

Galatrona is a single-vineyard Merlot planted in the early 1990s on a site where two geological plates meet, folding a clay pan beneath soils of sand, rock, and limestone at elevations between 250 and 450 meters. The estate has farmed organically since 2016, relying on dry farming and hand tending rather than synthetic inputs. Sanjust describes the 2022 as an unusually Tuscan rendition of the wine, noting how well Merlot can echo Sangiovese's character on this particular terrain, and the vintage was made in a more reductive style meant to support long-term development in bottle.

The wine offers a core of dark fruit, wild berry, and pressed rose, with a medium-plus body and a finish defined by lasting freshness rather than heaviness. Fine, well-integrated tannins carry real precision throughout. Serve it with grilled short ribs, roasted duck, or a rich aged pecorino.