2022 Le Pupille - Toscana Rosso IGT Saffredi Super Tuscan (750ml)

Let's get the headline out of the way: 99 points James Suckling. 98 points Wine Advocate. 98 points Decanter. This is one of only a handful of wines made on the Tuscan Coast that managed to interpret the 2022 vintage in such an outstanding manner… and we have it at the lowest price in the USA.

Saffredi

This is Maremma's answer to a first-growth Bordeaux. The 2022 Saffredi is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 10% Petit Verdot — matured in French oak for 18 months (80% new) before release.  It's big, structured, and built to go the distance.  

Decanter called it a stunner and said simply: "Wow!" We agree.

The Vintage: A Wild Ride That Rewarded the Best

2022 was a pretty wild vintage — excessive heat and drought conditions dominated, followed in late August by a storm of almost unprecedented violence that swept across much of Tuscany, with winds topping 80 miles per hour and flooding widespread. Nowhere was it worse than on the Tuscan coast. Jo

So how did Saffredi come out so brilliantly? Elisabetta Geppetti's son Ettore — in just his third vintage overseeing the winemaking — beautifully interpreted the vintage. It took the team three separate harvests at different times to obtain the remarkable freshness evident in the finished wine.   That's the kind of obsessive, painstaking viticulture that separates a 99-point wine from everything else.

In 2022, the Saffredi outscored everybody — Sassicaia, Ornellaia — you name it.   It was crowned the top Tuscan wine of the vintage.

The Terroir: Maremma's Secret Weapon

Le Pupille sits in the wild, sun-drenched coastal landscape of Maremma in southern Tuscany — yes, the same rugged, cinematic landscape where The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was filmed. The Maremma runs parallel to the Tyrrhenian Sea, boasting over 2,480 sunshine hours per year, with rain-soaked vintages being very rare in this Mediterranean vineyard paradise

The best plots for Cabernet Sauvignon here are the higher, stonier plantings, while Merlot thrives in soils with higher clay content, and Petit Verdot does exceptionally well in the warmest spots — a natural fit for the Saffredi blend.   The coastal breezes off the Mediterranean provide crucial temperature relief, preserving freshness and aromatic complexity that you simply don't get further inland.

The Pioneer: Elisabetta Geppetti

Elisabetta was just 20 years old when she first took the reins at her family's tiny 2-hectare property near Pereta in 1985.   She saw what nobody else saw — that Maremma could produce world-class wine — and she planted Bordeaux varieties when the world thought she was crazy.

With the help of the legendary Giacomo Tachis (the genius winemaker behind Sassicaia), she launched Saffredi in 1987   and never looked back. Today, Le Pupille spans over 75 hectares of vineyards, producing over half a million bottles per year with a global presence across four continents   — and Elisabetta is universally known as the Lady of Maremma.

The Bottom Line

We got our hands on a small amount — all we could get — and we're offering it at frankly the lowest price you'll find anywhere in the USA for a wine of this caliber and score. This is a collector's wine, a dinner party showstopper, and a cellar anchor all in one bottle.

Quantities will not last. Don't say we didn't warn you.