Tenuta degli Dei estate spotlight
Tommaso Cavalli is on camera at Tenuta degli Dei in Panzano, walking the San Leolino cellar and naming Le Redini as the 90 percent Merlot with Alicante.
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2022 Le Redini across the open market. Their published average is $39.29 with an aggregated score of 91. Our slash is $29 against an $80 typical retail.
2022 Cavalli Tenuta degli Dei 'Le Redini' Toscana IGT Tuscany, Italy
Tommaso Cavalli's Panzano Merlot with an Alicante snap, Galloni 95, a 2022 you can open at twenty-nine dollars.
Le Redini is 90 percent Merlot and 10 percent Alicante from organic Panzano and Florence parcels: blackberry, wild rose, crushed rock, licorice, mocha, now $29.
Panzano Merlot with a mineral Tuscan line, not a soft souvenir
Galloni called the 2022 one of the most distinctive wines being made in Tuscany. Bright acids in a hot year. Alicante in the blend. Dusty tannin, crushed rock, incense. This is Merlot that still tastes like Panzano.
The house
Roberto Cavalli bought the San Leolino property in the early 1970s. Tommaso turned it into a wine estate with Carlo Ferrini in the cellar and Gioia Cresti in the vines.
The wine
90% Merlot, 10% Alicante. Native yeast, at least three weeks of maceration, 14 months in barriques and tonneaux. About 35,000 bottles.
The scores
Vinous 95, Antonio Galloni. James Suckling 91. Wine Advocate 91.
The drinker
Blackberry and rose first. Decant 45 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Duck ragu or rosemary lamb.
Dark fruit, wild rose, crushed-stone tension
Galloni packed the 2022 with blackberry, gravel, crushed rocks, incense, licorice, and mocha. Suckling found roses, violets, black cherries, and chalky tannin that still wants a year or two. Merlot gives breadth. Alicante keeps the shape Tuscan.
A warm Tuscan year. Galloni was surprised by the bright acids. The wine is full and opulent, still held by dusty tannin and a mineral line.
Blackberry, black cherry, plum, wild rose, violet, dried herb.
Medium to full, 13.5% ABV, bright acidity, fine dusty tannin.
Crushed rock, incense, licorice, mocha. Decant 45 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
Native yeast, long maceration, 14 months in wood
The estate sheet is clear. Merlot and Alicante ferment with indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled stainless steel for at least three weeks. Malolactic runs in barrel. Fourteen months in barriques and tonneaux adds polish without burying Panzano's mineral line.
Panzano's 400-meter south-facing parcel sits on galestro-rich ground. The Florence parcel is lower, slightly clayey, at about 100 meters. Both are farmed organically.
Galloni noted used tonneaux and barriques on the 2022. The point is the same: wood as a frame, not the painting.
Horses, a ninth-century church, and a Merlot from the Conca d'Oro
Tenuta degli Dei sits at San Leolino above Panzano, a family property that still breeds horses and makes wine in a restored church cellar.
Roberto Cavalli named the estate for his German shepherd, Didone degli Dei. The horses born here still carry that suffix. Tommaso has lived on the property since 1989.
The cellar is inside the Pieve di San Leolino, a ninth-century Romanesque church. Natural humidity and a stable temperature make it a quiet place for wood.
Le Redini is the Merlot bottle in that story: Panzano's golden valley, a little Alicante, a wine meant to be finished, not worshipped.
Slow braise or rosemary on the grill
Dusty tannin and dark fruit want either a long-cooked pasta or lamb with char. Both plates leave room for rose and crushed rock.
Two plates. One duck ragu with pappardelle. One rosemary-garlic lamb chop.
Decant 45 to 60 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Open while the ragu reduces so the first sip meets the plate.
Pappardelle with Duck Ragu
Curtis Stone's braised duck, porcini, and herbs give the wine a deep savory counterpart.
Why it works: Duck richness softens dusty tannin. Rosemary and porcini echo the herbal, mineral finish.
View Recipe for pappardelle with duck ragu (opens in a new tab)
Lamb Chops with Rosemary and Garlic
Eric Ripert's grilled chops keep the cooking direct: rosemary, garlic, olive oil, and char.
Why it works: Lamb fat meets Merlot tannin. Grill marks draw out licorice, crushed rock, and spice.
View Recipe for lamb chops with rosemary and garlic (opens in a new tab)Put Panzano in the cart
Organic Merlot, Galloni 95, twenty-nine dollars against an $80 typical retail.
Put it in the cart. This is the Tuscan Merlot that still tastes like a place, priced so you can actually pour it.
