Voliero IGT Toscana 2020

If you haven’t heard of Andrea Cortonesi or the wines he makes between his Uccelliera and Voliero brands, then you need to change that immediately. This man is a budding superstar in Tuscany and the world is just starting to take notice. And when that really starts to happen, hidden gems — like the insanely good Voliero Toscana IGT — won’t be in this magical under $20/bottle price range forever.

Cortonesi has it really good. He’s super conveniently located in between Montalcino titans Ciacci Piccolomini and Poggio di Sotto. Even better, a friend of his helped find him the plot for his ‘Voliero’ wines, a crazy vineyard with clay galestro soils sitting over 300 meters above sea level just across the Orcia River. It was meant to aid his restaurant, as Andrea also runs one of those. He’s a man with many talents, and apparently more hours in the day than the rest of us.

While Andrea’s Brunellos di Montalcino are undoubtedly his big-ticket item that continues to drive most of the acclaim, it’s this Tuscan blend that I tasted last week that completely blew me away. And for the price? Stop it. There’s not really anything like it.

It’s a super juicy blend of 85% Sangiovese and 15% Syrah that comes right out of the gate with a medium to full body of jammy red fruits, with some violet and cherry notes and a little bit of spice coming at you on the finish.