Producer

Tua Rita

I have reviewed four wines from Tua Rita, from the 2021 to 2023 vintages, all from Toscana. Scores range from 92 to 99, averaging 96; the highest is the 2022 Tua Rita “Per Sempre” Syrah Toscana (99 points).

The story of Tua Rita reads like a Tuscan fairytale. In 1984 Rita Tua and her husband Virgilio Bisti bought a small, rustic property in Suvereto, a medieval town on the Tuscan coast, as a retirement project to make a little wine for friends. It became one of Italy’s cult wineries and a pioneer in showing that this stretch of coast could make world-class Bordeaux-style wines.

The secret is the soil of the Colline Metallifere, the metal-bearing hills: iron, clay and minerals, swept by salty breezes from the Tyrrhenian Sea, which give a savory, iron-like undercurrent beneath the richness. Redigaffi, the 100% Merlot that debuted in the mid-1990s, is one of the most important Merlots in the world, rich and silky, aged in new French oak. Per Sempre, a Syrah with the same treatment, is one of Italy’s finest expressions of the grape, blending Tuscan soul with Rhône-like depth.

The range is more varied than its reputation for power suggests. Perlato del Bosco captures an electric, saline tension in coastal Sangiovese, and Rosso dei Notri, blending Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah, is the generous yet fresh introduction to the estate.