One of the most interesting new releases from Lungarotti is the 2018 Torgiano Rosso Riserva Rubesco Vigna Monticchio, an elegant expression of Sangiovese that shows extremely fine tannins. They are melting and soft. Aging takes place in oak barrels of various ages and degrees of neutrality, but starting with the 2019 vintage, 80% of the wine will age in large oak botte, with the rest going into second and third-year barrique. The wine is complete and texturally silky with dark cherry, earth, spice and grilled earth.

From a vintage that threw many challenges at vintners due to above average summer temperatures and a lack of moisture, the 2017 Torgiano Rosso Riserva Rubesco Vigna Monticchio keeps its cool proverbially speaking. Chiara Lungarotti tells me that with the pressures of climate change, maintaining acidity is the goal, and concerns about extract are no longer an issue. Sangiovese was harvested cluster by cluster to assure the best selection of fruit. Pump-overs were reduced to almost nothing during a delicate 26-day maceration period. The results show dark fruit and black cherry, with earthy sensations and cooked clay, but that tingle of acidity gives life to the palate.

Earthy and savory, with scorched soil on top of dark cherry and dried blackberry, the 2016 Torgiano Rosso Riserva Rubesco Vigna Monticchio is streamlined, focused and tight compared to the open-knit 2015 vintage that I tasted at the same time. Showing faint mineral tones, these vines planted among tobacco fields (for making Toscano cigars) have a distinctive smoky or savory quality. This is an Umbrian classic of some 35,000 bottles produced annually.

Dark fruit, black cherry and some plummy fruit (with even a touch of dried prune) are planted inside the Lungarotti 2015 Torgiano Rosso Riserva Rubesco Vigna Monticchio. You feel the hot vintage and the 2015 sunshine in this rich, open-knit red wine. There is lots of fruit with spice, tar and cured pipe tobacco. The wine shows extra softness and richness on the close. Some 35,000 bottles were created.

The 2013 Torgiano Rosso Riserva Rubesco Vigna Monticchio is a darkly saturated and rich expression of Sangiovese that represents a selection of the estate's best fruit and vineyard plots. The wine delivers dark cherry, dried blackberry and plum, but there are evolved notes of spice and scorched earth as well. It all works out in the end, thanks in large part to the steady consistency and texture of the mouthfeel. Torgiano brings us a sunny, softly textured expression of Sangiovese in this production of 35,000 bottles.