94 POINTS - Monica Larner
"This is a wine in evolution. For one, the wine’s name has changed under new management with the removal of the words “Collezione Privata,” which readers may remember. The Isole e Olena 2023 Chardonnay is softly textured and rich with cooked apricot, baked apple, breakfast pastry and light spice. It is fermented and aged in oak with fruit from a dedicated six-hectare plot with a mix of calcareous marl and galestro shale, soil types that lock in freshness and perfumes. This is always a standout Tuscan white wine thanks to its pure intensity and carefully measured mid-weight intensity. Production is 21,000 bottles."

Unexpected. A wine worth discovering. Isole e Olena’s Chardonnay was first produced in 1987 after the grafting of some selected French clones of chardonnay on white varieties. Today there are almost 6 hectares of high-density vineyards of chardonnay. It’s an artisanal white wine, which in terms of fine quality, longevity and style, represents the perfect expression of an Isole e Olena fine wine. It’s fermented in small barrels with a balanced use of new oak, a maximum of 25/30 percent, and matured for a long period on the lees.