Ratings & Tasting Notes:

97 points Antonio Galloni (Vinous)

One of the many highlights in this vertical, the 1990 Sammarco has it all. Sweet, sensual and layered in the glass, with exceptional balance, the 1990 presents a compelling mélange of intense aromatics, silky fruit and phenomenal length. Now a mid-weight wine, the 1990 nevertheless has enough depth to drink well for another decade, perhaps beyond. Antonio Galloni, October 2015

93 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

The 1990 Sammarco may prove to be a worthy rival to the glorious 1985. The saturated ruby/purple/garnet color is followed by an intense yet youthful fragrance of ripe black fruits, vanillin, and minerals. “As I have said many times, Sammarco always reminds me of a top Graves, because of the tobacco/mineral component it often displays.” This outstanding Tuscan producer has been exceptionally consistent over the last decade. Robert Parker, April 1995

91 points Wine Spectator

A classic vintage showing powerful, complex development on the nose and palate. It displays dark plum, earth, cedar, and an attractive undercurrent of sweet tobacco leaf. The structure remains intact with resolved but firm tannins, driving into a lingering, mineral-flecked finish that echoes with old-school Super Tuscan class. James Suckling, October 1994

Cult Wines International Notes:

Castello dei Rampolla stands as an absolute pioneer and highly revered titan of the Chianti Classico landscape, beautifully situated in Panzano’s legendary Conca d’Oro—the famous “golden basin” amphitheater celebrated for producing Tuscany’s most profound, low-yielding terroirs. Owned by the di Napoli family since 1739, the estate achieved legendary status under the late Alceo di Napoli, who, with early guidance from winemaking royalty like Piero Antinori, helped ignite the modern “Super Tuscan” revolution. First released in 1980, Sammarco was born out of an avant-garde desire to prove that Bordeaux varieties could achieve elite, world-class heights in Panzano’s complex limestone, clay, and schist soils. Unlike modern iterations that include Merlot, the historic 1990 vintage showcases a masterfully traditional, late-20th-century blend composed heavily of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% local Sangiovese.

The 1990 growing season across central Italy is universally celebrated as a historic, monumentally perfect blockbuster—frequently cited as one of the twin peaks of the century alongside 1985. An uncommonly warm, uniform spring paved the way for a flawless flowering, followed by a blazing hot, sun-drenched summer that allowed the old-vine Cabernet and Sangiovese blocks to build historic levels of sugar concentration, thick skins, and highly complex phenolics. Meticulous manual field selection brought in an immaculate, low-yielding crop of incredibly small, dense berries. In the cellar, the juice underwent a highly traditional, non-interventionist vinification program utilizing concrete fermentation vats with extended skin maceration, before being transferred into French oak barriques and neutral 12 HL large oak casks for 12 to 15 months of maturation.

At over three and a half decades of age, the 1990 Sammarco has gracefully transformed into a deeply sophisticated, fully mature library masterpiece. The intense, primary dark cassis fruit of its youth has elegantly evolved into a stunningly tertiary bouquet packed with saddle leather, cigar box, wet gravel, dried black cherries, and crushed Mediterranean herbs. True to its signature profile, the palate echoes the savory, graphite-driven restraint of a top Left Bank Bordeaux, held upright by fully integrated, powdery tannins and a clean spine of classic Tuscan acidity. This legendary, monumental vintage represents a vital bucket-list acquisition for serious collectors of historic Italian royalty.