The wine of the month

​

Argirio, Cabernet Franc, Podernuovo a Palazzone, 2022

​

100 NJP

​

July 2026: Argirio, Cabernet Franc, Podernuovo a Palazzone, 2022 (36 EUR/41 USD in Sweden) red dry wine, Tuscany, Italy, 100 NJP (07-07-2026 by Nenad Jelisic)

​

It is extremely difficult to find a good 100% Cabernet Franc-wine. Better to say, it is almost impossible. The Swedish wine importer Solid Wine succeeded in this almost impossible task. And it seems that for Podernuovo a Palazzone's owner and winemaker Giovanni Bulgari is not a big problem to create such a wine. Moreover, he does it in a brilliant way by creating the world's only 100 NJP 100% Cabernet Franc-wines. I (NJ Wines) have been tasting and rating wines since 1983 and can say that the last time NJ Wines tasted a good wine made from 100% Cabernet Franc was in 2024 when NJ Wines tasted the fantastic Argirio Cabernet Franc Podernuovo a Palazzone 2018. It received incredible 100 NJP. Since then, regardless of the fact that NJ Wines has/had tasted all the available 100% Cabernet Franc-wines on the wine market, unfortunately there are not that many to taste, this is the first time that NJ Wines gives to a 100% Cabernet Franc-wine more than 95 NJP. This time NJ Wines is giving 100 NJP to this fabulous 100% Cabernet Franc-wine the 2022 vintage. Note that this is the second time since 1983 that I/NJ Wines give/gives a 100% Cabernet Franc wine 100 NJP. Also note that both the first time and the second time the same wine (Argirio Cabernet Franc Podernuovo a Palazzone) received, but different vintages, 100 NJP. Absolutely incredible. Argirio Cabernet Franc Podernuovo a Palazzone 2022 is a big, complex, concentrated, fruity, tannin-rich, very aromatic and very flavourful wine. The aroma is filled to the explosion limit with dried herbs such as bay leaves, rosemary and oregano. Added to these aromas are dried sweet tobacco of the finest quality, cardamom, white pepper, vanilla, cocoa, black cherry jam, blackcurrants, violets and freshly brewed dark roasted coffee. The flavour is packed with black cherries, black pepper, cocoa-rich dark chocolate, tobacco, dried herbs, black currants, violets, minerals and freshly brewed dark roasted coffee. The wine's tartaric acid, tannins and fruitiness live in a perfect symbiosis in the wine. The aftertaste, which is dry, fresh, fruity, herbaceous and complex, is infinitely long. All of the above contributes to the fact that Argirio Cabernet Franc Podernuovo a Palazzone 2022 can be aged/drunk for at least 10 to 15 years, that is, until at least 2036 to 2041. Last but not least, the wine will gain a lot with 3 years of aging.

​

The wonderful and fabulous Argirio Cabernet Franc Podernuovo a Palazzone 2022 will go really well with homemade lasagna (with fresh lasagne sheets) or, if you are lazy, with ready-made lasagne or with grilled duck breast with port wine and cherry sauce and potato stoemp (roughly mashed potatoes with vegetables and cream) or with butter-fried goose liver or duck liver on butter-fried bread (in both cases with very little butter, but the butter must be of the absolute highest quality) with apple jelly or blackberry jelly or with plommonjärpar (minced meat rolls mixed with shredded prunes) with parsley cream sauce, diced potatoes and crispy split peas and wax beans or with pasta carbonara (with fresh tagliatelle) or with slow-roasted porchetta with grilled vegetables and buttery garlic bread or with veal kidneys in cognac sauce with raw fried potatoes or with authentic Wiener schnitzel with potato salad or with Boeuf Bourguignon with buttery mashed potatoes or with Beef Wellington with Hasselback potatoes and funnel chanterelle sauce or with aged cheeses such as Cheddar, Gouda, Grana Padano, Parmigiano Reggiano and Västerbottenost. If you want to really impress some wine lover, especially one who is not a big fan of Cabernet Franc, you should decant the wine for 2 hours. After the decanting, it should be served at 18 to 19°C in Bordeaux glasses, if possible, from Kosta Boda, Orrefors, Riedel or Spiegelau. Another option is to serve it at 16°C (when room temperature is above 22°C or outside temperature is above 24°C) and then enjoy it as it starts to grow in the glass.

​

Argirio Cabernet Franc Podernuovo a Palazzone 2022 consists of 100% Cabernet Franc. The grapes for the wine come from some of Podernuovo a Palazzone's vineyards in Tuscany. The soil consists of clay with limestone strips. The vines are only treated with natural products such as sulphur and copper. The yield is a 50 hl/ha. The grapes are picked, and sorted by hand in both the vineyards and the winery. Then they are destemmed and gently pressed. The grape mass, which consists of crushed grapes and grape juice, is macerated and fermented in open wooden tanks for 20 to 35 days with two pumping overs (remontage) per day. Then the grape mass is gently pressed, and the wine is moved to 1,500 litres oak barrels where it undergoes malolactic fermentation. After the malolactic fermentation, the wine is aged in 225 litres oak barrels (barrique), which are both new and old, for between 12 and 18 months. Wines from the various oak barrels are mixed in concrete tanks and then aged for another 4 months. Finally, the wine is filtered, and then bottled and aged for another 12 months before it is released on the market.

​

Podernuovo a Palazzone's wines are imported to Sweden by Solid Wine.