Donna Laura - Ali Toscana - 2022

$20.99

Lia Tolaini-Banville started Donna Laura in 2004 and named it for her aunt. Ali is the everyday bottle: 90 percent Sangiovese, 10 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, grown around Castelnuovo Berardenga at 200 meters on stony lime and clay. Thirteen percent alcohol. Medium-bodied and soft, with balanced acidity and ripe tannins. This is the Tuscan red you open with a weeknight pasta and finish without thinking about it.

Juicy red berry fruit on the nose, cherry and plum with an earthy edge. Medium-bodied and soft across the palate, balanced acidity, ripe tannins, a little astringent grip on the finish.

Classic matches for a red like this: Grilled and roasted meats, hearty pastas, aged cheeses.

Fruit comes from in and around Castelnuovo Berardenga in the southern reach of Chianti Classico, at 200 meters on lime and clay carrying a lot of stone. Part of it comes off the Tolaini vineyards, and Lia makes the wine at her father's winery.