Cantine Sant’ Agata, Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG (Piedmont, Italy) “Na Vota” 2023 ($17)

This 2023 release from a respected producer shows a bit more physical density than the other two 2023s in this category (from Ferraris) that I tasted simultaneously, yet it is still a light rendition—and one marked much more by floral (violets and roses) perfume than palate punch. That’s not intended as a knock on the wine, and truly light-bodied wines are both very valuable with food and ever rarer in our warming climate. Still, this is a bit plusher in the mid-palate than the “Clàsic” or “Sant’Eufemia” from Ferraris, bottlings from 2023, possibly making this an easier “transition wine” to the category for newcomers, if not (for that reason) quite as strikingly distinctive as the other two.
92 Michael Franz