Petrolo Val d’Arno di Sopra Galatrona 2019 is an exceptional 100% Merlot from Tuscany, produced from the estate’s namesake vineyard and widely regarded as Petrolo’s “Grand Cru” of Merlot. The 25th anniversary vintage offers an alluring bouquet of violets, wild strawberries and dark berries, layered with spice, leather and perfumed tobacco. Rich, elegant and finely structured, the palate combines polished tannins with succulent cherry, raspberry and blackberry fruit, leading to a long, persistent finish. A beautifully expressive Italian Merlot with outstanding ageing potential.

James Suckling | JS 99
Published: Jul 15, 2022

The violets and flowers with some asphalt and blackberries are so enticing on the nose. Green olives, too. It’s full-bodied and very tight in the mid-palate and surrounded by fine, polished tannins. It has a unique mouth-feel. Very impressive and enticing. Try after 2025, but already seductive.

The Wine Advocate | RP 97
Published: Mar 31, 2022
Drink: 2023-2045

Made with organic Merlot grapes, the Petrolo 2019 Galatrona is soft and luscious, spreading evenly over the palate with elegance and sweeping intensity. The bouquet shows dark fruit, black cherry and sweet prune. Those dark fruit tones are woven into pretty layers of spice, leather and perfumed tobacco. I like the tight, compact, yet fundamentally rich quality that is part of the mouthfeel in this important vintage. This wine could be considered a bit lighter and more ethereal compared to recent past releases, but I found that all the wines in this batch of new releases go in this same direction.

Decanter | D 95
Published: Jul 20, 2024
Drink: 2024-2032

The 25th anniversary bottling of this 100% Merlot wine and jewel in the collection of owner-winemaker Luca Sanjust’s 10-hectare Fattoria di Petrolo estate, located just outside the Chianti Classico zone near Montevarchi. This has a wonderful floral touch to the aromas, beguiling and elegant, with a touch of wild strawberries. Satin-like at first, then the textured tannins settle surrounded by succulent cherry, raspberry and blackberry fruit finishing with a herbal lift at the end. Excellent drive, smooth and satisfying with a long life ahead.

Jancis Robinson | JR 16.5+
Published: Jun 11, 2022
Drink: 2025-2040

Fleshy and chewy with lots of tannic fur on the palate. Far too tight and grainy to drink now, with the structure overwhelming the relatively restrained black fruit. Richard Hemming MW

Petrolo.it

Galatrona is the “Grand-Cru” of Merlot by Petrolo, only made with the grapes from the vineyard of the same name planted between the end of the 80’s and half of the 90’s with low vigor bordeaux clones. The peculiar soil, rich in clay in combination with schist, marl and sandstones, allows the concentration of all the noble components of the grapes, fundamental for the great structure, elegance, balance and persistence wanted for this wine.

“A great wine, beyond the grape varietal it’s made from, must talk the language of the piece of land it came from. Beyond being mainly good, it has to be a classic in its own way, it must hold the stories of the people who made it, thought it and who have lived and worked for generations over that parcel of land“. Luca Sanjust

Denomination
Val d’Arno di Sopra DOC – Vigna Galatrona, Merlot

Estate produced and bottled

Certification
Organic

First year of production
1994

Grape variety
Merlot 100%

Production
about 30.000 bottles