
~ The winding roads of Maremma are home to Le Macchiole ~
The Timeline.
This is the sole guiding principle under which Cinzi Merli and her husband founded Le Macchiole.
This constant, as she explains, is a “fine line which links every act of our lives. It is represented by the passion for our land, which led us to grow our vineyard and make the absolute best wine that we can.”
Since its genesis in 1983, Le Macchiole has garnered well earned heaps of praise from critics and wine lovers alike. Tre Bicchieri awards are routine and the estate’s top two wines, Scrio and Messorio, have each received 100 point scores from various publications. The subject of today’s article isn’t far behind.

~ The Le Macchiole Estate is gorgeous ~
Since 2002 the winery has been practicing organic agriculture. Then, beginning with the 2010 harvest, biodynamic practices were embraced. In 1983, at the time Merli’s late husband purchased the initial land holdings near Castagneto Carducci, the vineyards covered slightly less than 10 acres. As a result, the wine-making team was somewhat limited in their capacity and ability to experiment.
Since then, careful and thoughtful analysis has been undertaken and the vineyards have been scrupulously expanded to approximately 64 acres. Production has increased slightly as vineyards mature and new blends have emerged. To that point, when it was created, Paleo was a blended wine. Today, it is pure Cabernet Franc.

~ Le Macchiole is a boutique winery, but Cinzia Merli has not made compromises in quality ~
The 2016 Le Macchiole Paleo is deep, dark purple in the glass that expands ever faintly to a violet hue at the edge of the bowl. Immediately upon pouring, the aromas leap from the glass. Black fruits, lavender, lilac, mint and wet stones are utterly spell binding.
On the palate, the wine is sexy, sexy, sexy. It is dripping with smooth, silky viscous black fruit flavor. There are no hard edges. Yes, there are tannins present, but they are velvety and dusty. Flavors of coffee, toasted nuts, mint and black licorice are fresh and persistent. Nothing is out of balance. Sadly, I bought the last two bottles the merchant had. I’d clean them out again if I could.
Paleo is 100% Cabernet Franc that is fermented in concrete tanks and sourced from vineyards varying from 11-26 years of age. After fermentation it is aged for 19 months in new French barrique. 97 points. About $69. Find this wine.

~ Despite it’s youth, this wine was very expressive ~
Pricing varies widely so search around.
Salute!
Terrific post, John! I love Cabernet Franc and the ’16 Paleo sounds delicious. I’ve never tasted any vintage of the Paleo but now it’s on my “Want List.” Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Pete. Hey, do get a good feel of this wineries style, try the white label Bolgheri Rosso. Excellent QPR
Hi John,
Your last sentence is very true here – prices vary really wide, and jumped up fantastically compared to 2015.
I would still buy it if it was $69, which is more or less what I payed for the 2015 (€64). However, prices here in Belgium / Europe for the 2016 lie somewhere between €80 and €105! That is an increase of at least 25% in one year.
So sadly, I will not buy the 2016 because this is the sort of thing that really disgust me, I am sorry to say. Someone is trying to milk the cow here, but this cow does not like to be milked 🙂 The story is comparable to what is also happening at Fontodi / Flaccianello.
I truly hope you enjoy your bottles, happy to see you at least managed to get them for a “reasonable” price, because over here this apparently is no longer possible.
Happy holidays and stay safe!
Steven
It is very odd Steven. From what I’ve seen after I bought these, this wine is about $125 now so it looks like I stumbled across either an early “dump” of this wine or that it somehow got mismarked. I got the last two, so now only have one left. I tried to get more though 🙂 Enjoy the holidays!
Hi John, yes, that is also quite the increase 🙂 fyi, my 2020 X-mas bottle (sadly not to be shared this year…) is the Solengo 2008. I suspect it will be at or near peak by now. Looking forward to it!
Best regards,
Agreed. 2008s are good to go across the board IMO