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Corte Medicea is La Bollina's Tuscan range, and Eklektos is its pure Cabernet Sauvignon. Two years in French oak bring cassis, vanilla and tobacco. It is full-bodied at 14.5%, and Vivino drinkers rate it 4.2 out of 5.
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Two years in small French oak barrels shape this pure Cabernet Sauvignon. The notes below follow what 520 Vivino reviewers taste in it.
Cassis and blackberry lead, with dried fig behind them. Two years in small French oak show as vanilla, tobacco and a smoky, toasted edge. Across 520 Vivino reviews, oak notes are the most-named group of all, ahead of black fruit. Leather and woodsmoke sit underneath.
Black cherry
Blackberry
Blackcurrant
Plum
Tobacco
Leather
Liquorice
Vanilla
CocoaFull-bodied and dry, with ripe, rounded tannins rather than grip. The 2021 season was frost-hit and dry, so the fruit came in with deep colour and thick tannin. At 14.5% the wine is warm and dense. Plum and black cherry carry the middle, and the oak sits inside the fruit.
Long, and clearly marked by the barrel. The trade sheet names vanilla, liquorice and cocoa, and that is what stays once the fruit fades.
Vivino drinkers rate it 4.2 out of 5 across 2,713 ratings, and they praise its ripe, oaky generosity rather than Tuscan grip. It is a red-meat bottle: drink it now, or keep it for up to ten years.
The 2021 currently lists at £16.93 in the UK. That is low for a Tuscan red held two years in French oak.
Six scores, each set against what the bottle actually is: a £17 Tuscan Cabernet with two years of French oak behind it.
At £16.93 it undercuts most Tuscan reds that spend two years in French oak, and Vivino's 4.2 average backs the quality.
Ripe tannin and a full body make this a red-meat wine, strong with steak and lamb but too heavy for light plates.
Pure Cabernet Sauvignon with sweet oak and soft tannin is an easy first Tuscan red, though 14.5% alcohol is noticeable.
Toscana IGT sets no ageing rules, but two years in French oak and 2021's thick tannin give the wine about ten years.
A serious oak-aged Cabernet that shows well at dinner, though an IGT label carries less weight at the table than a DOCG name.
Heavy oak, full body and 14.5% alcohol make it a weekend bottle rather than a midweek one, even under £20.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.
A compact view of what the Toscana denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
Assoenologi's Tuscany president called 2021 a long, patient harvest. Frost and drought cut the crop, but the fruit came in clean and deeply coloured.
Frost in early April and a dry summer cut the 2021 crop in southern Tuscany. The grapes still came in clean. Growers picked parcel by parcel, and the wines carry deep colour and thick tannin.
Frost in early April and a dry summer cut the 2021 crop in southern Tuscany. The grapes still came in clean. Growers picked parcel by parcel, and the wines carry deep colour and thick tannin.
Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.
Eklektos is pure Cabernet Sauvignon, so Tuscany's Sangiovese-based names, Chianti among them, are closed to it. Toscana IGT lets Bordeaux grapes carry a Tuscan address.
Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.
Toscana is in the IGT tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.
Toscana falls within Tuscany, covering Arezzo · Firenze · Grosseto · Livorno · Lucca · Massa Carrara · Pisa · Pistoia · Prato · Siena.
Made at Corte Medicea, Suvereto.
Each barrel holds about 300 bottles and lasts only a few vintages. Two years of it is the single biggest cost inside a £16.93 bottle.
Corte Medicea picks part of the crop in September and the rest in October, to build fruit concentration. Two passes by hand cost far more than one machine run.
The bottle sells on Cabernet Sauvignon and the Corte Medicea name, not on Chianti or Bolgheri. That is much of why it lands near £17 rather than £30.
From February 2026 HMRC charges £30.62 per litre of pure alcohol, so £3.33 on this bottle. VAT adds about £2.82. Roughly £6.15 of the £16.93 never reaches the wine itself.
April frost and summer drought pushed Tuscan volumes well below normal in 2021. Less wine means the same vineyard and cellar costs spread over fewer bottles.
Dishes that go with this wine
Ripe tannin and dark fruit want fat and protein. Vivino's drinkers reach for beef, lamb, veal and cured meat, and the trade sheet points at Tuscan roast lamb.
Tannin binds to protein and fat, so a rare Fiorentina softens the wine while the wine scrubs the fat off your tongue. Two years in French oak give Eklektos the weight to sit beside charred beef without vanishing.
Try with: Fiorentina steak · Brasato al Barolo · Ragu alla bolognese · Ossobuco alla Milanese · More pairings →
Lamb carries a lot of fat, and fat blunts tannin. Eklektos has ripe tannin and 14.5% alcohol, which together cut the richness back. The trade sheet points at Tuscan roast lamb, and Vivino drinkers name lamb too.
Try with: Rack of lamb · Lamb shank · Leg of lamb · Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce · More pairings →
A full-bodied red needs food with equal weight or it swamps the plate. Roast beef, game and pastry-wrapped meat all carry enough body. The wine's 14.5% alcohol adds warmth that suits a slow winter lunch.
Try with: Sunday Roast Beef · Beef wellington · Venison Stew · Shepherd's Pie · More pairings →
Salt makes tannin taste softer and fruit taste sweeter. Aged sheep and cow cheeses have the salt and the fat to do both. The cocoa and liquorice on the finish hold up against a mature rind.
Try with: Pecorino sardo e pan carasau · Caciocavallo farcito · Strong cheddar cheese · More pairings →
Vivino reviewers name leather, earth and smoke in this wine 58 times over. Those notes meet the same savoury smell in mushrooms and truffle. The oak spice bridges across instead of fighting it.
Try with: Porcini mushroom risotto · Truffle risotto · Tagliatelle al tartufo di Acqualagna · More pairings →
Chilli heat makes alcohol taste hotter, and this wine is already 14.5%. Tannin and oak also strip the sweetness from raw fish and shellfish, leaving a metallic edge. Keep Eklektos away from both.
Skip with: Crispy chilli beef · Lamb bhuna · Nigiri Sushi · Sashimi · Oysters · Pairing guide →
Two years in French oak and 2021's thick tannin give this wine road ahead. The trade sheet says drink it now, or cellar it for up to ten years.
Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.
Toscana IGT sets no ageing rules, but two years in French oak and 2021's thick tannin give the wine about ten years.
£20.36 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 12 Sep 2026, 23:48 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighDrawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino and Wine-Searcher, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.
Confidence · MediumFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.
Confidence · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumDark fruit under sweet oak. Vivino reviewers name oak, vanilla and tobacco more often than anything else, then plum and blackberry. Two years in French oak barrels put that there. The wine is dry, full-bodied and ripe, at 14.5% alcohol.
Cabernet Sauvignon on its own. The label reads Toscana IGT, the Tuscan category that lets a grower use Bordeaux grapes instead of Sangiovese.
Corte Medicea is the Tuscan range of La Bollina, based at Serravalle Scrivia in Piedmont. Andrea Bernardini is the winemaker. The grapes grow at San Casciano dei Bagni, about 90 km south-east of Siena.
Red meat. Bistecca alla Fiorentina, roast lamb and braised beef all work, because the tannin cuts through fat. Vivino drinkers pick beef, lamb, veal and cured meat too. Aged pecorino is another good match.
Open it about half an hour ahead and decant. The trade sheet says drink the 2021 now, or cellar it for up to ten years.
Yes, for the work behind it. Few Tuscan reds under £20 spend two years in French oak. Across all vintages, 2,713 Vivino ratings average 4.2 out of 5.
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