Kerin O’Keefe’s 2025 Top 100: nice awards for Massolino, Paltrinieri and Patrizia Cencioni.
Their Barolo Riserva Vigna Rionda, Lambrusco Radice and Brunello Ofelio are in the 2025 TOP 100 wines. Congratulations!
#14 of 2025: Massolino’s Barolo Riserva Vigna Rionda 2019 with 98 Points
"The impressive 2019 Vigna Rionda Riserva from Massolino captivates with its combination of structure, intensity and elegance. It opens with classic Barolo aromas of red berry, wild rose, dark spice, leather and a balsamic whiff of camphor that on the composed, full-bodied palate segue into more defined sensations of crushed raspberry, cranberry, licorice and tobacco. Showing the nuance of this extraordinary vintage, it’s still youthfully austere, with a backbone of firm, fine-grained tannins and vibrant acidity that lends youthful tension. This is one I’d love to try again in ten years or so. Drink 2034–2049"
Kerin O'Keefe
#61 of 2025
Patrizia Cencioni’s Brunello di Montalcino Ofelio 2021 with 96 Points
"The Patrizia Cencioni 2021 Brunello Ofelio is a stunning wine. It opens with heady scents of sandalwood, underbrush, lavender, Mediterranean scrub, new leather and cedar. Picking up where the nose leaves off, the full-bodied, focused palate delivers ripe red plum, black cherry, licorice and vanilla set against firm, fine-grained tannins and bright acidity. Still quite young and primary, this promises great aging potential so give it time to fully develop. Drink 2033–2046."
Kerin O'Keefe
#94 of 2025: Paltrinieri’s Lambrusco di Sorbara Radice 2024 with 94 Points
"The 2024 Radice, a benchmark wine in the denomination along with its sibling Leclisse, opens with delicately enticing aromas of small red berry, violet, lavender, citrus and wild herb. Showing great racy tension, the palate is bone-dry and savory, featuring pomegranate, cranberry, blood orange and saline notes. Made with the ancestral method of bottling the wine while still on its lees, as you get toward the bottom of the bottle, you’ll also find yeasty flavors recalling brioche. Bright acidity and a fine fizz provide energy and finesse."
Kerin O'Keefe
