"From dust to destiny: thus too with Wineland Tuscany. In a mere twelve-months span, the fabled Region came back from the leanest year in all its known history to one of the fattest and happiest. The causes of such a prodigy are simple enough and caneurot be ascribed to the moods and caprices of the critics euroeuro only to those of the four seasons, we acknowledge whilst muttering a few by-now standard platitudes that the weather shore aineurot wot she uster be. To simplify matters in themselves no longer important, weeuroll skip over and ignore 2002, that most horrid of the last fifteen and more years, and settle on 2004. perhaps the most successful in the same span; and weeuroll extends this to all the ambitious Made-in-Tuscanies euroeuro hundreds of euroem, really. Of course some punctilious observer will say euroBut you had 2003 in both editions of the Guide!euro True, thou good and faithful reader, but remember that we also said that an overheated year, powerful but raising havoc with natures balances, would benefit from an extra year of affinamento, at least among the most robust wines. Still, weeurod like to believe that basic attitudes among producers and technicians have changed. There are, fortunately, fewer and fewer of those cartoon-like, overly extracted, hyper-fruity, super-woody Supertuscans, in the worst sense of that American neologism, though they haveneurot yet disappeared. A new search for balance and finesse is asserting itself everywhere. Useless concentration and stuffing with wood chips are on the wane euroeuro at least slightly; these are small but appreciable signals of change that one caneurot attribute to just the fate of any single year. Our samplings confirm the return in grand style of the Chianti Classico, ever a commanding protagonist of Italian oenology. Counting all the labels here produced, DOCs, DOCGs and those without denomination, this area, among all the winelands of Italy, is the most consistently rewarded by our eurofive bottleseuro. Because Tuscany is also the land of pettifogging local patriotisms par excellence where small-minded rivalries are easily stirred up, weeuroll devote ample space to the other products of the Region, too. First in line stands Montalcino and the Brunello, favoured by a most clement 2001 and by the producerseuro ever-growing sensitivity and seriousness. Weeuroll not forget the triumph of Montepulcianoeuros Vino Nobile, the Maremmaeuros comeback, the return to dignity of the Chianti Rufina and the bright future of Montecucco. So, then: is all well in Tuscany? No. But this year we woneurot go into that. Leteuros not spoil the pretty party."Text from the Espresso Guide to Italian Wines 2007. Authors Ernesto Gentili and Fabio Rizzari.Editor of English version Filippo Bartolotta