Stories of the nominees

Robert Joseph Reviews the Wines of Italian Tenuta Manoylo

Great Britain

A highlight in the international wine calendar was the tasting held in honor of the Wine Travel Awards Ceremony at the prestigious London Wine Fair. The event attracted distinguished guests, including sommeliers, distributors, association heads, MWs, and wine tourism operators from the USA, China, New Zealand, Great Britain, and other European countries. Wines from six countries were featured in the celebratory tasting, including star locations of wine tourism in Georgia, the castles of Moldova and Romania, a model winery in Great Britain, and one of the leaders in winemaking from New Zealand.

The youngest participant was the Italian winery Tenuta Manoylo from the Marche region, which debuted on the world stage this year. It has already earned the nickname “star of the region” by winning top awards at the prestigious international competition Mundus Vini and, just a few days ago, securing a gold medal at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles in Mexico.

Tenuta Manoylo

To analyze this young brand, D+ reviewers requested the main speaker of our event, Robert Joseph, to comment on the wines of Tenuta Manoylo, the winner of this Wine Travel Awards 2023-2024 edition in the Progressive Approach category. Despite the impromptu nature of the discussion, Robert Joseph examined the style and quality of the three wines presented at the Wine Travel Awards with his characteristic professional meticulousness.

2021 Tenuta Manoylo, Passo del Borgo, Marche IGT Passerina (€81- 6 bottles)

  • Appearance:  Straw, with hints of green.
  • Nose: Lovely fresh nose with lemon, lime, grapefruit and angelica root as well as a hint of wild thyme and sage.
  • Palate: the citric promise carries through, though with lime coming to the fore. The herbs are there too, with some very attractive stony, salty character.  Medium-bodied and bone dry, but the acidity is wrapped in attractive rich texture and a very long finish. Very attractive food wine.

2021 Tenuta Manoylo, Passo del Borgo, Marche DOC Falerio (€113 – 6 bottles)

  • Appearance: Straw –slightly deeper in hue than the Passerina. But still hints of green.
  • Nose: Ripe lemon and lemon curd /preserved lemons on the nose plus some floral notes and peach and saline character.
  • Palate: Lemony and bright but with some green olive fleshiness and definite mineral notes. This is richer and rounder than the Passerina and tastes as though it has seen some wood. The finish is rich and long and, again evocative of those preserved lemons.

2021 Tenuta Manoylo, Passo del Borgo, Marche IGT Sangiovese (€170 – 6 bottles)

  • Appearance: Mid red colour with rim showing the beginning of maturity.
  • Nose: Attractive nose of plum and cherry, ripe strawberry, with some sandalwood and vanilla.
  • Palate: Τhe same fruits are there, with the ripe strawberry very apparent along with pepper and herbs – oregano – and some well-integrated oak. The tannins are ripe and with characteristic Sangiovese dryness.   I am curious to see how this will age and how the fruit and alcohol will hang together.

Tenuta Manoylo

General impression

I was especially impressed by both whites and, in particular, the Passerina which is a very well made, characterful wine which deserves to do well in restaurants everywhere, but especially those specialising in fish and seafood.

The Pecorino is also very good. I was interested to see that it is aged in tonneau. I thought I detected a hint of newer oak and would not have minded a very slight bit more.

Based on the website prices, I thought the Passerina very fairly priced – at a premium level.

This is a business and brand that appears to be going / has gone through some changes. The shaped ‘front’ label design is clever and stylish.

To summarize Robert Joseph’s comments, Tenuta Manoylo has successfully passed another authoritative quality test. Receiving a high rating from a specialist of this level is another road sign for professional clients and wine lovers.