Fine wines among Tuscany's 2001s

The 2001 vintage has a fine reputation for Tuscan reds for the reasons outlined below. In a tasting organised in London last month by the Institute of Masters of Wine I found a wide variety of differently styled wines. A few were rather exaggeratedly oaked, very few seemed overripe, but a delightfully high proportion really did seem to be well balanced, unequivocally Tuscan wines for drinking with pleasure with food, and reasonably marked tannins and acidity. Prices vary from only just over £10/$20 to more than £60/$120 a bottle (for Ornellaia). All the IGT wines are systematically more expensive than the...