I do think you pay an unmerited premium for the Brunello appellation.
Agreed. Even some of the Rossos these days. But I agree with most of the other posters. Chianti can be a great value, even more so if you get out of the CC zone. There are different styles to be sure, so one needs to shop carefully, but that’s not really different than so many other reasons. I’m not looking for homogeneity and I’m happy to explore.
Moreover, one thing people tend to ignore is that a good Chianti can age beautifully. It’s relatively recently that Brunello became the more “prestigious” region and people are happy to age those, but Chianti is often overlooked in that regard.
I drink more Montesecondo Chianti Classico than any other single wine in a given year. Ever since I was converted, I can’t imagine a better match with grilled ribeye than sangiovese.
Anyone know if Monsanto is still putting caberenet in the Il Poggio? While I think that there is a place for blends and international grapes in Tuscany, I tend to not like it in my Chianti (see i.e. Fontodi, Isole e Olena).
I’m very much smitten with Montevertine as well. Felsina wines can seem a bit blocky to me, but aged one’s can be great (and I love Fontalloro too, the oak seems to work with it very well).
Nathan, the recent/current blend for Il Poggio is 90% Sangio, 10% Canaiolo and Colorino. Any idea when they were blending cab in? I wasn’t aware they ever had. Interesting.
<While I think that there is a place for blends and international grapes in Tuscany, I tend to not like it in my Chianti (see i.e. Fontodi, Isole e Olena).>
Both Fontodi (i.e. Flaccianello) and Isole e Olena (i.e. Cepparello) are 100% sangiovese. Fontodi does make a sangiovese-cabernet blend, Vigna Del Sorbo.
My understanding was that this was done in at least 1997. I can’t find any evidence of that, it is just from memory, so I could be entirely wrong. There was certainly a drastic stylistic change from 1993 to 1997 involving wood and other things resulting in a wine that was more deeply colored than any Il Poggio I had previously had (and it was one of my favorite wines early in my drinking career).
I’ll see if I can get in touch with the guy who used to sell it in my market.
Sorry, to be clear, I’m talking about the Sorbo and the CC, respectively.
Sorbo:
From Tanzer: ($65; sangiovese with 10% cabernet sauvignon)
Isole Olena
From Tanzer: (a blend of 80% sangiovese, 15% canaiolo nero and 5% syrah; aged for one year in tonneaux and barriques, 15% new; 14.5% alcohol)
I love Chianti and drink more than my fair share of it. I think the problem, if that’s how one wants to characterize it, is that the rating of wine is inherently unfair to some wines. I love Chianti because I drink primarily with my meals. There are very few wines, as bob mention, as friendly and adapt to myriad food pairings than Chianti. Tasting these wines in a critical setting rarely does them justice, and that’s fine with me, but it does reveal one of the fundamental flaws of wines criticism.
I say lets keep Chianti under-rated, and under priced for that matter.And to those of you who think you need to spend $30 and up might I suggest grabbing a bottle of:
2005 Querceto Chianti Classico Riserva
2006 Nozzole Chianti Classico Riserva
2006 Selvapiana Vigneto Bucerchiale Chianti Rufina Riserva
2007 Castello di Bossi Chianti Classico
2006 Felsina Chianti Classico Riserva
2006 Badia a Coltibuone Chianti Classico Riserva
or
2007 Lungarotti Rubesco, which is pretty much a Chianti except in name.
GDP Thank you for for coming over and posting. Any other CC/CCR’s that match so well with grilled meats like the Querciabella?
Lawrence/Larry. Thanks for your links. Belfrage went 4 or 500 pages basically sucking the marrow out of the grapes. It’'s an interesting read if you want to understand the growing conditions, the vineyard specifics, and the logistics on the profiles of the wines, without actually reviewing the wines in any great detail. The Wine doctor did a review on his book.
I have not looked at Gambero Rosso in a while to see where they are at .
Kyle Phillips also has a great site and is consistant.
I have always loved the CCR of Badia a Coltibuono the best (well, ok, along with the Il Poggio from Monsanto) but have not bought any since the 97. Any thoughts on whether they remain old school, high quality, etc?
In 1998 I had the 1964 Badia a Coltibuono CCR and it was stunning. It was the first time I had a 34 year old CCR and I was amazed at how alive and vital it was.
To Rico’s question about how I view ratings on Chianti. I wasn’t complaining about Antonio Galloni because I pretty much agree with him on his ratings of Chianti as well. My beef is with others that, admittedly in my view are biased and I think, rate Chianti lower because they are afraid it isn’t cool to rate it higher. We benefit as consumers, but maybe the producers are being shortchanged a bit. Meanwhile, I will freely admit that I don’t want to pay more. I used to buy Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet back in the day and it was inexpensive ($13 for the '94) and a terrific wine with 7-10 years of age on it. I don’t buy it anymore. Why? I get better value elsewhere.
Isole Olena
From Tanzer: (a blend of 80% sangiovese, 15% canaiolo nero and 5% syrah; aged for one year in tonneaux and barriques, 15% new; 14.5% alcohol)>
I was looking at Gary’s Wine site and for the 2009 they have the winemaker’s notes and the varietal i.e. only sangiovese and canaiolo. The winemaker is known for being a traditionalist so my guess is he only uses syrah or another varietal in certain vintages. Good discussion.
Rico, I think he is a traditionalist at heart when it comes to Tuscany and chianti’s. They do make some other wines which i.e. Cabernet under different labels… but when I have tasted the chianti’s I’ve never thought of them as made in the modern style, that’s just my opinion. Here’s a nice link to an article on them.
Mike, I asked because traditionalist is not a label that comes to mind when I think of Isole e Olena. I love Marchi’s Sangiovese wines (his Chianti as well as the iconic Cepparello) as well as his international varietal bottlings, and if searching for a label I suppose I’d characterize him as “a progressive who respects tradition”. Truly great wine for sure!
Haven’t had that particular Ruffino but have had the Antinori and it can be great. In the past some of the grapes came from the same vineyard that supplied grapes for Tignanello, don’t know if that still holds true or not. I had a bottle of the 1990 last year that was fantastic with plenty of life ahead of it.
The last great Ruffino Riserva Ducale Oro I had was from the 1990 vintage a long time ago. After that, they have just always been disappointing. I stopped buying them a long time ago. I have had a few over the years off restaurant wine lists, but still disappointing. The 2004 Marchese Antinori is very good, but it still shows some wood. I am holding my last two bottles for a few more years to see where this winds up. A bunch of the wines listed earlier in this thread are better values than these two. I have also bought the Castello di Ama CC and have found them to just be ok. I still have one bottle left of the 2001 and 2003. I haven’t touched any of the 2006s or 2007s yet. I hope the bottles yet to be opened will alter my view on these wines.
I think Chianti still carries a stigma of absentee landlord winemakers, owners who treat the estate like a summer/weekend getaway more than one geared to trying to make great wine, and the ones who are more ambitious are the ones who want to make a Super Tuscan more than a sangio-based wine. Exceptions always, of course, but I wish the overall quality level was better with pure, unadulturated sangiovese. Sometimes I’ve had luck with Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and it’s producers.
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