TN: 1955 Ruffino Chianti Classico, Riserva Ducale

This turned out to be an AWESOME birth-year wine for my mom! And not just from a novelty perspective…it was legit a great wine!

Fantastic! Not even the gold label and it held up that well - amazing!

I was honestly pretty surprised. But the bottle was in INSANELY good shape! Like…if this was at all a fake-worthy wine, you would definitley be thinking twice

Where’d you get that???

I believe I got it from Spectrum

I love this. Who’d fake Ruffino?

Exaaaactly! Literally if it was anything else, I’d probably be suspicious. Bottle was that perfect!

I am not surprised. I have had great experiences with Chiantis made in a traditional manner during a time when the idea of export friendly was not much of a consideration. Those older varietals like canniolo and colorino added a dimension to older bottles, when well-cellared, just can’t be found anymore. Much as I admire and enjoy the modern iterations of the Felsinas, Fontodis and the like, I do miss the charm and complexities of the old school.

A great post David! And you absolutley nailed it- the complexities and charm of this wine is what really stood out. Well said!!

Their old Italians were sooo money

Fun! It was a late 80’s bottle of this with a nice Italian meal that started my wine journey.

Old AF. Delicious AF. Classy AF

I have a lot of sympathy for this theory. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t bet against the best producers from the '80s and '90s when what you reference was to a very large degree no longer the norm. Many are coming along really, really well.

Also it’s the Chianti that Tony Soprano is seen drinking in The Sopranos (;
I’ve also had success with older bottles of this.

Great note. I’m a ‘55 baby, but no such love from my kids.

That’s awesome! Gotta love that first bottle the started us down this crazy path. Mine was a 97 BV Georges Latour

You just can’t beat a Nick Christie meme

Ha! Love that!

Wish I could find more of these that were stored so well!

Next March 17th - make your way out to AZ! No more bottles of this wine but have been able to score a handful of Italian 55’s, a couple bugs, ports, and a Louis Martini cab that im looking forward to opening with her.

Also have a couple bottles of 55 Toro Albala Don PX…but TBD if she’s going to dig that or not

Let’s see. I have a couple of Bordeaux, a port and a Jura. Maybe we can make this work.