TN: A birthday Felsina Rancia Vertical, and two more

WINE TALK
1

Some interesting wines to celebrate the birthday of a fellow berserker. A client called me away from dinner so I think I may have missed more fun stuff at the after party.

1993 Louis Jadot Moulin-à-Vent Château des Jacques - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Moulin-à-Vent (9/22/2014)
From magnum. This is probably a point or two higher than the objective score, because I just liked this very much. It doesn’t taste like old burg, rather, it tastes like lovely old gamay. Truffle, grapey, touch metallic like granitic gamay is wont to be. Gorgeous silky texture and light body. If it had a touch more concentration it would have been extraordinary, but as is it was just so nice to drink and terrific with food. Not a single rough edge or a hair out of place. (91 pts.)

1995 Ridge Geyserville - USA, California, Sonoma County #9/22/2014#
Very good, if a cut below the best Geyserville, this is a open, fragrant glass of dark curranty/plummy fruit and vanilla. Juicy despite the ripeness, and very accessible. (89 pts.)

1985 Fattoria di Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia - Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG #9/22/2014#
Nice. The red fruit is mostly fresh, and it has a nice mushroomy tertiariness and good acid. Not mind blowing but really tasty. Didn’t get the biggest pour of this but it seemed the best of the Rancia vertical by a fair margin. (90 pts.)

1990 Fattoria di Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia - Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG #9/22/2014#
I wonder if this may have been heat damaged, but I’m assuming it wasn’t for purposes of rating. Its a lush wine - remarkably so for a sangiovese - and while it’s lost its fresh fruit, it has this interesting chocolate & prune thing going on. Mushroomy. I don’t dislike this - it’s plush in the mouth and concentrated - but I’d never peg it as Sangiovese, let alone Chianti. (88 pts.)

1997 Fattoria di Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia - Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG #9/22/2014#
Ok, but odd. Very leathery and tarry, with dark fruit. Very ripe and rich. Not as much acid as I would expect. Can’t tell if this is heat damage or the vintage. I could see some folks liking this very much, but I like my Sangio more burgundian. (87 pts.)

2006 Fattoria di Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia - Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG #9/22/2014#
This was a wall of tar, molasses and leather, already showing some tertiary mushroominess. I assume heat damaged? NR (flawed)

2

Interesting. I bought a couple bottles last year and tried one. It had very, very tough, hard tannins. No pleasure there. (My notes: “Tough sledding. Hard tannins, not much evolution. Needs more time??”) I’ve stashed the other bottle away in the hopes that it will soften up. No sign of damage. It was just terribly backward.

3

I could easily see another bottle of this as being of the tough-sledding sort. I was struck, generally, by how ripe and dark the Felsinas were. I wouldn’t go so far as to say they were un-Sangio like, but it wasn’t the expression of Sangio that I prefer.

4

Interesting notes and thanks for posting - I have only tried as far back as the 04 in April and all up until the 10 and I can somehow follow the hard drinking-experiences but would have thought that age 15 would have been sufficient but interesting to see when the newer vintages (like 04) will hit the sweet-spot

5

I think the 97 was flawed. It had a lot of leather and VA, and it was quite flat in the mouth. The 90 I think was correct, it was overripe and lush and relatively low acid, but not flat and tarry.

The only wine of the vertical I really liked was the 85, which was very nice and much more typical sour red cherry/mushroom/herbal Chianti, still quite structured, and would have been much better with the right food.

6

I had a '99 this past Saturday. It was very sangio and to me correct as an aged chianti.
Red fruit, a touch of orange peel, lots of sour cherry and some leather…

I am very happy reading your notes on the '85 as to their age-ability. I won a case of the '99 last year, and this was only my 2nd one.

Also something definitely sounds very off with the 06. I popped one last year and found it very ripe and more fruit forward than other vintages…

7

The 2010 is beautiful…