Friday night is generally pizza night in the Hughes household, and a frequent “wine partner” to said pizza is Chianti.
First up, the 2009 Frescobaldi Nipozzanno Chianti Classico Riserva .
Fairly dark at the core for a chianti; lovely and pronounced nose with almost a laser beam of red & black fruits coming out of the glass; a touch of graphite as well.
Nice framing acidity for the primarily red fruits on the palate. I’m drinking this solo right now, but methinks this will be a very food-friendly wine, with the acidity almost crying out for some nice melted mozzarella cheese. My better half decided to use bacon as the meat accompaniment on one of the pies tonight, so a little extra fat on that pie to marry with the wine’s inherent acidity - I’m getting hungry just thinking about it 
.
Wine #2 tonight is the 2009 Castell 'In Villa Chianti Classico.
Noticeably lighter in color than the first wine - nose is all red fruits, almost like crystalized cherry, and nicely focused.
Wow - this is a CC that always punches above it’s weight (although in fairness to the Nipozzanno, it’s also priced above a typical CC as well). Bracing acidity envelops crisp red fruits, with a slight bitterness on the finish to add complexity. Beeyootiful tonight, but this will only get better with time in the bottle. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers")
Sounds like you’ve got two winners there, Bob. The Castell 'In Villa sounds especially tasty. I have some of the '06 downstairs but am trying to let them age a bit.
Homemade pizza and chianti on a Friday is one of the best ways to take the edge off the week! I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the Castell in’Villa. The only '09 I’ve had is the Monsanto CCR, which I think is a stellar value.
Let me add a strong recommendation for Vicchiomaggio Riserva Petri 09 of which I’ve had several bottles (and the only 09 Chianti I’ve tried).
How many bottles of the Castell n Villa do you own? Popped an 09 Montevertine Montevertine last night. Lovely at first but then it shut down hard within 30 minutes. Chiantis can be suprisingly IPNC friendly…You should be here!
Rich, I bought three cases of the '09, as their distribution is somewhat spotty, so I decided to “strike while the iron was hot”.
It’s my favorite day-to-day Chianti, and as Andrew pointed out above, also has the ability to age. I blew through most of two cases of the '08, but finally decided to squirrel away a couple bottles for a future day (and now that I’ve finally completed by Cellar Tracker re-org, I know exactly where they are ).