Notes from an impressive Chianti tasting

[Blanquito]

We had a great Chianti event recently... Notes from memory.

These wines are all young, but the tannins are approachable and they can be enjoyed now. That said, I am confident most of these wines will hold and improve with cellar time.

Flight 1
2006 Vignamaggio Gherardino Chianti Classico
This was a classic Chianti that was sound but unexciting. 85 points.

2006 Fontodi Chianti Classico
I'm a fan of this producer, but I think this youngster needs some time (~3 yrs) to come together. You can sense the excellent fruit and depth, but the wine is currently very bright, even tart. Still, clean, classy, long, and promising. 88+ points today.

Flight 2
2004 Ruffino Chianti Classico Riserva Ducale Oro
Wow, there's a marked jump in richness in this flight. These riservas are much better and have a lot going on. Classy, classic, suave, food-friendly, this wine is very good though the "worst" value at $33+. 90 points.

2004 Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva
This was wild and I loved it. It had the best bouquet with wild game notes and unusual aromas of frankencense, there's also a spiceness to the wine that I liked. Give this one some time in the bottle, and then enjoy. 91+ points today.

2005 Frescobaldi Chianti Rufina Nipozzano Riserva
An odd wine, as it had over-ripe grenache-like notes and yet it was also the highest acid wine to the point of shrill. Not my style. 84 points.

2004 Selvapiana Chianti Rufina Bucerchiale Riserva
This was my favorite wine, as it possessed the most depth and richness. But still, it was very Chianti in flavor and acid. It seems like there could be some new oak used here, but it's very subtle and a positive. This wine is already very nice, with an expressive bouquet of red currants and cranberries, with a lovely layered mouthfeel, good concentration and length. Drinkable now, better later. 92 points.

For dessert,
2003 Dereszla Tokaji 5 Puttonyos
This was beautiful, a hybrid in style between a clasic Tokaji and a classy Sauternes. Not overly complex, it has the perfect amount of sweetness for my tastes, excellent acidity, and a intriguing flavor profile of burnt oranges wed to creme brulee. I immediately bought some of this for $19 (500ml), the ultimate compliment. 91 points.

Selvapiana won WOTN honors (4 first place votes), Monsanto a very solid second (1 first place vote), and the Fontodi a distant third, though honestly, there was not a bad wine in the house.

My overall impressions: true to form, these wines are very food friendly given the high acidities. Indeed, many tasted better with food, not something I often find with most red wines.

These wines are all currently available for less than $33, many are less than $20. All of these wines represent tremendous value, and reconfirms our thoughts after the last Chianti tasting: Why aren't we drinking more Chianti??

[JCNorthway]

Thanks for providing these notes. I, too, love good Chiantis, and find them to still be relative values for their quality, at least the quality of several recent vintages (i.e., 2001, 2004-2006).

I have not bought any of the Rufino Ducale bottlings for quite some time. I concluded that, for the prices they asked, the quality was not consistent with the cost. But I know they remain quite a popular wine, especially on restaurant wine lists.

Regarding the Fontodi, did you get any aromas of barnyard (brett)? I used to buy Fontodi Chiantis, but had a negative experience with the 1999. My bottles consistently were so "bretty" that they were not fun to drink. After finding that in the first 2 or 3 bottles, I took the remainder back and swapped (thinking maybe I had a tainted case), but the replacement bottles were no better. At the time I had a wine retailer tell me he had stopped buying Fontodi for that reason - he suspected they had a problem in their facilities. I've been reticent to buy subsequent vintages based on my experience.

Jon

[aimeedogdogdog]

Thanks for the notes, Patrick!

I have the same impression for the Rufina Ducale as Jon. The Monsanto could be really good in some vintages like '98. And they are rather consistent year in and year out. The Chianti wines are totally food-oriented. It could be harsh without food (new vintages anyway). Anyone has old vintages of these Chianti? I wonder how they taste.

Werner

[Ramon_NYC]

About 2 years ago, I BYOB'd a 1988 Ruffino Riserva Ducale at a neighborhood Italian place. The wine was definitely softer, but had sufficient structure and acidity to go well with the red-sauced stuff that we ordered. I'd say an 89-90 pointer. I had bought the bottle at a local Costco in the mid-1990's at about $12 and managed to keep it in slightly better than decent shape throughout the years.

[jal]

2005 Frescobaldi Chianti Rufina Nipozzano Riserva
An odd wine, as it had over-ripe grenache-like notes and yet it was also the highest acid wine to the point of shrill. Not my style. 84 points.

The 2004 Nipozzano was a knockout and we must have finished more two cases in less than a year. The 2005 was a sad disjointed excuse for a wine - so disappointing in fact that we dumped the bottle just after tasting.

[Blanquito]

Thanks for the comments.

I haven't had many from this producer, but I didn't get any funk on the Fontodi. The only other ones I've had were the 1997 Fontodi CC and the 1998 Vigna del Sorbo; both were excellent and funk-free...

The Ruffino Oro was a good wine, but outclassed by 2-3 others (I thought it better than the Fontodi but I was alone). I had the 1990 Ruffino Oro in 2001 (fantastic and young-ish still) and the 1985 this past April which was other-wordly good, but that might not be all that representative as the 1985 is supposed to be best Chianti vintage in forever...

Sounds like we had the same 2005 Nipozzano, Jacques! I'll have to track down an '04 to try.

[dstgolf]

Patrick,

Nice review.

I basically cut my teeth on Italian wines. starting in the early 90's loading up on chianti's brunellos and super tuscans with a smattering of barolos/barbarescos.My two buddies love the Ducale gold and buy cases of it every year. I agree entirely with you that it is OK but far over priced.Yes it does age very well with the acidity taming down and a nice balance comming with time. Still I haven't bought a bottle since 97.

The Monsanto has always been one of my favourite Chiantis and ages very well. A little more new world style with more extraction but not into the realms of the Fontodi. The Reserva I feel drinks better and is a far greater value than the il poggio with the latter taking longer to mature.

The Marchesi Antinori is also a wonderful chianti that ages beautifully.

Danny

[rjsussex]

Thanks - am about to post on a round-up of Sangioveses but just wanted to say that the 06 Selvapiana Riserva Bucerciale was oddly evolved and lacking stuffing though clearly of good pedigree. Wondered if 04 is the better vintage, despite the hype around 06?

Best

Richard

[JCNorthway]

Just to add one more Chianti perspective, last night I opened up my last bottle of 1997 Felsina Chianti Classico - the basic wine. It was still pretty youthful and had significant remaining fruit, tannins and acidity. It went perfectly with a spicy "vodka pasta" dish prepared by our friends. When that was finished, my friend pulled out a 2005 Monsanto CC. This was a pretty tasty wine for a relatively inexpensive Chianti. I wish I had bought a few myself when they were easily available. They would make great weekday dinner wines.

Jon

[dstgolf]

I forgot about one very inexpensive but consistantly enjoyable CC is Ricasoli's Brolio. Haven't had a bad bottle since 97 and that covers a lot of years. Very well made with more fruit and a little less acidity than the older styled CC. Reminds me of some of the sangiovese based supertuscans in a baby brother sort of way.

Danny