Chianti

This is a nice, straightforward Chianti that is drinking beautifully right now.  Purple in color with some ruby swirls.  The nose is nice with cherries, baking spices and tea leaves.  Medium bodied.  An excellent backbone  of acidity.  On the palate, lots of cherries with a slight undertone of forest floor.  Nice finish.  Drink this over the next four to six years.  It is a nice choice for pizza or pasta with a tomato based sauce. 

One of my evil guilty pleasures is to put this on the table with non wine geeks and see if they drink it.  Usually, they don't, but the ones who do are impressed.  Some will just see that it is a Chianti and think it can't be any good.  This is possibly the best that Chianti offers and certainly one of the top wines that Italy offers.  Although expensive, given that, it is priced fairly.  At age 10, this is still young and needs more air though with a few hours, it drank well.  Deep garnet with purple streaks, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose is great with black cherries, cherries, black

What a great vintage 2016 ha turned out to be for Chianti in general and this one in particular.  Not the cheapest Chianti, but this is outstanding.  Deep ruby/purple in color, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose is great with cherries, black cherries, sandalwood and tea leaves.  Medium bodied.  Great balance.  Lovely acidity.  Spry.  On the palate, lots of lush black cherry fruit with underlying forest floor.  Clean.  Deep.  Long finish.  This will continue to mature for another five to eight years and drink well for a decade after that.  A nice match for pasts of all kinds.  

There are so many truly great values in 2015/2016 Chiant's that this one was a bit disappointing.  That is a bit harsh, as this is an excellent wine.  But for the price and pedigree, more was expected (which is perhaps a bit unfair).  Purple in color, ruby at the rim, mostly opaque and bright.  The nose has cherries, slight coffee and a bit of forest floor.  Medium bodied.  On the palate, ripe fruit.  Not the level of acidity that I come to expect in chianti, but some.  Light tannins.  Cherry fruit with underlying dust and earthiness.  Good finish.  Perhaps this is a bit shut down at this p

Great showing for this wine.  A solid vintage and a very good producer really combined for a success.  Deep ruby in color, mostly clear and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, slight black cherries, anise, and slight tea leaves.  Full bodied.  Ripe cherries on the palate with underlying forest floor.  Light tannins.  Lots of depth and complexity.  Also, delicious.  Great acidity.  Long finish.  Great value for a wine of this quality.  This is not yet at peak, maybe another 3 to 5 years, and then should dirnk well for ten to fifteen after that.  A great match for pasta bolognaise.  

This was my first time trying this wine and at least in this great vintage, this wine is outstanding.  Deep ruby in color, clear and bright.  The nose is nice with cherries, forest floor/tea leaves, char and spice.  Full bodied.  The fruit is ripe but certainly not over done.  Flavors of cherries, char over an earthy/forest floor note.  Great acidity.  Nice finish.  The wine is still young and should continue to mature for another five to seven years and then will drink well for 10 more after that.  It should work great with any meat or fowl dish and of course, pizza or pasta.  This is a gr

2016 is such a great vintage for Chianti's so there was a lot of hope for this.  It is solid but there are a lot of better values in the market.  Ruby in color.  The nose has cherries and slight hay.  On the palate, this is light to medium bodied.  Strong acidity.  Some cherry fruit.  Simple.  It requires food and worked fine with some pasta.  It started to show some volatile acidity after a few hours.  Drink now.  

I love Chianti.  My favorite winery there is Felsina.  This is their top Chianti.  it is rare and expensive.  It is 100% Sangiovese from the Rancia vineyard's highest growing vines.  The wine is quite concentrated and complex.  Deep ruby in color.  On opening, this was tight but with a couple hours of air, it opened beautifully.  Lots of cherries and black cherries on the nose along with some char and a bit of a pine forest.  On the palate, this is bold with firm tannins.  Lots of cherry fruit.

A definite step up from the 2014 and back up to their usual standards.  This is usually an easy choice for a go to value in Chianti and wine in general.  Deep ruby in color.  The nose has cherries, slight anise, slight forest floor.  On the palate, this is medium bodied.  Very smooth texture.  Nice juicy cherry fruit with some underlying damp earth.  Nice acidity.  Well rounded.  Nice finish.  This is drinking well now and will continue for at least a decade, probably more.  A great match with pizza or pasta for sure.  

One of my go to Chianti's.  Truly a consistently great value.  2016 is another  great vintage in Chianti in general and for this wine.  Ruby/purple in color.  The nose has cherries, slight black cherries, tea leaves and just a bit of fennel.  On the palate, this is medium bodied.  A nice backbone of acidity.  Concentration and depth that will undoubtedly unwind into layers as it ages.  Right now lots of cherries on the palate.  This drinks well on its own but really is better with food.  Of course, pizza and pasta with tomato sauce but almost any meat or fowl or vegetable dish will work.  D