2015 Agricola San Felice Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Il Grigio, Italy, Tuscany, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2015
Score: 
90
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$35.00USD

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

2013 Il Molino di Grace Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Il Margone, Italy, Tuscany, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2013
Score: 
93
Grade: 
A
Current Price: 
$44.00USD

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.  

2015 Agricola San Felice Chianti Classico Riserva Il Grigio, Italy, Tuscany, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2015
Score: 
94
Grade: 
A
Current Price: 
$25.00USD

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 Tenute Pierazzuoli Chianti Montalbano Riserva, Italy, Tuscany, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2016
Score: 
82
Grade: 
B-
Current Price: 
$24.00USD

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.  

2007 Fattoria di Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva Colonia, Italy, Tuscany, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2007
Score: 
95
Grade: 
A
Current Price: 
$90.00USD

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.

2015 Marchesi de' Frescobaldi Chianti Rùfina Nipozzano Riserva, Italy, Tuscany, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2015
Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$17.00USD

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.  

2016 Il Molino di Grace Chianti Classico, Italy, Tuscany, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2016
Score: 
93
Grade: 
A-
Current Price: 
$20.00USD

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

2013 Marchesi Gondi Chianti Rùfina Riserva Villa Bossi, Italy, Tuscany, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2020
Score: 
95
Grade: 
A

OK.  So when we did this tasting, we had six Chianti's.  I went thru the lineup.  Then we invited friends over and about ten more people tried the wines.  I revisit them that night, the next night and finish on day 3.  This was almost the unanimous wine of the night.  If it was labelled Brunello or even a Super Tuscan, i think the scores would have been higher.  Of course, there is always something that says the best Chianti's can't score that high.  I have never subscribed to that philosophy as producers like Felsina and Fontodi deserve higher scores.  Well add this one to the list.   A bl

2016 Marchesi Gondi Chianti Rùfina Riserva Pian dei Sorbi, Italy, Tuscany, Wine Review

Vintage: 
2016
Score: 
92
Grade: 
A-

This is a blend of 80% Sangiovese and 20% Colorino.  Purple with ruby swirls.  It is very tight on opening but with air opens to black cherry fruit.  The nose is easy and enjoyable.  On the palate, the black cherries come thru.  This seems ripe and has an almost cough syrup quality to the cherry fruit.  A bit of anise on the finish.  Firm tannins.  This is concentrated but seems more about fruit than a typical Chianti.  That proved to be a good thing in a tasting.  It will be interesting to see how this ages from here.  It seems like there is room to improve over the next few years.  It sho

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