Tignanello

The climate of the growing season required an intense and careful selection of the grapes both in the vineyard and in the cellars. This rigorous selection assisted in giving an additional quality level to the grapes to be used for Tignanello which, already exceptional in terms of both their typicality and personality, regularly give wines of outstanding character and structure. Extreme care was given to the freshness of the aromas and to the extraction of color and tannins aimed at the maximum suppleness and elegance during the period of fermentation and skin contact in conical fermenting tanks. Once the wine was run off its skins, it was put through a complete malolactic fermentation in oak barrels in order to heighten to the maximum degree the finesse and the fragrance of the aromas. The twelve to fourteen months aging period then began and took place in French and Hungarian oak barrels, partly new and partly used once previously. During this phase, the various lots, fermented variety by variety, completed the aging process and were then assembled to create the finished wine just a few months before bottling.

Tignanello is produced exclusively from the vineyard of the same name, a parcel of some 140 acres (57 hectares) with limestone-rich soils and a southwestern exposure at 1150-1325 feets (350-400 meters) above sea level at the Tignanello estate. It was the first Sangiovese wine to be aged in small oak barrels, the first modern red wine to use such non-traditional varieties as Cabernet in the blend, and among the first red wines from the Chianti Classico area to be produced without white grapes. The wine, originally called "Chianti Classico Riserva Vigneto Tignanello" (a Chianti Classico Riserva from the Tignanello vineyard), was produced for the first time from a single vineyard parcel in 1970, when the blend contained 20% of Canaiolo and 5% of Trebbiano and Malvasia, both white grapes, and the wine aged in small oak barrels. In 1971 it became a Tuscan red table wine rather than a Chianti Classico, and was called Tignanello. In the 1975 vintage the percentage of white grapes was definitively eliminated from the blend. Ever since 1982, the blend has been the one currently used. Tignanello is bottled only in favorable vintages, and was not produced in 1972, 1973,1974, 1976, 1984, 1992, and 2002.

An intense ruby red in color with purple highlights, the 2013 Tignanello shows a nose of great red fruit intensity along with highly pleasurable notes of vanilla, chocolate, and leather from the well balanced contribution and fusion of the aromas of the oak. The spicy and balsamic sensations which give additional complexity are also quite important. The wine is ample and enveloping on the palate with supple tannins and a savory freshness which fully respects the character and personality of the Sangiovese grape. The balance between acidity and tannins is excellent, and the finish and aftertaste are of a lovely length and persistence.

James Suckling 97/100   Wine Advocate 96/100