Type: Red
Vintage: 2019
Grape variety: Sangiovese, Canaiolo and Canina Nera
Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany
Chianti Classico is Sangiovese's viticultural epicentre and Montecalvi's primary focus. This wine is made from Sangiovese from the Montecalvi vineyard, complemented by a touch of Canaiolo and Canina Nera (with a good percentage of whole bunches in the ferment). This wine sees around 30 days in stainless steel tank, 18 months in French oak tonneaux and six months in bottle prior to release. The wine is elegant, poised, and eminently drinkable now but with the potential to improve with a few years in the cellar.
"Barely mid ruby. Subtly perfumed sweet red-fruit nose with savoury saline notes and hardly perceptible oak. A fullness of elegant fruit on the palate that comes almost unexpectedly followed by cracking tannins. This marches to a different beat. Very long, but still a little embryonic. Drink 2023 – 2030."
17++ pts, Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
"A portion is whole cluster somewhere in the 20-25 per cent range, at once a precise number and yet vague enough to not be held accountable. Also a portion left on skins for more than two months time. Clearly a wine in which the winemaker (Tim Manning) held no fear of volatile acidity and this sits well under the threshold. Not exactly a 100 per cent sangiovese because there are some rows of canaiolo and also canina nera but not enough to quantify a percentage. Surely a wine of texture and what feels like a “thickened” acidity meaning there is no sear, certainly not out of fear and as a sangiovese is really quite near and dear. Darker cherry incidentally in a Chianti Classico that feels like tradition albeit new and in a very tactile way. I feel the touch. Last tasted March 2022.
Just a lovely, calm and inviting entry into Classico Annata, equalized by a harmoniously seasoned palate well-integrated and equanimous set of sweet acidity and fine tannin. Modern and beautiful, fresh and refreshing, wood a player while also serving to make things whole. Drink early and often. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted February 2022."
90 pts, Michael Godel, Wine Align