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The Chianti Chronicles: Part Quattro

Written By: Dylan York on Friday, May 16, 2008

York looks into single vineyard wines (known as riserva) from Chianti Classico.

To wrap up this series of articles I wanted to highlight a few single vineyard designated Chianti Classico Riserva wines that I have found over the years. Single vineyard wines are wines that are produced from a specific vineyard site. More often these are the best plots for the winery and the wines are of the highest quality. Another important thing to mention is that Chianti Classico Riserva, since the 1996 ruling, some wines took a turn to a more international style. With competition from the Bordeaux market in France and the popularity of the Super Tuscans, some winemakers started adding more international varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah to their wines. Because of this practice you will find that there is a huge difference between these wines and those of the other seven satellites. If you are just now joining the series and need some background on the different styles of Chianti then feel free to jump back to the previous three articles ( Parte Uno, Parte Due, Parte Tre ) and catch up. I chose two wines to tell you about here, one represents the international, New World style and the other is more grounded in the traditional Old World style.

2001 Fontodi Chianti Classico Riserva Vigna del Sorba. This was a great wine that I found when I was running the wine shop in Georgetown. This single vineyard Chianti Classico is a blend of 90% Sangiovese and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine definitely rides the fence between Chianti Classico Riserva and Super Tuscan. The one thing that kept it in check was that it was still subtle and elegant and the tannins did not take control of the wine. The wine had flavors of dried red berries, smoky spices, and finished with a firm yet creamy oak flavor. This wine had more depth than complexity. This is the type of wine that you take a big sip of and chew on for a while and slowly let it ease down the back of your throat.

1985 Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva Il Poggio. I had this wine in New York about a year ago and it’s still with me (I kept my tasting notes). I was at a seminar with the winemaker tasting through a vertical series of the best vintages from 1985 to 2001. Needless to say it was a great experience. I could not believe how youthful the 1985 vintage tasted. The color was brick red with a slight mahogany hue in the outer halo. There was a touch of sediment in the ring, but nothing to set off any alarms. The nose was clean and intact with no detectable faults. The viscosity was holding at a medium level and the acid and alcohol were in perfect balance. The nose had leafy aromas of cedar and tea. On the palate there were flavors of sour cherry, bitter herbs, more pronounced tea leaf and hints of the creamy oak that once dominated the wine. I have had older Chianti in the past but none of them were as memorable as this one. Finding this wine could take some digging, but I can tell you after tasting through the vertical, Castello di Monsanto is a great producer and you can buy their current releases for around $35 USD, so pick out a case and set it aside -- it will age very well.

This concludes the series on Chianti. There is so much information to cover on this one wine region so please leave comments if you have any further questions. Thanks for reading.

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