Weekly Tasting Report (May 17-23, 2021): Chianti Classicos and Single-Vineyard Exceptionalism, Off The Charts on the Sonoma Coast, and a Ratings Bonanza from Chile

Has Chianti Classico really come of age as a world-class wine?

I had to ask myself this question after tasting four 2018 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione from the formidable Ricasoli family for this Weekly Tasting Report. One of the quartet was a perfect wine. Yes – 100 points!

I have never tasted such an incredible Chianti Classico from the region between Florence and Siena in Tuscany, even though I have been tasting and visiting the area since 1983. The pure sangiovese showed the finesse and intensity of a great Barolo or Brunello, even Burgundy. Its fruit was pure and focused, its palate a texture of fine silk and bright acidity. It went on for minutes at the finish. The other three wines were very close in quality but very different and unique in character.

All the wines are single-vineyard wines from the Ricasoli estate of Castello di Brolio. They family spent more than a decade researching the soils of their vineyards, which are located about 30 minutes from Siena. “This made us think about a tailored approach for each parcel of sangiovese,” said Francesco Ricasoli, the owner and president of Castello di Brolio, whose family is often credited with creating Chianti as a wine in 1872. “We studied each parcel and little by little we found some gems.”

The current list includes Colledila, Ceniprimo and Roncicone as well as Castello di Brolio, which used to be a blend of wines from the various vineyards on the estate but now comes from a single vineyard near the castle of Brolio, where Ricasoli lives. Colledila is the oldest single-vineyard wine, with the first vintage in 2007, while the other two were first bottled in 2015. All the wines are pure sangiovese – even the Castello di Brolio, which years ago added grape varieties like petit verdot and canaiolo.

Ricasoli explained in a Zoom call that the Brolio estate has 19 different types of soil, according to a study they commissioned with a research center in Italy. The soil types were then organized into five categories, and four vineyards were ultimately chosen for bottling. Other vineyards are currently under consideration for bottling.

“Sangiovese is a very sensitive grape variety,” Ricasoli said. “So small changes in altitude, microclimate or soil might really give a different imprint [in the wine] and therefore can be extremely interesting.”

They are all bottled as Chianti Classico gran selezione, with the main differences between gran selezione and riserva being that the gran selezione grapes must be exclusively under the management of the winery in question instead of sourced in the appellations. Wines must undergo at least 30 months of aging in barrel instead of 24, and they must also meet certain chemical requirements such as an ABV of 13 percent instead of 12 percent.

There is some controversy about the designation because other grapes can be added to the wines, such as cabernet sauvignon or merlot, and there are other issues including ownership of vineyards.

“But I think the designation has been a great success,” Ricasoli said. “Riserva was not enough anymore to describe the rising quality of a lot of Chianti Classico that were produced in the last 10 years. It’s a message [to the market].”

Ricasoli’s top Chianti Classicos were not the only exceptional quality single-vineyard wines from Italy to be reviewed last week. The master of Barolo, Roberto Voerzio, made an incredible wine from his Rocche dell'Annunziata vineyard in 2017. The wine is powerful yet shows an uncanny amount of complexity and intensity. It’s one for the cellar.

Single vineyards were also the theme for a handful of Sonoma Coast wines in California I tasted for this report. A RAEN Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast Fort Ross-Seaview Sea Field Vineyard 2019 from Carlo Mondavi, the grandson of the late Robert Mondavi and son of Tim Mondavi of Continuum, was off the charts in quality. It not only highlighted the excellent work Carlo Mondavi is doing in his coastal vineyards, but also showcased the 2019 vintage for the region, following an outstanding 2018. His other two pinots and one chardonnay were also top-of-the-line.

“Nineteen was very similar to ’18,” Mondavi said during a Zoom interview last week. “It was average in rains with a beautiful bud break. During flowering we had normal berry set,” he said. “The crop wasn’t big but it wasn’t small. It was kind of average. During the growing season it was even and cool, but it was not as cool as ’18 so there was this happy medium. It brought all the fruit into focus, so concentrating the sugars, the tannins and the acid – all of that – and led to a wine of incredible elegance and also depth.”

The 2019 pinots and chardonnays from Joseph Phelps’ Sonoma Coast vineyards were also pretty sensational, with vivid bright fruit and energetic acidities as well as depth. Check them out below.

We also started tasting some more wines from Washington state, with about 500 to go, and the 40th anniversary bottling of the Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley was of exceptional quality. The 2018 is the best wine I have ever tasted from this winery, with an uncanny balance of intensity and brightness alongside real elegance and drinkability. Check out the Zoom interview with winemaker Alex Stewart.

We finally finished rating all the Chilean wines in our cellar with our biggest tasting ever, at almost 1,200 wines reviewed. This week we include the ratings for a number of superstar wines including Almaviva Puente Alto 2019, Montes Carmenere Petit Verdot Valle de Colchagua Purple Angel 2018, and Neyen Malbec Valle de Colchagua Espíritu de Apalta Limited Edition 2019. Check out which came out on top.

We also rated a lot of wines from France last week, with most coming from Bordeaux as we finished our 2020 en primeur tastings. The wines are beginning to come out on the market with unfortunate price increases, but there still may be some must buys out there.

One tasting that impressed me was with Caroline Frey, the owner of Paul Jaboulet Aine in the northern Rhone Valley. Her newest wines on the market, from 2019, were impressive, although some showed extremely high alcohol and concentration. Watch the Zoom video where she explains how the hot and dry weather affected the quality of her grape crop. She and her team had to go to extraordinary efforts to pick fresh grapes and make balanced wines.

It’s another report of fascinating wines for everyone. Enjoy the list.

– James Suckling, Chairman/Editor In Chief

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The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated during the previous week by James and other tasters at JamesSuckling.com. They include many latest releases not yet available on the market, but which will be available soon. Some will be included in upcoming tasting reports. 

Note: You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.