For National Chianti Day in the USA (2nd September 2022), David Allen MW tastes Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva 2018. A wine from the famed Tignanello estate
The Antinori family have been making wines in Tuscany since the 14th Century. They are now one of the largest and best distributed Italian wine producers.
In 1971 the family took their Tignanello wines out of the Chianti designation, choosing to label it as a Vino da Tavola (now an IGT Toscana) – doing this allowed them to include international varieties (Cabernets Sauvignon & Franc) and meant they didn’t need to include white varieties that legally had to go into a Chianti blend. The new wine was also one of the region’s first wines to be aged in new oak barrels.
This wine from the same estate shows they have come full circle, it is a Chianti, from the same estate, yet the law allows white varieties to be excluded from and Cabernets to be included in the blend. Also barrel aged this wine is a quarter of the price of Tignanello, so has to be worth a try!
To find out more about this wine and where to buy it go to the Wine-Searcher website:
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