This is the King of the Chiantis. Made with 100% sangiovese grapes from a single vineyard located in Panzano, just south of Florence. Chianti is a rural region in the provinces of Florence, Siena and Arezzo, composed mainly of hills and mountains. This personifies the historical importance of the Rignana vineyard, combining traditional procedures with modern techniques to give this wine such great elegance.
These grapes are hand-picked in October, spend 21 days in stainless steel vats, and are then transferred to large barrels for 30 months. They only produce 5,300 bottles per year of this special and rare wine. This wine deserves respect! It needs to be decanted for a good hour prior to drinking. When you pour that first drop the intense red colour is like seeing a rainbow for the first time. You just cannot take your eyes off it. This is an outstanding example of Chianti and is a visceral tasting experience. Imagine the smells as you walk through an Italian grocery store: at the entrance there’s a bowl of preserved sour cherries. You walk under bunches of dried oregano, past a wall of dark, aromatic balsamic vinegar, then past a counter where dry salami is being sliced. At the bar, dark espresso is dripping into a cup. A whisper of sweet tobacco wafts in the door from the pipe of the old man outside. Chianti smells and tastes like Italy.
The food matching we did with this was just spot on! Venison with a cranberry red wine sauce (click for recipe). Venison is not a commonly eaten meat in Australia but is very popular in Italy and the gaminess of this meat and the sweetness of the cranberry red wine sauce was out of this world. This wine already has some age to it, but you could cellar for another 15+ years if you can keep your hands off it!