On a Sunday morning (to avoid the tasting crowds) in mid-February, I headed down to Fortezza da Basso in Florence to get some Chianti Love at the Anteprima 2017. This is the sneak peek event of the Consorzio Vino Chianti where they present the new vintages. This event is always fun and in the late afternoon, it turns into a real party when it at aperitivo time opens up for the general public. The anteprima is the place to be for every #Chiantilover (the hashtag of the consortium).

I am sorry to not have been able to publish any articles lately here on my blog. Due to Internet problems and a heavy schedule of wine events, I just did not have time to write much. However, I now have a lot of juicy content waiting for you.

7 Chianti Wines Evoking Lots of Chianti Love

There are so many tastings you do and so many impressions to digest at an Anteprima. At the same time, you learn a lot about the wines, as in this case, from the harvest 2016. Often you end up chatting with the producers about a lot of things. Here I will focus on a few wineries and their wines that I tasted at the anteprima of the Consorzio Vino Chianti. I will not necessarily comment that much on the 2016 sample, there are so many other journalists and bloggers who have already done that. There is no order of the best wines mentioned first or last, I simply talk about the wineries in a spontaneous order.

Tenuta San Vito

Let us start out with a Chianti Colli Fiorentini from Tenuta San Vito. This winery is situated in Montelupo Fiorentino which is only about 20 km from Florence. The estate was founded in 1960 by Roberto Drighi, the grandfather of the present owner Neri Gazulli. The estate comprises 130 hectares (320 acres) of land, of which 35 hectares (86 acres) are vineyards. The estate is organically certified since 1985 both for their wine and olive oil production.

At the #Chiantilover Anteprima 2017, I tasted their Chianti sample from the harvest 2016. Even though it still has a long road to travel, I find it already had a clean and fruity taste that brings out all of the best of the Sangiovese.

I also tasted their Darno Chianti Colli Fiorentini DOCG 2015. It is a 90% Sangiovese and 10% Colorino wine with notes of fruit such as wild cherry and strawberry, black cherry, and blackberry. It is a smooth and well-balanced wine. The maturing is only made in cement and steel vats, thus no oak. In this way, the aromas develop very clearly without any influence of wood.

Azienda Agricola La Querce

This is a winery situated on the hills close to Impruneta (Chianti Colli Fiorentini) just a few kilometers from Florence. La Querce belongs to Massimo Marchi while Marco Ferretti is the director of the winery. The estate comprises 8 hectares (20 acres) of vineyards where they cultivate Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Colorino, as well as Merlot.

Their 2016 Chianti sample had good and pronounced fruity notes combined with the more smoother influence from the Merlot. However, I am not an expert at giving an analysis of the samples. In the moment, I had very clear ideas…but then I often got lost in talking to the wine producer and the people around.

I have tasted their wines several times and am very fond of their Chianti wines. They produce a very interesting 100% Canaiolo wine, namely Belrosso Toscana IGT. This is a fresh and pleasant wine where you feel the beautiful presence of red fruit, especially cherry. Furthermore, they produce the Passito Dama Rosa which is a sweet wine made with Canaiolo. It is a very particular sweet wine with a divine taste.

Poderi Tognetti – La Casetta

Walking around the tasting room at the Anteprima, I stumbled upon two very nice and friendly girls from Poderi Tognetti. In this case, with the Chianti wines from La Casetta, one of their estates. This estate is located in Montaione not far from Florence. The interesting thing is that they recently started a collaboration with a branch of the family who in the past emigrated to the US. This US branch of the family owns a winery in Napa valley, Tognetti Family Winery, where they produce a Chardonnay wine and a Cabernet Sauvignon wine.

The short video below is in Italian, not in English…sorry for that.

In the 2016 Chianti sample that I tasted, I especially liked the predominant notes of red fruit and its freshness. I also tasted their Chianti DOCG Superiore and Chianti DOCG Riserva wines, where you noticed the presence of the tannins more. The Chianti Superiore and Riserva are matured in large oak barrels and barrique for a year and 24 months, respectively.

Fattoria Il Poderaccio

Fattoria Il Poderaccio is an organic winery located just outside Siena. They have 32 hectares (80 acres) of vineyard on the hills outside Siena where they cultivate Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Ciliegiolo, Colorino, and Malvasia Nera. They are not using any kind of wood barrels for the aging of their wines, only cement, and steel vats. Therefore, they cannot produce a Chianti Colli Senesi Riserva wine according to the regulation but have a very valid alternative in the organic Chianti DOCG Riserva Keekorok.

Chianti Colli Senesi DOCG 2015 from Il Poderaccio, Siena 🍇🍇🍷🍷 This is a very interesting wine made with #Sangiovese and #Colorino. Here you feel the beautiful fruit and structure. They only mature wine in steel vats and regine in the bottle. A wine to try out… #ChiantiColliSenesi … #grapevineadventures

Un post condiviso da GrapevineAdventuresWithKat (@thekatarinaandersson) in data: 12 Feb 2017 alle ore 02:43 PST

All their wines are full-bodied and complex where you feel the nice red fruit and a light floral touch of the predominant Sangiovese. The sample 2016 had very clean fruity notes and a smooth taste.

Azienda Agricola Campochiarenti

This is a winery situated close to San Gimignano and it is owned by Daniele Rosti and his family. Daniele and his brother Emanuele manages it all together. They produce both Vernaccia and Chianti wines, as well as a Super Tuscan and Vin Santo. To read more about the Campochiarenti winery, see A September Sunday at Campochiarenti Winery.

At the #Chiantilover Anteprima, it was, of course, their Chianti wines (Chianti Colli Senesi) which were in focus. I tasted their Chianti 2016 sample, which had nice aromas of fruit and a floral touch. It had a smooth and balanced, full-bodied taste.

Daniele told me that he thinks the result is good, considering that 2016 was a difficult year in the end with some problems in September and October. The fruit was ripe at harvest time, so he believes they got a good start. He further thinks that the 2016 vintage is very typical and compares it to the 2009 and 2011. So, he has great expectations for this vintage and believes in good aging prospects too.

#ChiantiColliSenesi in the expression of @campochiarenti at #anteprima2017 #chiantilovers @WinesOfItalyLS 🔝🍷 @Joh… https://t.co/Mi7MfPnEam

— Katarina Andersson (@ricasoli99) February 12, 2017

Fattoria Uccelliera

This is a winery in a completely different area of Tuscany than the ones I have talked about so far. It is situated in the locality Lorenzana close to Pisa (Chianti Colli Pisani). The present owners started their wine producing activity in the 1960s and today a couple of generations work together.

Fattoria Uccelliera produces a wide range of wines but here, of course, I will only talk about their Chianti wines. Their Chianti 2016 sample was smooth and elegant, the fruit was very predominant.

I also tasted their Chianti DOCG 2013 and 2014. The fermentation takes place in steel vats and the maturation is then done for 3 months in Allier oak. This is followed by at least 3 months of refinement in the bottle. The result is an elegant wine with notes of fruit, spices and a smooth and structured taste.

Castello del Trebbio

This winery is located in the Chianti Rufina area close to Florence. The Castello del Trebbio has a long and fascinating history, and today it is owned by Stefano Casadei. He owns different wine estates such as Tenuta Casa Dei in Suvereto and Tenuta Agricola Olianas in Sardinia, apart from Castello del Trebbio. His daughter Elena Casadei now also produce wines in amphora with amazing results.

Their 2016 Chianti sample had clean notes of fruit and scrub herbs and a smooth taste. I also tasted their Vin Santo 2010 made with Malvasia, Trebbiano and a small part of Sangiovese. This is a velvety and elegant sweet wine with notes of apricot.

After Lots Of Chianti Love…What’s Next?

So, I hope you enjoyed the fairly straightforward overview of some of the Chianti wines that I tasted at the Anteprima of the Consorzio Vino Chianti in mid-February. The Chianti 2016 samples were most of them very fruity and fresh, so, as Daniele from Campochiarenti mentioned in the short video, they seem promising.

Next in line when it comes to articles, is a long overdue one about the second part of wines I tasted at Wine&Siena a month ago. Then, comes the article about the vertical tasting of Chianti Rufina wines from Tenuta Bossi at Palazzo Gondi which belongs to the Gondi family. Last, but not least, it is soon time for another article in my series Wine&Social, where I will talk about live video.

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Written by Katarina Andersson.

 

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