Casa Emma Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 2016
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Wine Spectator
Pure flavors of cherry and blackberry highlight this bright, polished red, which combines charm and muscle. There's a solid spine of tannins, yet this is harmonious overall, with a terrific finish that evokes fruit, iron and tobacco notes. Best from 2023 through 2045.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I love the manner in which this wine hits the palate, showing velvety softness and firm structure at the same time. The Casa Emma 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione is bright and true with a dark center of gravity and lots of luscious fruit. Dark cherry, wild berry and plum are framed by soft tones of earth, spice and blue flower. This balanced wine emits fine notes of candied cherry and tart fruit, giving it a punchy, genuine personality. This is a knockout vintage from organic farmer Casa Emma to try with pasta made with polvere di Sangiovese, the estate's unique pomace flour from Sangiovese.
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James Suckling
Very sweet berry and cherry aromas with flowers. The perfumes are very intense. Full-bodied with very tight, linear tannins that are chewy and long. Extremely structured and long. So much pure fruit. Drink in 2024 and onwards.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of leather, menthol, wild berries and dark spice along with a whiff of violet are front and center in this savory red. On the elegantly structured, medium-bodied palate, taut, refined tannins support juicy Marasca cherry, ripe plum, tobacco and licorice. Bright acidity provides focus and balance. Drink 2022–2031.
Other Vintages
2018-
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The Bucalossi family bought the estate from the Florentine noblewoman Emma Bizzarri. They have maintained the name “Casa Emma” respecting the historical roots of the land.
The particular attention paid to the terroir allows Casa Emma to offer a range of Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico Riserva and Soloìo (single grape Super-Tuscan Merlot). At the heart of Chianti Classico territory, at an altitude of 1380 feet above sea level, the vineyards of Casa Emma are a classic example of the charms of the Chianti countryside.
Casa Emma grows a number of “non-local” grape varieties, such as Merlot or other more traditional varieties such as Malvasia and Canaiolo, but the principal variety used is Sangiovese, one of the oldest Italian grape varieties forming the very foundation of traditional Chianti and Chianti Classico wines.
Among Italy's elite red grape varieties, Sangiovese has the perfect intersection of bright red fruit and savory earthiness and is responsible for the best red wines of Tuscany. While it is best known as the chief component of Chianti, it is also the main grape in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and reaches the height of its power and intensity in the complex, long-lived Brunello di Montalcino. Somm Secret—Sangiovese doubles under the alias, Nielluccio, on the French island of Corsica where it produces distinctly floral and refreshing reds and rosés.
One of the first wine regions anywhere to be officially recognized and delimited, Chianti Classico is today what was originally defined simply as Chianti. Already identified by the early 18th century as a superior zone, the official name of Chianti was proclaimed upon the area surrounding the townships of Castellina, Radda and Gaiole, just north of Siena, by Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany in an official decree in 1716.
However, by the 1930s the Italian government had appended this historic zone with additonal land in order to capitalize on the Chianti name. It wasn’t until 1996 that Chianti Classico became autonomous once again when the government granted a separate DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) to its borders. Ever since, Chianti Classico considers itself no longer a subzone of Chianti.
Many Classicos are today made of 100% Sangiovese but can include up to 20% of other approved varieties grown within the Classico borders. The best Classicos will have a bright acidity, supple tannins and be full-bodied with plenty of ripe fruit (plums, black cherry, blackberry). Also common among the best Classicos are expressive notes of cedar, dried herbs, fennel, balsamic or tobacco.