Castello dei Rampolla Chianti Classico 2012
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Winemaker Notes
Excellent with grilled meats.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Chianti Classico opens to primary fruit aromas of cherry and red currant. Balsam herb, rosemary, almond paste and a strong whiff of medicinal herb rise from the bouquet. There’s a tightness to the mouthfeel, a firmness of texture that is really beautiful to feel over the palate.
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Wine & Spirits
Poised and balanced, with enticing floral aromas and pure red fruit flavors, this offers chewy black cherry and red plum sensations and vibrant acidity, with undertones of leafy herbs and baking spices. Aged for 12 months in large Slavonian oak casks and with small percentages of cabernet sauvignon and merlot, this is pleasurable now and will improve for another several years in bottle.
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Wine Spectator
A fruity style, boasting cherry, currant and raspberry flavors, shaded by spice and tobacco. Firm, chalky tannins show on the vibrant finish. Drink now through 2019. 3,333 cases made.
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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.