Felsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva 2017
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Ruby red color, with good shade and intensity. Spicy bouquet with floral notes, underbrush fruits and mineral tones. On the palate hints of spices and fresh fruit, with soft and consistent tannins, of good structure and race.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Fresh and vivid for a 2017, due to the hot weather. It’s full-bodied, tight and structured with wet earth, tobacco and fresh herbs. Dark fruit, too. Lot of flavorful. Serious red.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Fèlsina 2017 Chianti Classico Riserva Berardenga (with 70,000 bottles made) is a rich and sultry expression of pure Sangiovese with dark fruit intensity and a beautiful contouring of spice, leather and tar. This wine hits the intensity nail on the head without the overt over-ripeness that we saw in many of its peers from this hot and dry vintage. I would not recommend an especially long drinking window, but I can enthusiastically recommend this authentic taste of Chianti Classico for near or medium-term drinking. The Riserva ages in large Slavonian oak casks for 12 months.
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Wine Enthusiast
This has a shy nose that eventually reveals whiffs of ripe black-skinned fruit, leather, forest floor and balsamic hints of eucalyptus. Showing the heat of the vintage, the medium-bodied palate is already somewhat evolved, offering dried black cherry, incense and sandalwood alongside dusty rather drying tannins.
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In the 17 published editions of Gambero Rosso, Italy’s acclaimed wine rating guide, this Tuscan estate has won the coveted Tre Bicchieri (Three Glasses) award 17 times. They are a favorite of IWM, Robert Parker, and any Tuscan wine enthusiast. And they did it by revealing the true essence of the Sangiovese grape and the Chianti Classico terroir. What this tells us is that this is a winery of consistency, producing Chianti Classicos with the ability to age up to two decades for the right vintage. Much like the great Brunello estates, it is the marriage of an ideal microclimate and the uncompromising commitment of a dedicated staff that educes the full character of Tuscany's noble grape, even in off vintages. Even more importantly, this is a producer who creates compelling wines and releases them at contained prices, making Felsina accessible to all wine enthusiasts and one of Italy's greatest values!
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.