Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A youthful wine full of fruit, showing intense fresh roses, black cherries and plums. The generous nose is supported by a lush, supple palate with medium body. Velvety tannins with a chalkier finish and refreshing length.
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Wine Enthusiast
The nose has the floral, slightly crisp sweetness of mandarin blossom, rose petal, vanilla and new leather. The palate opens with a similar feel, as fresh bing cherries and sliced oranges come first, before tangy, iron-rich soil and dark chocolate take over. Very finely grained, carefully stitched tannins create a silken mouthfeel.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 92% Sangiovese, 4% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, the Marchesi Antinori 2022 Chianti Classico Riserva Tenuta Tignanello Marchese Antinori is a wine of energy, brightness and sweet tannins. It shows that Tignanello signature, given that fruit comes from the same estate as the flagship Tignanello. The oak aging comes through, but it remains balanced against the primary character of the wine. It is not excessive on any front, and it shows elegant mineral notes to close.
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Vinous
The 2022 Chianti Classico Riserva Marchese Antinori is terrific. Soft and pliant, with fabulous balance, the 2022 is a total charmer. Antinori's style today, one that favors a lighter hand than in the past, works so well here. Succulent red cherry, spice, new leather and rose petal are front and center. All of this fruit is from Antinori's Tignanello property. It captures all the essence of site in a more approachable style that is undeniably appealing.
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Decanter
Notably ripe in this warm vintage, with abundant dark cherry, dried currant and blackberry fruit, notes of toast and spice from barrel ageing, and firm, bone-dry tannins shaping the palate. It's generous but maintains its shape and profile admirably; a fuller and more powerful Riserva than many, it will benefit from a year or two to settle, but should age well in bottle. Good length and balance, with just a trace of heat on the finish.
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Wine Spectator
Full of savory, umami flavors, this red evokes earth, leather, sweet spice, cherry, plum and Szechuan peppercorn notes. Firm and dry, with broad tannins and a lingering kernel of cherry. Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2027 through 2040.
The Antinori family has been committed to the art of winemaking for over six centuries since 1385 when Giovanni di Piero Antinori became a member of the "Arte Fiorentina dei Vinattieri," the Florentine Winemaker’s Guild. All throughout its history, twenty-six generations long, the Antinori family has managed the business directly making innovative and sometimes bold decisions while upholding the utmost respect for traditions and the environment.
Today, Albiera Antinori is the president of Marchesi Antinori with the continuous close support of her two sisters, Allegra and Alessia, all actively involved in first person in the business. Their father, Marchese Piero Antinori, is the current Honorary President of the company. Tradition, passion, and intuition are the three driving forces that led Marchesi Antinori to establish itself as one of the most important winemakers of elite Italian wine. The company is one of the Founding Members of the "Associazione Marchi Storici d’Italia," an association for the protection, support and promotion of Italian historical brands.
The family’s historical heritage lies in their estates in Tuscany and Umbria, however over the years they have invested in many other areas, both in Italy and abroad, well known for producing high quality wine, opening new opportunities to appreciate and develop unique new terroirs with great winemaking potential. Each vintage, each plot of land, each new idea to be advanced is a new beginning, a new pursuit for achieving higher quality standards. As Marchese Piero loves to say "Ancient family roots play an important part in our philosophy but they have never hindered our innovative spirit."
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.