Poggerino Chianti Classico Bugialla Riserva 2016
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This is pure, well-defined and intense, with cherry, black currant, violet, graphite and stone flavors fused to a solid structure. Balanced and resonant, persisting on the fruit- and mineral-tinged aftertaste. Drink now through 2035.
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Brother and sister Piero and Benedetta Lanza have been managing Poggerino since 1988. With 12ha in Radda-in-Chianti, they craft the Riserva from 45-year-old vines. The wine is wild-fermented in concrete tanks, macerated for 55 days then aged in large Slavonian oak casks. It opens slowly, divulging rosehip, cherry blossom and liquorice spice. Racy acidity cuts through dark cherry fruit while layered, silky tannins build throughout the palate. This is more substantial than it appears, and is just a bit heady in alcohol.
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2017-
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Upon tasting Poggerino’s wines for the first time on a trip to Italy as a 21 year old student travelling abroad, Charles Lazzara, the founder and president of Volio, was hooked. More than five years later, Poggerino became Volio’s very first producer, setting the bar admirably high for all those who followed. Poggerino's wines are produced organically, exclusively from their own grapes, and every step of wine production and marketing is carried out by the owners themselves.
The owner, Piero Lanza, believes in an almost fanatical attention to vineyard work. His goal is to set the stage for healthy vines, and ultimately, beautiful wines, by caring for the land holistically, in rhythm with the seasons, and as custodian for its natural biodiversity and richness. The results are healthy grapes with the highest degree of concentration and ripeness, perfectly reflective of their unique Tuscan terroir. The wines produced combine a richness and concentration of fruit, acidity, and tannin—indispensable to the wine's longevity—while their soft, ripe tannins allow the wine to be enjoyed early in its life.
Poggerino's 12 hectares of vineyards (almost all Sangiovese with one hectare of Merlot) face south-southwest and sit at 400-500 meters above sea level. The high elevation, direct sun exposure, and rocky "galestro" soil, providing optimal drainage for the vines’ roots, all combine to produce world-class Sangiovese. More recent plantings of Sangiovese on the estate have produced smaller grapes in smaller clusters, resulting in more concentrated sweetness and a higher skin to juice ratio. The resulting heftier tannins have lent themselves beautifully to Poggerino’s structured, refined style of winemaking and each vintage reveals new depths of Poggerino's potential.
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.