Winemaker Notes
It goes well with all meats in general and with cheeses. Intense ruby red, elegant, with notes of black cherry and raspberry well blended with ripe fruit. Soft, enveloping in the mouth, with soft tannins and good body. Acidity is present, but well balanced by tannic richness. Long finish, with an aftertaste that tends towards sweet licorice.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Mainly Sangiovese. Has an enticing nose with ripe red and black fruits and a floral perfume. Firm tannins but a lovely texture and understated oak. Plenty of future.
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James Suckling
Fascinating aromas of blueberries, orange peel and watermelon following through to a full body. Round and juicy tannins and a flavorful finish. Lots of toasted oak showing now, but it should come out beautifully with bottle age. Made from organically grown grapes
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made with organic fruit, the 2015 Carmignano Villa di Capezzana is a blend of 80% Sangiovese and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon (aged in tonneaux for 12 months). This is the flagship wine made by this estate, and it has been in production since 1925. This warm vintage opens to abundant fruit with black cherry and blackberry at the front. Softer tones of spice, leather and tobacco fill in the rear. You get great value in this easy-drinking mid-weight Tuscan red.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Including 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, the Sangiovese-dominated 2015 Carmignano Villa Di Capezzana was aged all in French oak and held in bottle for a short period prior to release. This spicy, peppery, and black cherry-fruited effort is medium-bodied, has a round, nicely textured mouthfeel, light tannins, and a good finish. It's an outstanding blend that should evolve for a decade.
Disenchanted with Italian winemaking laws in the 1970s, a few rebellious Tuscan winemakers decided to get creative. Instead of following tradition, to bottle Sangiovese by itself, they started blending it with international varieties, namely Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah in differing proportions and with amazing success. However, some Tuscan Blends don’t even include Sangiovese. Somm Secret—The suffix –aia in Italian modifies a word in much the same way –y acts in English. For example, a place with many stones (sassi) becomes Sassicaia. While not all Super Tuscan producer names end in –aia, they all share a certain coy nomenclature.
With recorded history of red wine production since the Middle Ages, Carmignano is a small, ancient, central Italian subregion ten miles northwest of Florence. Carmignano grows Sangiovese with great success in low-lying hills of 160 to 650 feet above sea level.
It is the only Tuscan DOC that required the inclusion of (up to 20%) Cabernet Sauvignon in its Sangiovese-based wines years before it became popular in the Super Tuscan blends.