Winemaker Notes
#13 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2024
Ruby red, with fine hue and intensity. Spicy nose with notes of blossoms, wild berries, and mineral tones. Notes of spice and crisp fruit on the palate, with self-confident but supple tannins, and impressive structure and breed.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
The core of cherry, pomegranate and raspberry fruit is detailed with Tuscan scrub, iron, vanilla and tobacco notes as this intense red builds in power to the expansive conclusion, where its fruit, mineral and wild herb flavors converge. Shows fine balance and length; this just needs time to absorb the oak. Best from 2027 through 2043.
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James Suckling
A well-composed, balanced and refined riserva with aromas of cherries, dried thyme, bark and warm spices. It’s medium-bodied with fine tannins. Dense and textured on the palate, with fine structure and poise. Focused and well defined, with a long, flavorful, vivid finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
The nose is defined by the tartness of dried cherries, dried cranberries, hibiscus, blood orange and wild strawberries. Strawberries and raspberries headline a sweeter palate, but a fresh salinity provides balance, and sturdy tannins structure a hot finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
In the bottle with the black label, the Fèlsina 2021 Chianti Classico Riserva Berardenga is shaped by ripe fruit, slate-like mineral notes and toasted oak. There is a charred element of campfire ash or spent ember that surrounds a core of blackberry and black cherry. The oak element is a little too much, especially at this young stage in the wine's life.
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.