Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This is intense, with its velvety texture embracing flavors of black cherry, blackberry, violet and earth, plus a hint of chocolate. Offers density but also an effortless feel, with a long, fruit-stained finish. Harmonious. Decant now or give this a few more years of aging.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A saturated red /purple hue, the 2021 Chianti Classico Filetta Di Lamole is spicy and deep with aromas of black cherry, toasted rosemary, pine, and violets. It offers medium to full-bodied richness, with ripe tannins, a bright spine of acidity, concentrated ripe fruit, and elegant savory notes on its long finish. Coming from the higher elevations, it has a more vibrant feel within the range from Fontodi.
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Vinous
The 2021 Chianti Classico Filetta di Lamole is fabulous. In fact, it is the best edition of this wine yet, as it marries all the aromatic intensity and energy of Lamole with an extra kick of fruit and mid-palate pliancy. Dark red cherry, plum, spice, rose petal, crushed rocks and herbs build into the layered finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The organic Fontodi 2021 Chianti Classico Filetta di Lamole offers punchy, lifted fruit with almost carbonic-like tones of fresh cherry and raspberry. For those of you interested in cool-climate, high-elevation Lamole fruit that tends to be more transparent and fresher overall, this wine underlines that contemporary style.
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.