Winemaker Notes
San Marcellino displays beautiful structure, with vibrant, elegant tannins accompanied by harmonious savory accents. It’s an extremely well balanced, persistent wine.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
A selection made from the San Marcellino vineyard which includes a plot of 50-year-old vines. The soil here is extremely rocky, composed mainly of alberese - a hard marl rich in calcium carbonate which tends to give deeply coloured wines. There is a lot to love in this wine. Enticing red and black currants are demurely nuanced with toast and spice. Ample and mouth filling without being heavy, the palate is abundantly layered with velvety textured tannins. Purity of fruit is preserved throughout and this finishes with mouth-watering salinity.
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Wine & Spirits
Marco Ricasoli’s grandfather planted the San Marcellino vineyard in 1966, and the vines range in age from 20 to 50 years. They impart a deep concentration that feels especially rich and layered in the warm 2015 vintage. The wine opens with bold cherry and blackberry flavors that take on nuances of tobacco, black olive and dried thyme. The tannins are ripe and chewy, holding the flavors firmly together as the wine progresses to a long, elegant finish.
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Wine Spectator
A broad, dense red, with ripe plum, black cherry and blackberry flavors, framed by vibrant acidity and burly tannins. Earth, sanguine and tobacco accents chime in. All the components are proportioned correctly, but this will take some time to integrate fully. Fine length and freshness.
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James Suckling
A balanced, refined red with plum, cherry and chocolate character, as well as walnut. It’s medium-bodied with juicy fruit and a savory finish. Complex and pretty.
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.