San Fabiano Calcinaia Chianti Classico 2008
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Wine Spectator
Chewy and powerful, with lots of fruit and toasty oak. This needs time to chill on the palate, but there is so much going on. Offers an aftertaste of coffee and ripe berry. Best after 2010.
Other Vintages
2016-
James
Suckling
Guido Serio and his wife Isa arrived at San Fabiano in 1983 and immediately made investments aimed at producing quality wines. They have gradually made progress over the time, renewing the vineyards, the wine-making chain, the bottling and the cellar for refining the wine in wooden barrels.
San Fabiano Calcinaia produces wines appreciated all over the world: Chianti Classico vintage, Chianti Classico Riserva "Cellole," Cerviolo Rosso Igt, Cabernet sauvignon Igt, Casa Boschino Igt, Cerviolo Bianco, a small production of the traditional Vin Santo of Chianti Classico, and of Grappa of Chianti Classico "Cellole," as well as, of course, the perfumed and fragrant extra virgin olive oil.
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.