~ The new cantina Antinori barrique aging cellar ~
Stylish, sleek, modern and international. Such is the new aging cellar on the Antinori Estate in Chianti Classico. No, I’m not describing the subject of today’s article, but I easily could have been.
Antinori is a well established trailblazing pioneer of Italian wine. I get it. It’s important and we are all in his debt for crafting gems like Tignanello, Solaia and Guado al Tasso; just to name a few. However, in order to make wines like those, there has to be other wines of lesser pedigree. Wines that are easily consumed and brought to market quickly. After all, this is a business and businesses need cash flow. I get that too. And that brings us to today’s wine.
~ Manicured vineyards on the Antinori estate in Chianti Classico ~
The 2013 Antinori “Villa Antinori” Chianti Classico Riserva is a well made, solid wine completely in the international style. Smooth, round, with no rough edges. It’s a polished blend of 85% Sangiovese and 15% Cabernet/Merlot that was vinified in stainless steel (for Sangiovese) and barrique (for Cabernet and Merlot). Aging after blending takes place in Hungarian barrique. (Is it a barrique if it’s not French? Hmmm)
Deep ruby to violet in the glass, this has aromas of toast, blackberry and vanilla. On the palate, it’s smooth, with relatively low acidity and lots of black plum fruit spiked with hints of vanilla and a bit of spicy pepper. Medium bodied, it’s a wonderful job given the ample production level and a wine that many people will enjoy. But I expect more from a wine carrying the Riserva designation. This falls a bit short in the complexity, age-ability and typicity departments. Riserva’s should be bigger, more serious wines. This drinks like a nicely styled Chianti Classico. In that realm, the slightly elevated price reduces the value somewhat. 88 points about $25. Disclosure: This bottle was an importer provided sample.
~ The wine was very drinkable with my beef and pork stuffed peppers with spicy tomato sauce ~
The vintage above is not completely released as of this writing. But past vintages are widely available. Want to find this wine? Click here: Wine Searcher
Salute!
Hi John,
I’m with you. As the witticism in Tuscany goes: “Antinori never makes a bad wine”.
Partially true, but of course they make their share of ‘daily wines’ (not a negative) as well – this being one of them.
But for these wines, I agree with you here, they’ve lost me as a customer a few years back.
In my view, their pricing is not correct (in this lower segment) – this is the case in my view since the release of the 2011 vintage.
As of that vintage, their Marchesi Antinori riserva got an “upgrade” and officially became Tignanello’s second wine (made only with fruit from Tignanello vines, whereas before, it consisted of fruit from Tignanello but also from other vineyards. This other fruit now goes into the Villa Antinori Riserva if I’m not mistaken).
In order to reflect this “upgrade” (Tignanello is as of vintage 2011 also explicitly printed on the front label of the Marchesi wine – http://www.antinori.it/en/26-generazioni/tignanello/marchese-antinori-2011), the pricing for this bottling also increased significantly. And I think all ‘lower’ wines at that moment also received a bump in price, in order not to have too big a gap in pricing…
For the Marchesi wine, we are talking (here in Europe) about a +25% increase between vintage 2010 and 2011 for what is essentially the same wine imho. I still have bottles of both – I purchased the 2011 with the sole intention of serving it blind alongside his 2010 brother to see if it truly is 25% better (that’s my evil streak getting the upper hand here 🙂 )
Thanks a lot for your interesting articles. Do keep up the good work!
Steven,
Thanks for reading and commenting. I agree with you. The Tenute Marchese has always been an excellent wine and you make my point. That wine, as a Riserva, is head and shoulders above the Villa Antinori reviewed here. Is that a good thing for the denomination? I don’t think so. I hadn’t noticed the Tignanello branding that you linked, that’s interesting and not surprising. Another wine I love and rarely see is the Badia a Passignano which is now Gran Selezione. I remember when he made Chianti Classico from that estate. That wine was a great value.
Thanks again for the kind words and stick around. For sure there will be lots of great content coming.
I think large organizations value consistency and this wine reflects that. It’s designed to be consistent, no surprises. Having said that Badia a Passignano is truly outstanding. Beautiful vineyard, beautiful cellar, beautiful wine. While a trained wine critic or somm might not agree, Badia might be Antinori’s best wine.
Steve,
I agree regarding the consistency. Perhaps it’s not meant for a more experienced palate and that’s ok. My only issue with it is that it runs the risk of tainting the CCR designation. I also agree on Badia. I’d like to taste that blind against Tignanello. Against Solaia, it wouldn’t be a valid comparison.