Friday Sips

Many of us are all old enough to remember Dr. J from back in the day when he went up for a dunk and hit his 24 inch afro on the rim then came down and proceeded to put his prize-winning coif back into place. For all of you who are a bit young, there's always YouTube!

Why the correlation between the basketball legend and this wine?? Old School Class is the simple answer. Renzo Marinai is a steadfast traditionalist Chianti producer based in Panzano/Greve in the Classico zone and only large botti are utilized for his perennial award-winning Chianti Classico. 2009 provided much plushness to go along with all of the savory qualities that classically-produced Chianti should possess. Combining plum aromas with stone fruit, smoked herbs and dusty earth, this rather sculpted Italian red is intensely flavored with lovely amare aspects, fine structure and impressive persistence. An utter a steal for 20 bucks that if you love Tuscany’s old school without a wicker basket around the fiasco bottle.

Another ultra-traditionalist, probably the best way for me to describe the idiosyncratic current proprietor of this historic estate, Principessa Coralia Pignatelli della Leonessa, would be to tell you to listen to the refrain on the fade of the track “Roses” from Outkast’s The Love Below album. Unfortunately I can’t quote it in the weekly features so you’ll have to go find it out for yourselves, Karen insists that I keep it to PG-13.

Say what you will about her eccentricities, she produces some of the greatest wines of Tuscany. These aren’t critical darling wines. Instead they are wines that reflect the power and soul of the southernmost Classico village, Castelnuovo Berardenga. No small barrels used here, this wine exudes serious detail of origin and will flatten most producers’ Riserva versions. One whiff of the wonderfully pure scents of wild flowers, sage, black cherry, pekoe and tobacco will have you reminiscing about your last visit to Tuscany. The suave and sultry depth and concentration carry nicely into the mouth as it offers up chewy, flavorful tones with superb spine as well as finishing up dark, earth-laden and long. Stupendous now and through the end of decade.

The hottest Chianti wines out there could be compared to Fashion Week in New York, debuting which designs will make the most impeccable statement. It could also be modeled after the NFL’s version of fashion week where players model and recommend their favorite firearms to brandish while wearing a $1500+ suit. Either way, things and tastes change and even at the established level, like with Fonterutoli, changes were made to make a well-known estate improve.

In the 90s this estate took it too far with the use of new oak but recently they have had an epiphany (as have many Tuscan producers) over the beauty and differences of each respective village’s terroir within the Classico zone. Gone is the hopped-up, heavy-handed, sell-out version that this wine was for too long. In is a version which respects the virtues of what previous generations made but done with modern techniques all while expressing the land of Castellina. Shapely scents of red and black cherry, mint, mineral, sage and red licorice define the aromas while satiny flavors and silky tannins seduce the mouth and flow over to a piquant finish that is elevated and very lingering. Drink through the end of the decade.