Antinori Tignanello 2018 | Magnum (150cl)
Antinori's Tignanello is produced exclusively from the vineyard of the same name, a parcel of some 140 acres (57 hectares) with limestone-rich soils and a southwestern exposure. Only bottled in favourable vintages, Tignanello, was the first Sangiovese wine to be aged in small oak barrels, the first modern red wine to use such non-traditional varieties as Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, and among the first red wines from the Chianti Classico area to be produced without white grapes. The wine, originally called "Chianti Classico Riserva vigneto Tignanello" (a Chianti Classico Riserva from the Tignanello vineyard), was produced for the first time from a single vineyard parcel in 1970, when the blend contained 20% of Canaiolo and 5% of Trebbiano and Malvasia, both white grapes, and the wine aged in small oak barrels. In 1971 it became a Tuscan red table wine rather than a Chianti Classico, and was called Tignanello. In the 1975 vintage the percentage of white grapes was definitively eliminated from the blend and ever since 1982, the blend has been the one currently used. Tignanello 2017 is remarkable on the nose for its complexity. Notes of ripe red fruits such as cherries preserved in spirits, sour cherries, raspberries and plums complement delicate spicy aromas of cloves and liquorice; sweet balsamic notes of mint and chocolate complete its complex bouquet. On the palate it is rich, mouth-filling and vibrant with supple velvety tannins. Its lengthy finish and persistent aftertaste bring back aromatic notes perceived on the nose.
