Volpaia Chianti Classico 2007
Volpaia Chianti Classico 2007
Sangiovese starts at Chianti Classico – it’s usually everyone’s first introduction of this grape. The first definition of a wine-area called Chianti was made in 1716, with the original area dictated by Cosimo III de’ Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany – which is still considered the heart of the modern “Chianti Classico” sub-region.
There are 8 separate Chianti sub-regions, including Chianti Classico (see Chianti map on Wikipedia). The Chianti of today is nothing like Chianti of the 1700’s, or even the mouth-puckering, mass produced stuff in the straw-covered bottles found in cheap pizza joints in the 70’s and 80’s.
The Volpaia is placed in Slavonian oak barrels, to be aged for 14 months; after bottling the wine is aged in the bottle for at least 10 months before release. It is made from 90% Sangiovese and a 10% combination of merlot and syrah. It needed a lot of aeration, and probably would benefit from being opened for more than 3 hours. It is a food-friendly Chianti, but may be hard to drink on its own.
It was consistently rated between 3 and 4, with an average score of 3.55. It was not rated as the best wine of the evening by any of our 20 tasters. This is a classic Chianti – it could use another 2 – 4 years of aging to mellow out the tannins, but still expresses nice acid balance. This wine needs to be paired with pizza or pasta, or maybe pork.
We sourced this wine from the Venice Wine & Coffee Company, Venice FL, and was purchased for $21.
