Frescobaldi’s Tenuta Perano Riserva vineyard in Gaiole.
Last year’s preview of the 2021 annata inspired great expectations for the Riserva and Gran Selezione categories of Chianti Classico, exhibiting great depth of fruit, balancing acidity and alcohol, and confident rather than arrogant tannins. This year’s tastings confirm that scaling Chianti Classico’s ladder in the 2021 vintage is well worth it.
Despite the challenges of spring frost followed by a hot, dry summer, conditions in the crucial period leading up to harvest seemed to work in symbiosis with this. The combination of slightly stressed vines and relatively cooler temperatures in September encouraged slow ripening, according to Alessandro Campatelli at Riecine.
‘Both technical [sugar] and phenolic ripening were close to perfect,’ he asserted, saying that the period from veraison to harvest lasted between 37-45 days. He compared this to 2022, which was 28-35 days, and 2020, which was barely over two weeks. Of course, these numbers are specific to Riecine’s high altitude vineyards in Gaiole.
In Radda, Poggerino’s Piero Lanza also points to ideal temperatures during September. ‘We had significant differences – early mornings as low as 3°C and days between 28-30°C.’ He maintains that this favoured great acidity, perfumes and polyphenolic complexity, all of which translated to the wines in the glass.
See the score table for Michaela’s tasting notes and scores for 180 new Chianti Classico…
Source : https://www.decanter.com/premium/chianti-classico-riserva-new-releases-in-2024-528218/
