Chianti Classico Riserva "Marchese" Tignanello DOCG

This is Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG, an historic wine of the Antinori cellars, and since the 2011 vintage it has been produced with grapes drawn exclusively from the Tignanello estate. Antinori describes it as made almost entirely with

Sangiovese, with a small percentage of other complementary varieties; the estate itself lies in the heart of Chianti Classico between the Greve and Pesa river valleys, spanning around 319 hectares of which roughly 165 are under vine, on calcareous rocky soils of alberese marl limestone and marl derived from Pliocene marine marlstone rich in limestone and schist.

In the cellar the freshly harvested grapes are destemmed and gently crushed, and the must goes into stainless steel tanks where alcoholic fermentation completes in about a week. Maceration on the skins runs about ten days with very gentle pump-overs and délestage, and malolactic fermentation occurs spontaneously, finishing by year end.

The blended wine then spends approximately one year in French and Hungarian oak barriques before bottling and a further twelve months in bottle ahead of release — a Riserva shaped for freshness and detail rather than weight.