2019 Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva

Here's a wine I highly recommend. Packaged with a black label, the Volpaia 2019 Chianti Classico Riserva is certified organic Sangiovese from a site with sandstone soils that rises up to a cool 600 meters above sea level in Radda in Chianti. These well-priced results are perfumed and vibrant with black fruit, crushed stone and wild rose. I especially appreciate those drying mineral tones that match the wine's elegant, mid-weight mouthfeel. Some 60,000 bottles were released.

Taking on a somewhat darker expression, the 2019 Chianti Classico Riserva is floral and concentrated with candied blackcurrant, lavender, and graphitic mineral earth. It is full bodied without being weighted and has finely polished tannins, a stony texture, and a warming finish. On the back end, a delicate amaro-like finish emerges, with hints of tea leaf and iron earth. Allow for another year or so and drink over the following 10-15 years. Located just to the north of Radda, Volpaia is a walled village dating back to the 12th century. The estate owns 46 hectares of vines, at elevations between 450 and 600 meters above sea level. As a founding member of the Chianti League (Lega del Chianti) in 1250, they have been associated and included in the territory of Radda. The ownership and operations are run today by Carlo Mascheroni and Giovannella Stianti Mascheroni along with their children, Nicolo and Federica. Lorenzo Regoli has held the position as winemaker and vineyard manager since 2000, having previously worked at Livia Felluga in Friuli in the northeast.

The 2019 Chianti Classico Riserva is a dark, brooding wine. Black cherry, leather, licorice, incense, spice and tobacco give the 2019 its decidedly somber, inward personality. There's good depth and yet the 2019 is marked by somewhat angular contours that leave it feeling a touch a rustic.