Visited Chiappini in late 2024 on my big visit to Tuscany. Had never heard of the winery, but loved the story and really enjoyed the wines we had there. On our tour, heard about this mythical bottle that received 100 points and was a turning point for the winery.
Was lucky enough to find a bottle on K&L auction and saved it for a special occasion.
Brought it to dinner at Il Tegamino in Carmel.
Opened it and decided against decanting.
For some reason, this tastes fully mature to me, in contrast to some of the recent notes here. I wonder if it's bottle variation.
Picked up a lot of dark blue fruit, dark berries, dried cherry, balsamic, leather, tobacco notes.
I did enjoy the balsamic on the nose, didn't feel overwhelming, but maybe a little higher VA than I would have expected.
The wine paired very well with the food, especially the eggplant and gnocchi and elevated the experience.
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the wine, but felt like it drank more mature than I would have expected.
I look forward to trying this again and seeing how different the next bottle will be.
92 points.
by rnjbond