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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 89.2 pts. and median of 89 pts. in 140 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by PaulusLoZebra on 2/8/2024 & rated 94 points: Another wonderful bottle of L202/15, this was decanted 90 minutes before dinner in a narrow decanter (so not maximum air). The wine is wonderfully perfumed, with luxurious ripe dark fruits, leather, earth and exotic spices. It has nice acidity and fine tannins, and is a silky, smooth, balanced food wine. Outstanding QPR. Drink to 2030+. (371 views) | | | Tasted by rsbeck on 2/1/2024 & rated 92 points: Popped, poured, consumed over next 90 minutes. Similar to previous, developing well, should continue to cruise effortlessly in the cellar. (360 views) | | | Tasted by PaulusLoZebra on 12/23/2023 & rated 93 points: This wine (L202/15) is now in its peak drinking window, the wine is sublime. Decanted one hour before dinner, this is a great expression of Sangiovese, and of the Monsanto house style: balanced and smooth, savory, with firm acidity and biggish but integrated tannins, perfect with a big dinner, with red and dark fruits, and a long finish. Classic CCR, and a great QPR. (412 views) | | | Tasted by dgcaldwell on 2/13/2023 & rated 89 points: Definitely decant. Needed two hours. Good structure and acid. (930 views) | | | Tasted by PaulusLoZebra on 12/31/2022 & rated 92 points: Decanted for 90 minutes. When I first looked at and tasted this wine, I was shocked by its youth, tension and vibrancy, and I immediately checked to see if I had taken the wrong vintage off the shelf. Well, it is the 2012, but it’s lotto 203/15, and it is different from the previous bottlings. It’s higher-toned, less dense and with almost no sweetness on the mid-palate. It has fabulous aromatics, tremendous structure, and should drink well to 2035. A succulent, balanced, delicious food wine. Outstanding QPR. (990 views) | | | Tasted by deetz on 11/2/2022 & rated 92 points: Really comes unto itself after an hour or so decanting. Aromas of tomato leaf, terracotta pot, rhubarb, Rainier cherries, charcoal, sweet herbs, dried roses, decaying wood, dark chocolate.
Palate a bit austere with a hint of bitterness at first but that quickly smoothed over. Medium+/high acidity, taut tannins, a lot more cherry on the palate, some cocao.
Drinking well, but still tight upon first opening. This should continue to develop for the rest of the decade. It's hard to imagine many other wines delivering this QPR, especially with this level of ageability. (1043 views) | | | Tasted by PaulusLoZebra on 10/6/2022 & rated 92 points: Two hour decant. Another fine bottle of the L202/15, this seemed slightly lighter than the previous two bottles, otherwise the same. Savory, complex, very aromatic, silky, balanced, medium+ body, long finish. Excellent QPR. Drink to 2028? (1168 views) | | | Tasted by rsbeck on 7/20/2022 & rated 91 points: Popped, poured, consumed over next 90 minutes. Very solid traditional style Chianti with nice balance, reasonable complexity, and an inviting finish. Drinking well and should cruise in the cellar. (1415 views) | | | Tasted by Boda on 6/24/2022 & rated 96 points: The wine was spectacular, great fruit, soft tannins, beautifully balanced. None of the bitterness of Sangiovese. This presented like a super Tuscan that would sell for a much higher price. (1238 views) | | | Tasted by merryberry on 6/5/2022 & rated 92 points: Aged cherry red. Strawberry pie, mulled spice, and forest nose. Medium bodied, raspberries, cherries for days, fully integrated tannins, a touch of heat, baking spices, and medium to long perceptively sweet finish. Outstanding. (1306 views) | | | Tasted by rocknroller on 2/16/2022 & rated 91 points: Pizza Night Italiano (Matt and Brenda's): Dark red color. PNP, drank a glass over 90 minutes. Brief note. This was quite savory, red fruited, deep, anise, gravel, iron, plenty of earth. In a good spot. (1864 views) | | | Tasted by Josch48 on 12/10/2021 & rated 91 points: Transparent Garnet color with initial dried earth integrated within the red plummy fruit in the nose. Sweet, medium level extracted delicious fruit with sweet oak accents on the palate, with tannins still in force but not overpowering, along with an overall elevating acidity. Cocoa and dark chocolate notes mingle with velvety Sangiovese grape skin flavor on the finish along with a pleasant inner lip astringent pucker.
One cannot ever equate the unequivocal anticipated consistency of this wine without the addition of multiple additional superlatives for this producer. Predictably enjoyable and satisfying. This vintage has both immediate pleasure and the promise of further development. (1954 views) | | | Tasted by PaulusLoZebra on 11/25/2021 & rated 93 points: Decanted two hours before dinner and then aerated upon serving, we served three bottles, two of L202/15 and one if L203/15. However, these bottles were blended together in the decanter, so I don’t have notes by lot number. A great, balanced silky wine from Monsanto’s 50th anniversary CCR, this has a medium-dark, translucent Sangiovese color, with musky cherry aromas, a floral quality, earth, spice, tobacco, leather, a medium+ body, a sweet mid-palate, great acidity, firm tannins, and a long, succulent, bittersweet finish. Drink to 2030+. Excellent QPR. (1717 views) | | | Tasted by CWilliam on 9/17/2021: needs 1 hour decant (notes from PNP and sitting open for a few hours).
Black / red color. Pine resin, black cherry, sweet cherry and tobacco on nose. Palate had similar flavor profile to nose - medium body, medium acidity / tannins (on finish only) and long finish. Gained weight and complexity with air-time. 91+/- (1777 views) | | | Tasted by forceberry on 6/7/2021 & rated 89 points: A blend of Sangiovese (90%), Canaiolo and Colorino. Fermented and macerated with the skins for 18-20 days in stainless steel tanks. Aged for approximately 18 months in French oak barriques and 500-liter demi-muids. 14% alcohol.
Youthful, luminous and moderately translucent cherry red color. Ripe, clean and very classically styled CC nose with aromas of fresh red fruits, some ripe cherries, a little bit of licorice, light meaty tones, a hint of darker forest fruits and a touch of tobacco. The wine is firm, dry and noticeably bitter on the palate with a medium body and savory flavors of fresh cranberries and pronounced sour cherry bitterness, some dark forest fruits, a little bit of tobacco, light gravelly mineral tones, a hint of wood spice and a touch of licorice root. High acidity with gently grippy medium tannins. The high alcohol lends a bit of warmth to the palate. The finish is firm, long and slightly warm with flavors of pronounced sour cherry bitterness, tart lingonberries, some savory wood spice, a little bit of ferrous blood, light notes of tobacco and a hint of ripe dark berries.
A nice, fresh and gastronomic Chianti Classico that performs very gracefully despite the rather high alcohol%. The overall feel here was surprisingly bitter; for sure sour cherry bitterness is to be expected from a Sangiovese, but in our tasting 12 Chianti Classicos, this wine was noticeably more bitter than any other wine we had. I can imagine this kind of pronounced bitterness can be a distracting element for people less familiar with Chianti Classico, so be warned. Other than that, the wine is a terrific food wine with well-proportioned fruit, bright acidity and firm yet unobtrusive tannins. Seeing how youthful the wine still is, I can imagine it will continue to age nicely for years more. Priced according to its quality at 23€. (2661 views) | | | Tasted by miadelt on 5/2/2021 & rated 90 points: No rush to drink this and would benefit from a good decant. (1941 views) | | | Tasted by OaktownRush on 3/14/2021 & rated 90 points: Fresh tilled earth, a combo of fresh and dried herbs, sage, fresh oregano, ripe cherry, nice finish with a touch of balsamic. Good with a nice sense of refinement, though missing a touch of density and drive in the mid-palate, but a classy and lengthy finish.
Very good, though the other vintages I’ve had have been better, features a bit more drive and a touch more complexity (1949 views) | | | Tasted by PaulusLoZebra on 1/5/2021 & rated 93 points: Another great bottle of the Monsanto CCR 2012 (L202/15), it is in a beautiful spot right now, still is far from its peak, but too delicious to resist. Decanted for two hours, it has a deeper, darker core than the Monsanto from many other vintages. It has wonderful aromas of sweet cherry, earth, dark spices, tobacco and leather. The wine is all about balance, with a medium+ body, excellent acid, and silky tannins,. Its classic structure shines throughout, from first aroma to final, long aftertaste of bittersweet cherry. I drank too many bottles of this when they were young, and only in the past few years have I realized how good the wine is. Drink to 2030++. (2065 views) | | | Tasted by jayrod on 11/21/2020 & rated 91 points: Decanted for one hour
Wish I would have decanted a little longer, wine started slow but starting rocking when we had it with hunters chicken. Dark cherries exploded with tobacco and spice accents. Tannins were well integrated.
Very enjoyable (1915 views) | | | Tasted by PaulusLoZebra on 6/20/2020 & rated 93 points: Triple decanted one hour before dinner, with a medium and translucent Sangiovese color. This bottle of the 2012 Monsanto CCR is excellent, with musky cherry aromas, a floral quality, earth, spice, tobacco, and leather. It is a balanced, silky wine with a medium+ body, a sweet mid-palate, great acidity, firm tannins, and a long, succulent, bittersweet finish. Drink to 2030+. Excellent QPR. (2084 views) | | | Tasted by sleepyhaus on 5/30/2020: Drinking well now. This doesn't feel like a particularly strong vintage of this wine, but still very solid. I'll drink these over the next 2-3 years. (2038 views) | | | Tasted by Announcer on 5/10/2020 & rated 85 points: It was a little better than "ok" when consumed with pizza, but without food it was a bit of a dud. My wife thought it tasted like "barnyard", I did not get that, I thought the dominate note was just acid. Might be past its prime. Cork was very dry, broke in half upon opening, even though it has always been stored on its side. (2100 views) | | | Tasted by Eugenedinapoli on 5/7/2020: CV. Evolving to the darker side of the flavor spectrum. Mushrooms, sous bois, tar, stewed dark fruits. Structure, tannins and acidity are solid. (1809 views) | | | Tasted by wtianseter on 4/20/2020 & rated 89 points: After my first bottle, I expected more, though still a nice wine. Fruit forward and nice acidity. Finish is quite nice with slightly tart prickly tannin on the finish. Basically a good Riserva with likely another 4-5 years of prime drinking. I'm hoping the rest of my bottles are more like the first. (1825 views) | | | Tasted by IndyTom on 3/23/2020 & rated 88 points: Very nice. Decanted, but didn't need to as it had virtually no sediment. Nice cherry fruits hidden within a medium body. Better with food. (1725 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Walter Speller
JancisRobinson.com (3/4/2016)
(Castello di Monsanto, Riserva Chianti Classico Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Gary Walsh
The WINEFRONT (11/30/2015)
(Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva) Subscribe to see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, Chianti Classico 2013 & 2012: The Luck of the Draw (Sep 2015) (9/1/2015)
(Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva 50 Vendemmie) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JancisRobinson.com and The WINEFRONT and Vinous. (manage subscription channels) |
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