2019 Barone Ricasoli Chianti Classico Brolio
Community Tasting Note
Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:
Saturday, February 18, 2023 - I have been on a bit of a Chianti kick lately, doing a lot of reading and now starting on the drinking phase. I have been drinking Chianti for about 30 years now and a more thorough approach is overdue.
This weekend I opened 3 Chianti Classico wines (Antinori's 2019 Riserva, Poggio's 2018 Il Carbonaione and Ricasoli 2019 Brolio). Two represent large producers with a very long history in Chianti and the Poggio represents a more recent arrival. An enormous T-Bone steak was required - a touch over 1kg- cooked rare over gas, but with smoke from dried leaves and branches from my Bay tree, then after cooking, schmeared with a smashed garlic clove, drizzled with some EV olive oil and lemon and pepper and set upon. The wines worked very nicely with the steak.
The Ricasoli was my favourite of the three wines. I don't think it was 'the best'. On its own terms it showed lovely fruit (cherry, strawberry and something like an accent of dried cranberry, or even orange peel), some dried herbs and fairly assertive tannins to finish. Length was really terrific and to me this was Chianti as I love it. Oak was not a significant element and the wine was elegant, fruit driven and started soft but finished dry and quite tannic. Food wine, serious wine, intellectual wine.
I think it can be criticised for a slight lack of intensity and it gives a slight sense of lack of presence in the mid-palate, which is surprising for the vintage. Depending on your viewpoint, it also was noticeable for its lack of strong oak, but this is exactly what I liked about it.
Like the other two wines, it improves enormously on day 2 and I can see it developing beautifully over many years, subject to the usual vicissitudes of the cork closure - why do they still use this ridiculously inefficient and fickle closure. If it is tradition, then why not go back to drinking out of horns and transporting in amphora or bladder?
If you plan to drink now, I think decant and allow as much time as possible. It drinks well enough from moment one, but you get more and more over time.
Ricasoli has wonderful vineyards and tremendous history. It is nice to see them on their way back after they spent many decades being tossed about from various international corporate conglomerate to another. It could be seen as Chianti's modern history exemplified.
My own bias is for Chianti Classico to focus on beautiful fruit and to aim for elegance, front of mouth softness with a firm tannin finish. I want to see regionality and the character of Sangiovese and Canaiolo to the fore. Oak I would prefer left for the IGT's, Bolgheri, Brunello. I am not going to be doctrinaire about it - good wine is good wine, but the truth is that I will tend to gravitate to a wine like this when it is a CC than a CC with more oak, maybe more Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon etc. in the blend. It reflects my history with Chianti and my preferences, not some objective truth. Just keep it in mind when you read my comments.
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