2015 Fattoria di Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia

• By Antonio Galloni
  Chianti Classico 2015 & 2016: Right Place, Right Time (Feb 2019), 2/1/2019, (See more on Vinous...)

  (Fèlsina Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia Red) Login and sign up and see review text.

JamesSuckling.com

• By James Suckling
  7/1/2018, (See more on JamesSuckling.com...)

  (Felsina Chianti Classico Rancia Riserva, Italy) Login and sign up and see review text.

JancisRobinson.com

• By Walter Speller
  2/13/2018, (See more on JancisRobinson.com...)

  (Fèlsina, Rancia Riserva Chianti Classico Red) Subscribe to see review text.

Decanter

• By Michaela Morris
  Chianti Classico Riserva 2015, 2/12/2018, (See more on Decanter...)

  (Fèlsina, Rancia, Riserva, Chianti, Classico, Tuscany, Italy, Red) Login and subscribe to see review text.

• By Antonio Galloni
  Chianti Classico: The Stellar 2015s and Surprising 2014s (Jan 2018), 1/18/2018, (See more on Vinous...)

  (Fèlsina Chianti Classico Rancia Red) Login and sign up and see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Special Sangiovese (+EVENT Reminder), 5/1/2019

  (Felsina Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia) Albino Rocca Tasting at Full Pull EVENT: We will be hosting a complimentary tasting of the wines from Albino Rocca for our list members tomorrow, May 2nd from 5:00PM-7:00PM. Albino Rocca is among the leading modern wineries in Piedmont, and has long been one of our favorite producers from the region. Stop by anytime on Thursday evening—feel free to bring your friends—and taste through five wines from the current Albino Rocca lineup. Some of the wines will be available for purchase that day only. No need to RSVP if you’re coming to taste, but please do try to make an appointment in advance if you will be picking up wine. ----- Hello friends. We have access to a special bottle of Sangiovese today; a bottling that is very good even in mediocre years, and then in a vintage like 2015 was so lights-out that we purchased every last bottle remaining in Seattle. After our parcel arrived, I learned that it is also Antonio Galloni’s highest-rated Chianti from the epic 2015 vintage: Vinous: Copyrighted material withheld. [Ed note: I dug a little deeper into the Antonio archives, and as far as I can tell, this is also in his list of top ten highest-rated Chiantis. Ever. Which is really saying something for an Italy expert like Galloni.] Felsina has been producing this bottling since 1983, and it comes from their famed Rancia vineyard, a high-elevation (1300’-1400’) site in the southern part of the Classico appellation, on limestone-driven alberese soils. It slopes perfectly to the southwest under the Tuscan sun and looks like this. I mean, you half-expect Diane Lane to come walking down a vineyard row, no? In the winery, the Sangio grapes get the luxury treatment, including a year and a half in 100% new French oak barriques. I see that Galloni’s review focuses almost entirely on texture, and I can see why; for Sangio especially, this is one silky little devil, its robust tannins managed with so much class and precision. But still: some aroma/flavor descriptors would be helpful, right? This is tightly wound for sure, but with a little time in the glass, it begins to unfurl: now rich (14% listed alc) cherry fruit coated with dust, now cocoa and star anise spice, now leafy tea notes. It goes on, evolving with each passing quarter-hour of oxygen exposure. I mean, you could spend the better part of an evening with this bottle as the main event; it deserves a bit of contemplation. I think Galloni’s correct that, in an ideal world, you’d wait five or six years to begin opening these. That said, an hour-long decant before a dinner of braised oxtails or short ribs or maybe a seared duck breast with a cherry gastrique if you’re feeling really feisty, yeah, that you could probably do in 2019 or 2020 and still feel pretty good about yourself.