1974 Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva Villa Antinori

Community Tasting Notes (2) Avg Score: 90.5 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Nanda's profile
  • Report Issue

  11/9/2019 - Nanda wrote: 89 Points

  45th Birthday Celebration (Chez Nanda): A very fine 45 year old wine. Still has quite a lot of vigor and fruit. Big notes of herb and tar and complexity.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View forceberry's profile
  • Report Issue

  10/18/2018 - forceberry wrote: 92 Points

  12,5% alcohol.
  
  Developed and quite translucent pomegranate color with a brick-orange rim. The savory and rather developed nose feels surprisingly herbaceous with its aromas of roasted bell peppers, leafy green tones, fruitier notes of sour cherries and fresh dark berries along with lighter tertiary nuances of tobacco and beef jerky. At first the nose was pretty straightforward with just aromas of herbaceous bell pepper and sour cherries, but with air it opened up quite nicely. The wine is dry, moderately full-bodied and relatively concentrated on the palate with developed flavors of sour cherry bitterness, some tart lingonberries, a little bit of roasted bell pepper, light leafy tones of forest floor, a sweeter hint of raisiny dark fruit and a peppery touch of earthy, pungent spices. The wine is moderately full-bodied with still quite firm, ample and moderately grippy tannins. The finish is dry, moderately tannic and rather bitter with very long and intense flavors of sour cherry bitterness, some savory wood spice, a little bit of tart lingonberry, light herbaceous notes of cooked bell pepper and a hint of peppery spice.
  
  A rough, robust and surprisingly herbaceous effort for a Chianti Classico that really tastes like a not unremarkable dose of Cabernet Franc went into the blend at some point. Although I suspect that this was not the actual case, this is still a rather atypical example of Sangiovese. Nevertheless, the overall feel is very impressive, complex and pleasantly structured, and although the wine is showing some age, it still feels like it could actually continue to develop from here - even after almost 45 years! A wonderful, aged Sangiovese that might still gain a point or two if left to age some more. Great stuff.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.