castell'in villa

scottreiner

scottreiner

scott reiner
had a bottle of '86 castell'in villa chianti classico riserva last night. just fucking fantastic. a bit lean on opening, after an hour or so it just bloomed. weightless, pretty, involved. almost shy. what a nose. the polar opposite of modern, masculine chianti.

have not had much of this wine in the past, will have to correct this in the future...

anyone know where to find bottles with age?
 
originally posted by scottreiner:
castell'in villahad a bottle of '86 castell'in villa chianti classico riserva last night. just fucking fantastic. a bit lean on opening, after an hour or so it just bloomed. weightless, pretty, involved. almost shy. what a nose. the polar opposite of modern, masculine chianti.

have not had much of this wine in the past, will have to correct this in the future...

anyone know where to find bottles with age?
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They pop up from time to time. I know that there was just an offer including older vintages from the current importer (it used to be Neal).

I'd classify the wines as medium-masculine. Especially when compared to Montevertine.

I just had the 2004 a couple of weeks ago and I wouldn't describe it as feminine, but it was certainly less burly than Felsina Rancia from 2004.
 
Older vintages are very much around in NYC. Domaine Select has offered them for some time, although the prices has gone up quite a bit from what they used to be. There was a time many years ago when I sold the '77 for $77 (at a restaurant).

I have great admiration for the '75 for current drinking. Several restaurants around town offer it. I work at one of them. It is not $75, though.
 
On another note, I have seen several interesting Chiantis pass across my desk lately, often for relatively little money, and I think that the whole "Chianti is either lackluster or spoofed" sort of stance, which you mostly hear from people in the trade (as opposed to consumers), is incorrect.
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
On another note, I have seen several interesting Chiantis pass across my desk lately, often for relatively little money, and I think that the whole "Chianti is either lackluster or spoofed" sort of stance, which you mostly hear from people in the trade (as opposed to consumers), is incorrect.
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So, dish.
 
We had a tasting of some '80s vintages a year back. I never did have the time to write up my impressions and I have since forgotten what vintages we had, but they were all varying degrees of awesomeness! Our host said he might arrange a tasting with the '70s on show - I hope he will soon. Apart from a couple Podere le Boncie "Le Trame", I haven't tasted any Chianti (or Sangiovese for that matter!) that I would have fallen so in love with.
 
The winery keeps an extensive library of older vintages. The ones I've tasted have been excellent, amongst the best wines in the appellation IMO.
 
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