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Wine Description
The Story
Tignanello is produced exclusively from the vineyard of the same name, a parcel of some 140 acres (57 hectares) with limestone-rich soils and a southwestern exposure at 1150-1325 feet (350-400 meters) above sea level at the Tignanello estate. It was the first Sangiovese wine to be aged in small oak barrels, the first modern rd wine to use such non-traditional varieties as Cabernet in the blend, and among the first red wines from the Chianti Classico area to be produced without white grapes.
The wine, originally called "Chianti Classico Riserva vigneto Tignanello" (a Chianti Classico Riserva from the Tignanello vineyard), was produced for the first time from a single vineyard parcel in 1970, when the blend contained 20% of Canaiolo and 5% of Trebbiano and Malvasia, both white grapes., and the wine aged in small oak barrels. In 1971 it became a Tuscan red table wine rather than a Chianti Classico, and was called Tignanello; in the 1975 vintage the white grapes were totally eliminated from the blend. Ever since 1982, the blend has been the one currently used. Tignanello is bottled only in favorable vintages, and was not produced in 1972, 1973,1974, 1976, 1984, 1992, and 2002.
Wine Information
The favorable weather patterns at the beginning of spring favored an early budding of about one week for the various varieties. All through the spring we had excellent weather, warm temperatures and the right amount of rain, resulting in excellent flowering and the relative vegetal cycle. This optimal vegetative balance of the vines ended in full ripening between the end of July and the beginning of August, about 7 to 10 days earlier than usual. The excessive heat wave around mid August, lasting only a week, did not slow down maturation, and the first grapes gathered showed immediate promise of an excellent vintage. Due to the early ripening of the grapes, we began our "green harvest" just after mid-August, selecting and thinning to eliminate any excessive production. In conclusion, the early harvest coupled with a rainless period of picking allowed us to bring in excellent mature grapes.
VINIFICATION
The Tignanello vineyard is among the last to be harvested, and only painstakingly selected grapes are used in this eponymous wine. The Cabernets were harvested from October the 1st and the Sangiovese a week later. The grapes were vinified separately and were used methods which guarantee a very gentle processing. Maceration took place in 50 hectoliter open wooden fermentors with periodic cap submersion for better extraction of colour, complexity and tannins. During this time (15 days for the Sangiovese and more than 20 days for the Cabernets), the wine completed its alcoholic fermentation at a temperature never exceeding 30°C. The wine was then transferred into 225 liter French oak barrels (new and one-year- old Troncais and Alliers), where malolactic fermentation was terminated by the year's end. The wines were then racked, blended and returned to the barriques for about 14 months of aging, after which time they were bottled and aged for a further 12 months before release.
Alcohol : 13,5% Vol.