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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 season started off with a particularly mild winter with very little rain. This caused the plants to sprout much earlier than average, and accelerated all of the other phases of vegetation as well. Subsequently, the first months of summer were rather hot, whereas in August the weather cooled down, allowing for normal vegetative plant development, even if harvesting had to be scheduled a bit earlier as compared to preceding vintages. During September and October the days were hot and sunny and the nights were cool, creating temperature fluctuations which helped to guarantee a higher quality of grapes, especially with regards to sangiovese. Right from the very beginning of the vinification process it was clear that the quality of the grape bunches, and therefore of the musts, were of a very high grade. Besides the intense aromas and colors, the sangiovese and cabernet varietals differentiated themselves by their strong varietal stamping. The optimal climatic conditions permitted the harvest, which took place between mid-September and the first week of October, to be carried out in a very precise manner, with a careful selection of grape bunches.
