I don't usually drink a lot of Chianti - I've generally found it to be too sharply acidic to be enjoyable. So I was curious to try Iron Chef's suggestion . I'm glad I did. This is an elegant wine - and by that I don't mean it's tasteless. It is true that it is a bit reserved, though it opened up over a couple of hours. But I call it elegant because it has very clean fruit on an open mineral structure, with a bit of licorice(?) on the finish to add interest. Kelly got blackberries and spruce on the nose (though she's finding evergreens in everything these days) and coffee on the palate. Excellent balance - the acidity made it crisp rather than sharp. (But I can't say that I got much on the earthy / mushroom end of the spectrum.)
This is probably a wine for those who like an old world style. Note that ANBL online lists the vintage as 2003, but it's the 2005 that is currently in the stores.
Day 2 update: This wine has changed a bit in the half bottle, but I think it's gotten even better. That a bonus in itself - a wine that gives two days of pleasure is better than one that tails off on the second day. And I'm getting some really great flavours on the palate and finish. Kelly says the nose has got black cherry ice cream and is "really freaky." I'm not sure if she means freaky in a good way, but I like it. I'd originally given this a score of 89 and 4/5 for value, but on the basis of today's experience, I'm bumping it up to 91. Maybe even 92. It is awesome value at the price. I always worry about grade inflation, but I think I've got to give it a 5/5. I should say that I've had a very long day, so maybe I'm just in the right mood, but right now I'm loving this wine.
Price: $26.79
Value: 5/5
Score: 92
Alcohol: 13%
Tasted: Sept 2008
ANBL UPC: 8007425000181
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Believe it or not Chianti's are some of my favorite wines. Finding a good one HERE...next to impossible. Unless you are willing to pay $$. Which, unfortunately I am not.
ReplyDeleteI love that first acidic zing on the palette. But as you discovered..it likes decanting and a bit of aging. In my experience, a chianti that is about 5 yrs old and up....pure heaven...without the pine trees :-)
A rainy Friday night. An elegant wine, WS90, that improves in the half bottle. A perfect combination? We'll see...I've just poured my first glass...
ReplyDeleteI think your review was pretty spot-on Norman. Very clean which I generally like, but not simple, which i really don't like. A fair bit going on. After a few hours i started to taste some dark fruit. Perhaps not 5/5 for me, but I am looking forward to day two.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you liked it- I thought it was great.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was great. I just bumped it up to 92 - thinking back about how much I enjoyed, it deserves at least that. I am finding that I'm running into score compression. We try to stay more or less in line with Wine Spectator (though we don't always agree with them on individual wines), so we don't give many scores above 92. But there is a lot of difference between 88 and 92. I've got to give more thought to the the scoring system.
ReplyDeleteI am looking foward to reviewing this one. Its on the list for this Saturday. I'll send you my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteBackground:
ReplyDeleteThe Chianti wine region is defined by the Arno river between Firenze and Siena and is made up of sub zones within this region (Classico, Aretini, Senesi, Fiorentini, Pisane, Montalbano, Rufina with the newest one added in 1997, Montespertoli) The sub zone Rufina (not to be confused with Ruffino, a large Chianti producer) is generally considered superior to the other sub zones, and is suppose to be the equal of the famous Chianti Classico with its recognizable black rooster (Gato Nero). Rufina's soils are similar to Chianti Classico and its cooler microclimate and higher elevation produce wines of higher acidity and great finesse.
Review:
I opened a bottle of the 2003 Frescobaldi Nipozzano Chianti Rufina Riserva Saturday afternoon and I am somewhat hesitant to even review this particular bottle. Its not really fair to the wine that bad storage ruined it. Maybe we will call this my experience with it. Not a review. The cork was brittle and dry. First indication that air has been in contact with the wine. I decanted anyway with great hesitation. The nose was really difficult to “find”. I tried hard to get something, anything. I got a slight hint of oak but no characteristic violet perfume. I was prepared for the worse. First on the palette was a slight oak flavor, then it suddenly sour. I don’t mean as in heavy tannins, I mean it had oxidized. I am pretty sure I made a face. I think I was more disappointed because I had raved to my friend how GREAT Chianti’s are. I admit this was a first for me, turned wine and reviewing a Chianti outside the Classico region. I am a Classico snob, I admit it, I stayed in Greve on two occasions and drank a lot of it. To be fair to this one, I shall try it again. Next time will be a review, not an experience.
Great post Michelle. I quite liked the Nipozzano when I first had it, and liked it even better the second day. I brought a couple more bottles to keep around as a good 'fall back' wine. Something of good quality which would be predictable and cheap enough to open without feeling guilty. However since then, and as recently as a couple of weeks ago, I've drunk both bottles and neither has lived up to my first (and night-after-the-night-before) impressions.
ReplyDeleteI thought at first it was just me--I find my enjoyment of a particular wine is influenced significantly by what else I'm eating or drinking (in the case of a tasting evening) with it, who I'm drinking it with, or what kind of day I've had.
But your experience makes me think it might not just be me. At any rate, there are enough other wines that I want to try, that I'm taking this off my list for a while.
Had another Nipozzano over Christmas and I was also a little underwhelmed, it seemed to be missing an earthy, mushroomy nature that I had come to expect. But it was a 2005 (young-ish) and it was following a very good Poggio Antico Brunello. Not in a hurry to replace the bottle in the cellar, but maybe I should.
ReplyDeleteI was at the Da Maurizio restaurant in Halifax last night and had a bottle of the '05 and I was absolutely floored by how GOOD it was. Dusty tannins, Cherries, leather, musky, and mushrooms, it was all there. And the wine mark up was reasonable at $51. After a couple of sub-par bottles, its back.
ReplyDeleteExcellent. That is good to hear. I do have to pick up another bottle. I am thinking for Friday..its a "rest" day :)
ReplyDeleteThese are interesting posts, as I had heard how good this wine was, but found myself disappointed a few months ago when I tried one of my two bottles. I thought I would keep the second bottle in the cellar to try in a couple of years, but was in no rush to buy more. Maybe with the "hit or miss" experiences here they have a consistency problem.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, I should try another bottle and hope for a good one.
The best Chianti I have ever had was the Peppoli, which was/is available at NBLC (although I have a bottle of Brolio I am waiting to savour, which I picked up while in Italy a couple of years ago). In my opinion, the Peppoli is about the best representation of what a Chianti should be.
I find that my mood affects my score quite a lot. Sometimes it's as simple as good mood / bad mood; sometimes it's a question of whether you're in the mood to pay attention, and often it just what you're looking for. A simple wine with good flavours can seem delicious if it happens to be in the right style for the moment. That's why I think that many opinions are better than one - those variations tend to ever out when a lot of people comment.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of "best Chianti," the best I've had was a Viticcio Riserva 2001 - not bought here unforunately. $42 and great value at the price.