My first experience with Barone Ricasoli‘s wines was quite recent – I shared a bottle of the ’04 vintage of the Rocca Guicciarda Chianti Classico Riserva while dining at La Quercia last month. Perhaps accentuated by the food, atmosphere, and company, this bottle was complete magic and I’ve been very intrigued by these wines since.

The Barone Ricasoli estate, which dates back to 1141, is essentially a picturesque wine-castle located in the Tuscan hills at Brolio (between Florence and Siena). After having been in the Ricasoli family’s hands for approximately 830 years, the property was sold due to economic problems in the 1970′s until 1993 when Francesco Ricasoli was able to reacquire the estate. Fueled by centuries of winemaking passion, Francesco began to transform Barone Ricasoli into the Chianti paragon it once was. Since 1993 he has invested $35 million euros and completely upgraded the estate (220 hectares of vines have been replanted).

The revitalized Barone Ricasoli is making beautiful and expressive wines from these young vines. The potential for even better wine is staggering and very exciting.

Tasting Notes:

Toricella – Chardonnay di Toscana IGT ’07
Very minerally, intense and complex nose. Smokey, buttery, nutty (almonds?), and briney. Oak and malo is evident but not overpowering – not much in the way of fruit character, but quite intriguing. The mouth brings lemon, mineral, and bread notes with medium acid and big intensity flowing into a long citrusy finish. Very distinct & unique personality. Very good. At $35.95 I’m not sure the value is justified for my personal palate, but I appreciate this wine.

Campo Ceni – Toscana IGT ’06 (mostly Sangiovese with touch of Merlot)
Slightly tight, but quite fruity nose – candied cherries, purple fruit, fairly floral with some smoked meat character and a hint of black licorice. Good acid and some soft tannins with lots of red fruit – raspberries and cherries. Quite a pretty, fruity wine made for young easy drinking. At $19.99 there’s some value there if you’re looking for a wine in this style.

Brolio – Chianti Classico DOCG ’06 (Sangiovese with a ‘tiny’ bit of Merlot and Cab)
The colour is a dark bruting red with a thin pinkish rim.
A smokey nose with slight oak showing through, dark red and purple fruit – blackberry and some dusty earthiness. Big acid and tannins are obvious on the palate with characters of dark fruit, blackberry, licorice and a vanilla oakiness. It finishes quite dry with a good balance and average length. Good, but not overly impressive at $29.99.

Rocca Guicciarda – Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG ’05
Intense nose of spice, licorice, dark cherry, blackberry, and some purple fruit (purple bubble tape). Big acid and tannins, however sweeter and softer style tannin. Tons of fruit – raspberry, dark berry fruit, licorice and spice. Quite complex and intense with a fantastic long lingering finish. Great wine…I would happily pay $34.99.

*Rocca Guicciarda – Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG ’06
More dusty earthiness on the nose than the ’05 – vanilla, hints of licorice and black cherries. Very pretty nose. Same big acid with even more tannins than the ’05 as expected. Same weight and same beautiful fruit but with more intensity, assortment of berry fruit characters, bitter black licorice and a charred oak as well with a long dry finish. More wound up than the ’05 but with more potential. Great! Again, quite reasonable price at $34.99.

*Castello di Brolio – Chianti Classico DOCG ’01
Dark thick core with a thin rose rim – some sediment evident.
Beautiful mature, softened nose with stewed ripe fruit, cherry and light fig notes. Similar to the rest of the wines: big acidity with slightly softened, but still a good amount of tannins. Concentrated cherry cola and ripe black cherries characters with a soft long finish. Amazing…elegant and delicious. $67 on release.

*Castello di Brolio – Chianti Classico DOCG ’05
Very dark core with a thin light purple rim.
Quite fruity (black and purple berries), cherry cola, smokey with some vanilla (faint hints of a stinky sweaty leather character). Obvious acid with huge tannins, very intense fruit, raspberry, cherry cola and some dustiness. Amazing, beautiful wine….could use some age. $67.

 *Casalferro – Toscano IGT ’05 (Sangiovese with 30% Merlot)
Very dark core with a thin red-magenta rim.
Chocolate and dark fruits on the nose with a slight smokey vanilla note. Again similar acid to the rest but with softer tannins. Chocolate and ripe red and black cherry characters dominate the well balanced palate, rounding out to a nice long smooth finish. The Merlot’s influence shows through with the softer mouthfeel and the chocolate character. Obviously a rounder and fleshier ‘international’ style wine and the one-off from the group. Showing beautifully. $58.50.

*I urge you to seek out Barone Ricasoli’s Chianti wines (more specifically the last four wines) or drink a bottle of the Rocca Guicciarda at La Quercia with good company…what a beautifully satisfying mental image.

Thanks to Irene and Calibrium for this tasting.