Marchesi Antinori 'Tignanello' Toscana IGT 2018

Winery Notes
Tignanello was the first Sangiovese to be aged in barriques, the first contemporary red wine blended with untraditional varieties (specifically Cabernet) and one of the first red wines in the Chianti Classico region that didn’t use white grapes. Tignanello is a milestone. It’s produced with a selection of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

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Tasting Notes
The 2018 Antinori Tenuta Tignanello Toscana red wine is a deeply intense ruby red color. On the nose, it’s remarkably complex with notes of ripe red fruit, black cherries, sour cherries that merge with sweet hints of vanilla, mint and delicate sensations of white pepper and myrtle. Its palate is rich and well-balanced: supple velvety tannins are sustained by exceptional freshness that give the wine length, elegance and persistence of flavors.

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Vintage Notes
The 2018 vintage was characterized by a slight delay in growth and development of the vines, which recovered by the time of bud burst. Frequent rainfall lasted from early March to early July and was followed by sunny weather up until mid-August. The final days of August had occasional rainfall followed by normal weather with higher temperatures from September on. Harvest activities began around September 20th with Sangiovese and were completed on October 12th with Cabernet Sauvignon.

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Vineyard Notes
The original Super Tuscan, Tignanello, is produced exclusively from a 140-acre vineyard site at Antinori’s Tignanello Estate. The vineyards are southwest facing, with calcareous rocky-marl and limestonesoils with tufaceous elements, locally called alberese rocks. They are plantedbetween 1,150 and 1,312 feet above sea level.

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Winemaking Notes
In the cellars, the grapes are gently de-stemmed and individual berries areselected on the sorting table to ensure that only fully ripe berries go into thefermenting tanks. After the wine is separated from its skins, it undergoes complete malolacticfermentation in small oak barrels. The aging took place in French andHungarian oak barrels and lasted for 12-14 months. During this time the various lots of wine, each fermented separately basedon grape variety and vineyard block, remain in barrel. The lots are thentasted barrel by barrel and assembled into the final blend a few months before bottling.