There are plenty of good wines out there today, but the most memorable experiences come from wines that feel like unique expressions of grape and place. Tuscany's Istine winery, led by owner and winemaker Angela Fronti, looks to excel at that, catching the attention of critics for their pure Sangioveses coming from prime sites in the historic hill country of Chianti Classico. Our featured wine is their 2020 Vigna Cavarchione Chianti Classico, a not-to-be-missed opportunity to check out this rising star that comes with a glowing review from Antonio Galloni (Vinous Media)!
Location is the driving character throughout Istine's wines, with their small collection of Sangiovese vineyards lying along the cooler ridges that descend from the eastern Chianti Mountains in the heart of the Chianti Classico region. Their Cavarchione vineyard, near the historic town of Gaiole, is a slope of clayey limestone soils and cool exposure toward the mountains. These features contribute to a more elegant, mid-bodied Sangiovese, with concentrated layers of clear, dark-toned, woodsy aromas and flavors, and shaped on the palate by a lifting freshness and tight-knit grip. With the excellent growing season in 2020, right down the middle in its warmth and in the pace of ripening, Istine's Vigna Cavarchione is a wonderfully balanced and finessed - but intense and firmly structured - wine that will evolve gracefully in the bottle for years to come.
Proprietor and winemaker, Angela Fronti, comes from a family of farmers and vineyard managers, but it wasn't until 1982 that her father bought their first vineyard. They only started bottling their own wine in 2009, and when Angela took over a few years later, she introduced their single-vineyard wines. She farms organically and uses the old-fashioned technique of submerging the skins for 45 long days, gently - but thoroughly - extracting those layers of flavor and texture. Aging takes place for just 1 year in larger Slavonian oak barrels, which allows for more expression of that beautiful fruit character! In a short amount of time, Angela Fronti has shown this is a winery to follow!
ANTONIO GALLONI; VINOUS 96 POINTS - "The 2020 Chianti Classico Vigna Cavarchione is positively stellar in 2020. Ample and rich, yet with plenty of Istine classicism, the Cavarchione has all the potential to be one of the wines of this very young vintage. All the elements come together effortlessly. Black cherry, plum, sage, lavender, licorice and incense build over time, filling out the layers nicely. The complexity here is just unreal." - Antonio Galloni
Location is the driving character throughout Istine's wines, with their small collection of Sangiovese vineyards lying along the cooler ridges that descend from the eastern Chianti Mountains in the heart of the Chianti Classico region. Their Cavarchione vineyard, near the historic town of Gaiole, is a slope of clayey limestone soils and cool exposure toward the mountains. These features contribute to a more elegant, mid-bodied Sangiovese, with concentrated layers of clear, dark-toned, woodsy aromas and flavors, and shaped on the palate by a lifting freshness and tight-knit grip. With the excellent growing season in 2020, right down the middle in its warmth and in the pace of ripening, Istine's Vigna Cavarchione is a wonderfully balanced and finessed - but intense and firmly structured - wine that will evolve gracefully in the bottle for years to come.
Proprietor and winemaker, Angela Fronti, comes from a family of farmers and vineyard managers, but it wasn't until 1982 that her father bought their first vineyard. They only started bottling their own wine in 2009, and when Angela took over a few years later, she introduced their single-vineyard wines. She farms organically and uses the old-fashioned technique of submerging the skins for 45 long days, gently - but thoroughly - extracting those layers of flavor and texture. Aging takes place for just 1 year in larger Slavonian oak barrels, which allows for more expression of that beautiful fruit character! In a short amount of time, Angela Fronti has shown this is a winery to follow!
ANTONIO GALLONI; VINOUS 96 POINTS - "The 2020 Chianti Classico Vigna Cavarchione is positively stellar in 2020. Ample and rich, yet with plenty of Istine classicism, the Cavarchione has all the potential to be one of the wines of this very young vintage. All the elements come together effortlessly. Black cherry, plum, sage, lavender, licorice and incense build over time, filling out the layers nicely. The complexity here is just unreal." - Antonio Galloni
Overall Rating
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