Wine Advisor
Fontodi, Vigna del Sorbo Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 2016
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
The 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna del Sorbo is another benchmark wine from Tuscany that shows the incredible potential of this iconic vintage. This beautiful single-vineyard Sangiovese reveals a graceful side with dark fruit intensity, cherry, plum, fresh violets and tilled earth. Tar, tobacco and licorice appear as delicate background tones, giving more volume and texture to the wine's sensorial impact. Vigna del Sorbo shows its own precise identity that is fiercely faithful to Sangiovese, but that also pushes the boundaries to go beyond our highest expectations of the grape in terms of color, concentration, aromatic complexity and staying power. That's the Panzano magic in a nutshell.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Just as it was last year, the 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna del Sorbo is magnificent. Dark, brooding and reticent, the 2016 is not ready to show all it's got. If anything, the 2016 is even more reticent than it was last year at this time. Vigna del Sorbo has a great track record for aging. I have no doubt the 2016 will blossom in bottle, but that is not going to happen anytime soon.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna del Sorbo is a wine of tremendous aromatic intensity, freshness and nuance. Sweet floral and spice notes meld into a core of blue/purplish fruit, lavender, licorice and leather, with veins of bright acids that perk things up nicely. Readers need to be patient with the 2016, as it is going to need at least a few years to come into its own. But I have seen this before with Vigna del Sorbo. Sometimes the more reticent vintages turn out the be the most complete and thrilling wines with cellaring. I imagine that will be the case here as well.
About the Producer
Fontodi is located in the heart of Chianti Classico precisely in the valley which lies south of the town of Panzano and is called the “Conca d’Oro” (the golden shell) because of its amphitheatre shape. A genuine and characteristc “Terroir”, famous for centuries for its tradition of quality wine cultivation, thanks to a unique combination of high altitude, calcar clayschist soil, lots of light, and a fantastic micro-climate – warm and dry with a marked difference in day and night-time temperatures. All Fontodi wines are produced from grapes coming from their own vineyards, picked by hand, chosen with care and vinified in a way that exalts the character of the vines and the territory. The Fontodi Oil “Bio” is produced from its own olives which are delicately pressed the same day as the harvest in order to preserve all the freshness and the fragrance of the fruit.
