Description
Carpineto Chianti Classico Riserva 2014
A complex and elegant bouquet highlighted by persistent raspberry and vanilla aromas. It is warm and full with a velvety mouthfeel and a long, generous finish. This Riserva will reward extensive cellaring and pairs perfectly with roasts and game. This vibrant red displays black cherry, tar and tobacco flavors aligned with a steely structure. Well-balanced, featuring a dense, long aftertaste that evokes underbrush nuances. Drink now through 2020.
Carpineto is a partnership between the award winning winemaker Giovanni C. Sacchet and the dynamic Antonio M. Zaccheo, offering a product line of wines spanning from the most prestigious Tuscan DOCG appellations to varietal specific wines of great structure as well as innovative proprietary blends. The winery is widely regarded as one of the quality leaders on the Italian winemaking landscape, exporting the majority of the wine production to over 30 countries worldwide. About 90% of Carpineto’s wine production is red wine, 65% of this being “riserva” wines that are aged three or more years before their release date. Since Carpineto generally ages their red wines six to twelve months longer than the minimum time required by DOCG appellation rules the cellars hold at least three consecutive vintages of wine at any given time. This long aging period has allowed Carpineto to build a reputation for high quality and consistency, vintage after vintage.
Carpineto was established in 1967 in the small historic settlement of Dudda, in the township of Greve in Chianti, with the mission of making world class Chianti Classico. This was a radical departure from the marketplace of the Sixties, when the industry was focused on the production of Chianti in the traditional winemaking style sold in the typical “fiasco” bottle. The visionary founders, captured by the Tuscan landscape, the soil and the climate, immediately saw the untapped potential this land possessed to produce great wines. By applying modern viticultural and winemaking methods they set their goals far beyond the quality standards traditional viticultural and winemaking methods were yielding at the time. With this premise, the unyielding determination of their youth, and an uncompromising focus on making the best wines this land could produce the Carpineto mission of marrying tradition with innovation had set sail.
The Carpineto winemaking style is to deliver wines that are full bodied, complex and fruity in character, with a round, supple tannin structure and a long, persistent, clean finish. Despite their approachability upon release, Carpineto’s red wines are designed for long cellar aging of twenty years or longer.
The most well known sub-districts of Tuscany are Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (note that Montepulciano here refers to the local village, not the grape variety found in the Italian region of Abruzzi). Wine labeled from these regions is DOC-regulated and Sangiovese-based blends. Quality wine from these DOC areas has been on the rise for decades, with top-notch winemakers and wineries shedding the low-quality image once held for Tuscan wine by producing consistently outstanding bottlings that range from deliciously drinkable to highly ageable. Newer to the scene are regions like Bohlgeri and the Maremma, home to of what are now termed “Super-Tuscans,” named for the wine coming from the Tuscany area, but not following all of the DOC or DOCG laws required in Italy. In the 1970’s, some pioneer winemakers began buying land outside of Chianti and Montalcino, and planting not only Sangiovese, but also international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The wine they produced only fit into the lowest Italian category of “vina da tavola,” but the winemakers sold the wine for high prices, creating an almost cult following, and spurning a new wine category called IGT.
