04
Mar
2019
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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
(February 19, 2019) – Montefalco … A traveling dinner that started at Scacciadiavoli and ended at Le Cimate … 8 producers “hosted” and joined in pouring four wines each over the course of the roving dinner. At Le Cimate each had three wines on offer and one each was poured over appetizers at Scacciadiavoli … Dinner was buffet style which allowed you to get up, and not only grab food, but try many of the wines at the bar … and might I add the dessert table was to die for … but I am here for the wines, so before digging into the plethora of cheeses, egg dishes and meat course that might materialize from the kitchen throughout the night I tried all the wines – here were the score-able wines of the night – plus a couple of reviews for the highest scoring: 
Appetizer Wines …
Bellafonte 2016 Arneto Trebbiano Spoletino … (*** ½)
Ferrari Perle, sparkling wine … (****)
Goretti 2018 Grechetto, DOC Colli Perugini … (*** ½+)
Pardi 2018 Montefalco Bianco … (***+)
Scacciadiavoli 2014 Vino Spumante Brut Rose … (*** ½)
Summing up the appetizer wines … While the Ferrari was the highest scoring wine in the appetizer round it seems unfair to review that based on the fact that it is not from the Umbria area – so we move to the Goretti white for a full review (click on the wine name above or here for full review)
Dinner Wines …
Colle Ciocco 2017 Trebbiano Spoletino … (*** ½) 
Goretti “Le Mura Saracene” 2013 Montefalco Sagrantino … (*** ½+)
Goretti “Le Mura Saracene” 2014 Grechetto … (*** ½+)
Goretti “Le Mura Saracene” 2016 Montefalco Rosso … (****)
Le Cimate 2012 Macchieto – Super Umbrian … (****+)
Le Cimate 2013 Montefalco Sagrantino … (*** ½+)
Le Cimate 2015 Montefalco Rosso … (****)
Pardi 2014 Montefalco Sagrantino … (*** ½)
Pardi 2016 Montefalco Rosso … (***+)
Tenute Lunelli – Castelbuono 2015 Montefalco Rosso, Riserva “Lampante” … (*** ½+)
Summing up the dinner wines … Between Goretti and Le Cimate it was a tight race, I actually ended up scoring more wines from Goretti than Le Cimate, but the Cimate Super Umbrian was the wine of the night and will be getting the video treatment in the weeks ahead (read the full review here or click on the wine name) – for those keeping track Le Cimate received a total of 12 stars out of possible 20, while Goretti scored an impressive 16.5+ out of the same 20 star possibility – I am really hoping we see some of their wines in Ontario, where I live, and if you have access to them where you are, I would suggest putting your hands on a bottle or two – they show amazing consistency in the quality of their wines.
28
Feb
2019
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Category: On the Road with the Grape Guy
(February 2019) - Tuscany ... 475 wines in total … of which 108 were Chianti Classico DOCG “Gran Selezione” representing vintages from 2016 to 2011 … these are the highly coveted and quick to disappear wines that everyone wants to taste - the wines were tasted over the course of 2 days during the Chianti Classico Anteprima 2019.
The majority of these wines were from the 2015 vintage, which has been described to me “as close to a perfect vintage as you can get” … and in truth there were some very good wines to be had, which 2016 also had some wines that proved very interesting. 75% of the wines from the 2016 showcase received scores while only 35% of the 2015 received a final score … be interesting to see how those numbers turn out next year … but my top scoring wine was from the 2015 vintage.
Below is a list of the wines that truly represented, to me, the best of the Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG wines I tasted (in alphabetical order by producer / by star rating):
(All scoring is out of 5 stars)
Gran Selezione DOCG …
On the first day many writers start with these wines and ignore the “simpler” wines saving them for the following day – thus when I get around to tasting them many are finished / unavailable … in my opinion Gran Selezione should be the reward, the dessert, not the appetizer and main course; but this year I followed suit and was able to taste all of them in one day.
Three PLUS Stars …
Castello di Albola 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Il Solatio”
Castello di Meleto 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
Torraccia di Presura 2013 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
Three-and-a-Half Stars …
Casa di Monte 2011 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Le Capitozze”
Casanova id Bricciano 2014 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Sor Pietro”
Castelli del Grevepesa 2012 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Clemente VII”
Castello di Bossi 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
Castello di Cacchiano 2013 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Millennio”
Castello di Gabbiano 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Bellezza”
Castello di Querceto 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Il Picchio”
Concadoro 2012 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
Conti Capponi / Villa Calcinaia 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Vigna La Fornace”
Famiglia Nunzi Conti 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Vigna Elisa”
La Sala 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Il Torriano”
Ormanni 2013 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Dugentanni Etichetta Storica”
Renzo Marinai 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
San Fabiano Calcinaia 2013 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Cellole”
Terre di Seta 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Assai”
Villa a Sesta 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Sorleone”
Villa Trasqua 2012 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Nerento”
Three-and-a-Half PLUS Stars …
Banfi 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Fonte alla Selva”
Carus Vini 2013 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Gaudio”
Casaloste 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
Castello di Albola 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Santa Caterina”
Castello di Fonterutoli 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
Conti Capponi / Villa Calcinaia 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Vigna Contessa Luisa”
Fattoria di Lamole 2013 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Vigna Grospoli”
Fattoria Le Fonti 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
Fontodi 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Vigna del Sorbo”
I Fabbri 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
Marchesi Antinori 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Badia a Passignano
Ricasoli 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Castello di Brolio”
Rocca delle Macie 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Sergio Zingarelli”
Rocca di Montegrossi 2014 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Vigneto San Marcellino”
Tenuta Cappellina 2014 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Canto Dieci”
Four Stars …
Borgo Scopeto 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
Carpineto 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione
Castello di Ama 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “San Lorenzo”
Castello di Volpaia 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Il Puro-Vigneto Casanova”
Rocca delle Macie 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Riserva di Fizzano”
Vecchie Terre di Montefili 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Vigna Vecchia”
Four PLUS Stars …
Cantalici 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione - ( full review )
Conti Capponi / Villa Calcinaia 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Vigna Bastignano”
Poggio Al Sole 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Casasilia” - ( full review )
Four-and-a-Half Stars …
Casale dello Sparviero 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione “Paronza” - ( full review )
