2017 Le Cinciole Petresco Riserva 1.5L

The 2017 Petresco is a stunning, utterly captivating wine. In a vintage that produced so many rich, opulent reds, Petresco is vertical in build and endowed with tremendous energy. Black cherry, spice, leather, tobacco, licorice and dried flowers open with a bit of coaxing. All the elements are so well balanced. The purity of the fruit is breathtaking. What a wine!

This is an absolutely stellar set of wines from Valeria Viganò and Luca Orsini at Le Cinciole. Over the last few years the wines have gained in precision and nuance, and that has elevated them to the upper tier in Chianti Classico. Biodynamic farming and hands-off winemaking are the rule. The wines are vinified in cement and aged in a combination of casks and smaller French oak barrels spread across several tiny, cramped cellars. The move towards a greater use of larger format oak works so well and is one of the reasons recent wines have been so expressive. Le Cinciole is not a new estate, but the wines have, quite frankly, never been better. I was blown away by the quality here.