Some Dude

8.9

Really nice! 2019 was a great year, and this was just right with a couple of homemade pizzas. It picked up the spices in the pepperoni and its acidity cut through the richness of the sausage. The fruit was delicious and the cigar-leather on the finish was a lovely foil that made you want another sip as much as another bite of pizza. Yum! — 5 months ago

Jane Nuss

8.9

Pale ruby in the glass. Aromas of sour cherry, raspberry, and cranberry, layered with black pepper, cedar, smoke, tobacco, leather, and earth. Dry, with bright acidity, a medium body, and a medium finish.
— 7 months ago

Jarrod Bouchard

10

Amazing, delicious. Really brought the pineapple out in the iberico pork agnolotti — a year ago

Richard Rosensweig

9.1

I have not had a Chianti in years, having eschewed it’s rustic charms for the opulence of Brunello. If Queciabella is any indication, Chianti has greatly evolved in my absence. Sour and black cherry, cedar, leather, and a hint of oak with mellow tannins are a real pleasure. None of the toughness I recall from Sangiovese. Perfect with roasted meats. But you knew that. — 3 years ago

Kevin Sidders

President VinConnect

9.2

Just an outstanding bottle. Solid core of dried cherry and black plum fruit. Showing great balance and nuance, with a softening texture and secondary flavors coming through. Everything you could want in a Chianti Classico normale and drinking brilliantly now. Bravo! — 5 years ago

Ted Corvey

9.2

Great producer with a unique backstory. Was lucky enough to get a chance to talk to her for a while at tasting event about her vineyard, winery, and methods. Glad to see this is back in the Charleston market. Spice and fruit notes and the nose lead on to pallet with great balance and length. — 7 years ago

Doug Sayed

9.0

2010 vintage. Slightly rustic, but otherwise this tastes quite young. Needs a multi-hour decant or a few more years in the cellar to smooth out. Still has substantial structure and fine tannins. Dark fruits, bitter Cherry, minerality and a brooding finish. Best with food. Not really a stand-alone sipping wine. — 8 years ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.2

In 1877, Illario and Leopoldo Ruffino laid the foundations of their dream to make Italian wines from the heart of Tuscany. Medium Ruby red color with aromas of dark berry fruit and earthy spice, blend of 80% Sangiovese with rest Merlot and Cab Sauv. On the palate flavors of black cherry and plum with tobacco, pepper and earthy cedar notes. Full-bodied, well balanced soft drying tannins on a smooth medium+ finish. Grab some Italian food and enjoy the great value wine. Consistent quality, a Fav!! — 6 months ago

JKT

9.0

Still fresh vivacious in profile, cherries, earth, classical — 9 months ago

Colin Cahoon

9.2

Cranberry, tart strawberry, tart cherry, menthol, oak, and cedar. Nice bright fruit with a long finish of zippy acid. Some tertiary notes of prune, burnt sugar, and mulled fruit are apparent, but it can age a bit more. I think it is in its prime now, though, at 7 years. Medium body, medium alcohol, high acid, and medium plus tannins. — a year ago

Alder Yarrow

Wine Blogger Vinography

9.2

Older bottles of Chianti are some of the wine world’s unknown treasures. Everyone is happy to age Brunello but you don’t see many people putting away Chianti in the cellar. And they’re missing out. If you can find old bottles you can sometimes get them for a song, as I did a bunch of these from @garagiste_wine. You want to talk about punching above your weight?!? These suckers are classy AF. Dark fruit with leather, a touch of graphite and earth. Great acidity still, decant and watch them shine. 1996 Terreno “Riserva” Chianti Classico, Tuscany, Italy. ⁣ — 4 years ago

Sipping Fine Wine

8.9

A blend of 95% Sangiovese, 5% Cab Sauv & 5% Merlot, aged 2 years in French oak, deep Ruby with aromas of dark berry fruits with smoke, spice and floral notes. On the palate flavors of blackberry, spice and tobacco. Fine tannins, good balance, medium+ finish ending with oaky spice. — 6 years ago

Jordan Wardlaw

9.4

Lush, plump fruit but layered with Old World dust and rustic charm. Menthol, licorice, herbs and leather permeate throughout. Surprisingly bright fruit profile and vibrancy for such a ripe and high-alcohol vintage. It manages to not be overpowering or food-averse which in itself is a great feat given the extreme ripeness. We were all pleasantly charmed by this bottle, which was a magnum served with old school NYC-style veal saltimbocca. — 8 years ago

Marc Stubblefield

Wine Sales at Vino Carta and Kogod Wine Merchant

9.0

That's a pretty classic Chianti Classico. Juicy cherry and dust and earthy warmth right through the middle. Because it's mostly done in concrete rather than old wood, it trades a bit of the balsamic-y oxidative note for really bright freshness. Works for me, but your palate may wish the percentages were reversed. — 8 years ago

Freddy R. Troya

9.0

A compelling, historical and sophisticated Chianti Classico Riserva dedicated to the Mazzei’s notable ancestor, Ser Lapo, known as the “father” of the Chianti wine appellation in Tuscany. The V.2016 also had a composition blend of 90% Sangiovese and 10% Merlot. This wine as a “Riserva” under the Chianti Classic Classification system has to be aged a min of 24 months in barrels including 3 months in the bottle prior release.

Decanted for 35 Mins served as an opener of an Italian-inspired dishes, made it a perfect amplifier to appreciate the balance of freshness, richness and complexity. The acidity remains at the perfect point and the red cherries and fig notes are quite palpable from the very beginning, the wine dances in your palate, it jumps on flavor of cherry, tobacco leaf, toasted spices and fresh herbs notes come out alive from the glass, as an overall this wine dances in your mouth with great harmony of the juiciness and integrated medium plus tannins.

The label is another great release from Mazzei family, which is one of Tuscany’s oldest wine dynasties (25 winemaking generations for 600+ years. The script at the top of this wine label is a reproduction of a historic correspondence of a document dated December 16, 1398 that addresses this “father” of Chianti.

Simply lovely, cheers! — 7 months ago

David White

9.1

Crimson colour with flavours of sour cherries and brambles.
In a nice drinking time frame.
Integrated tannins with fruit and acidity balance. — 9 months ago

Tom Casagrande

9.0

Very solid annata. Medium intensity nose shows cherry cough syrup, crushed stone, a little floral spice. It’s still a bit youthfully textured in the mouth, with chalky tannin framing the flavors, which are of dark cherry extract and savory, stony minerality. Nice acids and pretty good length and cling. Not concentrated but tailor-made for washing down a variety of food. — 2 years ago

Mark Osmers

8.9

Decent Sangiovese blend from Tuscany. Fruit forward and delicious with spicy notes like black currant and plum. Not my favorite Tuscan in the $30-50 range — 4 years ago

Steve Williams

9.2

Jammy and smooth, perfect for an Italian dinner with bob and Marta at Justa Pasta in Portland. — 6 years ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.0

My last 2011 bottle. The estate of Sette Ponti lies in the heart of the Chianti zone, 15 miles northwest of the city of Arezzo, past the village of San Giustino Valdarno. Crognolo, aged in French Allier barriques, deep red with red fruit aromas and sweet perfumed spice. On the palate raspberry and cherry flavors, gentle spice and soft tannins with great mouthfeel. Good balance, lingering finish ending with some oak and mineral tones. Aged well. — 8 years ago