Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Castello Fonterutoli - Mazzei 2020

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione del Castello Fonterutoli represents the cutting edge of this historic Tuscan appellation. It is the wine of tradition, interpreted as the sign of an absolute search for quality, thanks to a rigorous selection in the vineyard and a long period of ageing in barriques. It is a red wine of great structure and richness, with aromas of red fruit, spices and elegant hints of tertiary evolution. It is a wine of great charm, soft, enveloping, with remarkable persistence and destined for long ageing.

Castello Fonterutoli's Riserva Gran Selezione is produced on the Fonterutoli Estate, a small medieval village near Castellina in Chianti, which lies some 20 kilometres north of Siena. It is the fruit of a selection of the best grapes from about fifty different plots, historically known as the most vocated of all. The vineyards are planted to spurred cordon and Guyot with a density of 4500-7200 vines per hectare. The warm and ventilated climate, but with good temperature ranges, and the skeleton-rich soils, characterized by the presence of alberese and galestro, have proved perfect for Sangiovese and, more generally, for red grapes. Gran Selezione is basically Sangiovese-based (92 percent), with a small percentage of other vines historically present in the area, such as Malvasia Nera and Colorino (8 percent). Fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled steel vats, with a maceration period of about 15-18 days. The wine then matures for at least 20 months in French oak barriques.

The red Gran Selezione Castello Fonterutoli is a Chianti Classico of great structure, complexity and persistence, representing the apex of the appellation's quality pyramid. It is a prestigious wine which also lends itself to ageing of 15 to 20 years. The colour is ruby red, intense and deep. The olfactory profile opens on refined floral aromas of rose petals, carnations, aromas of small red berries, spicy and woody hints. The sip is rich and deep, with beautiful aromatic persistence. The tannic texture is dense and fine, and the freshness is always balanced and harmonious.