Description
Il Palagio di Panzano, Chianti Classico Riserva
Today we have what I’d call a “proper” Chianti Classico Riserva, one that reinforces my long-held belief that, in the right hands, these wines are as distinguished and age-worthy as anything from Montalcino—or, for that matter, Barolo and Barbaresco. Because Chianti Classico is so touristy, and because it has its fair share of uninspiring, industrial-scale “brands,” it’s often lost on people that this is hallowed ground.
The hill on which Il Palagio di Panzano sits, the famed “Conca d’Oro,” is one of the greatest examples I could cite. This is unquestionably one of Chianti’s ‘grand crus,’ a large amphitheater of vines that spills down a curved, south-facing slope outside the village of Panzano. The name translates to “golden shell,” a reference to the all-day sunlight its vines bathe in, but it could just as easily refer to the dense concentration of elite producers that call it home: Castello dei Rampolla, La Massa, Fontodi, Le Cinciole…it’s a long list, to which I’d enthusiastically add Il Palagio di Panzano. Proprietors Monia Piccini and her husband, Franco Guarducci, grew up here and now run the small estate she inherited from her father. They are farming organically, are laser-focused on the Sangiovese grape, and leave no doubt whatsoever about the variety’s nobility and longevity in this 2013 Chianti Classico Riserva. I’ll say about this wine what I’ve said about some of the exceptionally well-priced Barbarescos we’ve offered here recently: This is a long, long way from pop-and-pour, pizza-parlor wine. This is a bona-fide ‘collectible’ at $39, just now displaying some mature ‘secondary’ notes but poised for further evolution. Who says you need to spend $100+ for something cellar-worthy? Not me—I’m ready to load up on this one and look like a genius while doing so!
It’s always tempting to make comparisons to Montalcino when presented with a 100% Sangiovese Chianti like this one, except it doesn’t really work in this instance. Qualitatively, there’s no doubt in my mind it’s on the level of Montalcino wines costing twice as much, but stylistically, it is resolutely Chiantigiano—full of a kind of live-wire tension not found as much in Montalcino, where the wines tend to be burlier and darker. To put it another way: Montalcino Sangiovese is cellos; Chianti Sangiovese is violins.
Il Palagio di Panzano is hardly new to the scene—and they are situated in about as perfect a position as exists in Chianti Classico, just upslope from the great Castello dei Rampolla—but they’re new to us: Ian Cauble and I met Monia Piccini at a tasting in Tuscany a few years ago and were so impressed by the entire lineup we urged an importer friend to pick up their wines for the US market. It took a while, but what a thrill it was to see this 2013 Riserva land in our warehouse—anything we can do to help get an authentic, artisanal wine like this out into the wider wine-drinking world, we’ll do it!
Monia and Franco’s estate is perched on the southwestern slope of the Conca d’Oro and includes a five-bedroom agriturismo in a classic Tuscan farmhouse, surrounded by vineyards. Their farming is now Certified Organic and they are members of an association called the Unione Viticoltori Panzano, a group of 19 independent wineries dedicated to sustainability and the Panzano terroir. Today’s wine is 100% Sangiovese aged 24 months in large French oak casks of 10- and 25-hectoliter capacity, and its structure and aromatic profile calls to mind not just the wines of neighboring Castello dei Rampolla, but of Sangiovese titans such as Montevertine and Monteraponi in the village of Radda. In the glass, it’s a medium garnet red with hints of pink and a touch of brick orange appearing at the rim, with perfumed aromas of brambly black cherry, cranberry, black plum, leather, tobacco, and underbrush. The wine absolutely vibrates with freshness, needing some time in a decanter to unwind before really revealing its full range of aromas and flavors: Give it 45 minutes or so to blossom and serve it in large Bordeaux stems with grilled ribeye or some other well-marbled beef and pretend you’re in a good trattoria somewhere in Florence or Siena. That will have to do for now, but I’ve got to say, it will do very nicely. This is as classic as it gets. Enjoy it!
