Antinori 2017 Tignanello Trophy Wine Review (Wine Standards Series)

This is a wine review of a top Italian wine from the Tuscany region, which is considered a Super Tuscan wine.

Tignanello (sorry, I mispronounced it in the video....it should be "tee na nello" with a silent "g") is a brand created by Marchese Piero Antinori and first release in 1971 (they did make an experimental wine in 1970 called Chianti Classico Riserva Vigneto Tignanello, which still contained the white wine varietals Malvasia and Trebbiano). But starting with the 1971 vintage, they stopped using white wine grape varietals in their blend and it their next vintage (which was 1975), since Tignanello is only produced in great years and no Tignanello was produced in 1972-1974), they started to use Cabernet in their blend. They were also the first Tuscan winery to use small oak barriques instead of large oak barrels to age their wines. Because of these innovations, they were not allowed to call this wine a Chianti so these became Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) or Super Tuscan wines. It is ironic that Chianti has now changed its regulations so that white wine varieties cannot be used in the blend for Chianti wines so today, Tignanello could fit under the criteria of being a Chianti Classico Riserva. But is it more famous that any Chianti Classico so no need for this wine to change its designation.

Tignanello is produced from grapes from the Tignanello vineyard, the same vineyard that produces grapes for Solaia. The vineyard is about 140 acres in size, has soil that is rich in limestone, is south western facing and has an altitude of 350-400 metres.

The 2017 vintage was a decent one but there was rain in September and a cold spell in April. This wine is a blend of 80% Sangiovese, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. It is aged 14-16 months in French and Hungarian oak and then aged in bottle for a further 12 months.

This wine was rated 93 pts by Wine Spectator magazine.

For more information about this wine, please visit their website at https://www.antinori.it/en/vino/tigna...