Grape Varieties: Sangiovese
The Wine Independent 100/100
Falstaff 97/100
Vinum 19/20
Wine Enthusiast 96/100
Robert Parker 97/100
Paolo di Marchi’s leaving present to Tuscany is this delightful Cepparello. With the 2019 there is an added precision to the aromas, less heavy oak, and no greenness on the palate. It is concentrated with a rich velvety texture but without any heaviness and with a gentle unforced quality. The tannins are fine and very well integrated, in fact finer and better integrated than even the excellent 2016 vintage. It is of course very young now but it’s almost too delicious not to drink! Supremely graceful, it just gets better and better.
Drink: 2023-2042; Rating: 100 Points; Susan Hulme MW, The Wine Independent
Tasting Notes: Ruby red colour tending to violet. Aromas of cherry, and black currant with hints of dark chocolate on a spicy background. The tough tannins and acidity are still lashing but well-balanced. The finish is dry, it calls the fruit of opening. Persistence is of average length.
Cepparello by Isole e Olena is 100% Sangiovese classified as Toscana IGT and is widely regarded as one of the original Super Tuscans. It is made from a selection of the estate’s best fruit from vineyards in Barberino Val d’Elsa, in the northern part of Chianti Classico and is aged in French oak barrels.
Over the years, Paolo has refined his Cepparello by giving it more air during vinification and increasing time spent in oak from 12-14 months to 18-20 months. Although De Marchi started focusing on the use of better quality oak around 1993, it is the increased age of the vineyards themselves that have given Cepparello its overall finesse. The wine is made from a top selection of the estate`s best fruits from the vineyards in Barberino Val d`Elsa in the northern part of Chianti Classico.
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It is a high yielding, late ripening grape that performs best on well-drained calcareous soils on south-facing hillsides. For years it was blighted by poor clonal selection and massive overcropping - however since the 1980s the quality of Sangiovese-based wines has rocketed upwards and they are now some of the most sought after in the world.
It produces wines with pronounced tannins and acidity, though not always with great depth of colour, and its character can vary from farmyard/leather nuances through to essence of red cherries and plums. In the 1960s the advent of Super Tuscans saw bottlings of 100% Sangiovese wines, as well as the introduction of Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon blends, the most famous being Tignanello.