Chianti as a category can be a bit daunting. You’ve got commercial stuff in straw fiascos in the red checkered cloth Italian restaurants, the $100+ single vineyard bottlings from Castello di Ama, and a rainbow of stuff in between. It’s all called Chianti even though some have nothing in common. To further complicate matters, you have a variety of terroirs like Chianti Classico, Rufina, and Greve that make their own unique contribution to the finished wine. Finally, you have individual styles of the wineries themselves.
While most of the producer names that come to mind fall into more or less in what would be the ‘traditional’ camp, today we thought we’d touch on a couple that were more ‘new school’ at least in how they come across. While the whole discussion of ‘camps’ doesn’t really come up a lot relative to Chianti, we felt the need to share a couple of wines that have a plumper, sweeter core of fruit that gives a more fruit-driven, ‘modern’ element to their profiles.
The first was a staple at the Orange store for years, though this is the first time this ‘regular’ bottling of the Fattoria Basciano Chianti Rufina 2015 has appeared here. We hadn’t seen the wine in a while. The fact that this came from the juicy 2015 vintage made a perfect platform for Basciano’s gregarious stylistic bent. Key words that seem to come up consistently when we talk about Basciano are ‘lip smacking’ and ‘juicy’. Father Renzo and son Paolo Masi run something of a negociant enterprise with the idea of consistently getting high quality fruit to create enviable quality at attractive prices. This they have done quite well for a long time.
The 2015 has the bright, slippery, ripe black and blue fruit core that should appeal to anyone. The wine is packed with tender fruit, has plenty of energy, and is far too easy to haul off and drink for something from Rufina. At this point we don’t see a lot of the minerally terroir that appears in a supporting role in most efforts from this part of Chianti. This wine is the proverbial, succulent ‘fastball down the middle’.
Wine Spectator’s descriptors work efficiently here, “Pure aromas and flavors of cherry, blackberry and floral gain depth from earth and leafy tobacco accents. Firms up on the finish, with a pleasant astringency.” One doesn’t write paragraphs on this one. One drinks it with relish. The Basciano simply wants to be liked and it succeeds admirably on that score. Don’t let the $12 price scare you either. This delivers plenty of character and value as well.
The Gagliole Chianti Classico Rubiolo 2016 plays to the same crowd, but for different reasons. We have had a few presentations of this Gagliole bottling in past vintages, but this is the first one to ‘make the cut’. We are probably not going out on too much of a limb to suggest the 2016 vintage may have had something to do with that, ome article suggesting later harvesting during this cooler vintage probably did a lot to elevate and enrich this wine’s fruit core.
It is that outgoing fruit that makes the Rubiolo appealing to a larger audience. Not sure if ‘fruit driven’ and ‘modern’ was the intent here but that is what this delivers. The Rubiolo is 95% Sangiovese, clearly a big beneficiary in the 2016 vintage as a varietal, but also contains five percent Merlot to give the edges a bit of polish.
While this is our first dance with the Rubiolo that we can recall, there seems to be a ready audience with a 91 from Wine Advocate with comments, “This wine is an absolute steal…” James Suckling tossed a 92 on it and it got two glasses from Gambero Rosso to boot. Plump, seamless, focused on a joyous core of plumy fruit, it is easy to like, and won’t break the bank at $14.98.