About the Wine
The original Super Tuscan, Tignanello, is produced exclusively from a 140-acre vineyard site at Antinori’s Tignanello Estate which is planted between 1,150 and 1,312 feet above sea level.
• Tignanello was the first Sangiovese to be aged in small oak barrels, the first Italian red wine in modern times to use a non-traditional grape variety, Cabernet, in the blend and among the first Italian red wines made in Chianti with no white grapes.
• First vinified as a single-vineyard Chianti Classico wine in 1970.
• With the 1971 vintage, the wine was named Tignanello, and in 1975, white grapes were eliminated from the vineyard and the blend.
• Since the 1982 vintage, the vineyard and wine blend has been 80% Sangiovese, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc.
• Tignanello is only bottled in favorable vintages and thus, was not produced in the 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1984, 1992 and 2002 vintages.
Blend is 80% Sangiovese 15% Cabernet Sauvignon 5% Cabernet Franc
The 2017 Tignanello is an intense ruby red in color with purple highlights, with pleasant notes of red fruit and sweet spice on the nose. The palate is fresh and vibrant with supple and balanced tannins. The harmonious finish and aftertaste are long and persistent.
Reviews
The Marchesi Antinori 2017 Tignanello (made with Sangiovese and smaller parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc) is a dark, exuberant and inviting wine. I tasted my sample after a double decanting and was pleased by the profound nature of the wine and the immediate openness of the aromas. There is a symphony of dark fruit with black cherry, plum, spice and sweet tobacco. I am particularly attracted by a distant hint of medicinal or menthol herb that I also discovered in other wines with fruit from the Tignanello estate in 2017. There's a drying mineral note of crushed chalk as well. The heat and dryness of the vintage has added to the aromatic intensity of the wine (yields were reduced by a third), but the mouthfeel is carefully crafted to maintain its softness and smoothness. Fruit comes from a 57-hectare section of the Tenuta Tignanello from a vineyard that is located 390 meters above sea level with Alberese limestone rock and soils of marine origin. The wine is fermented in conical oak tanks and is aged up to 16 months in a combination of mostly French and some Hungarian oak, both new and neutral. Some 300,000 bottles were released in April 2020 after one year of bottle age. ~96WA
A dense, really pinpointed red with plums and hazelnuts. Full-bodied and very polished with fine, creamy tannins and a long, flavorful finish. Shows real finesse for the vintage. Better after 2023, but already a joy to taste.~ 96JS
Last year I wrote that the 2017 Tignanello would drink well early. Unless that happens within the next two years or so, that will not turn out to be the case. Right after bottling, the 2017 was so generous, but since then it has really gone into a shell. That won't be an issue over time, but today Tignanello, which so often is such a showy in its youth, is incredibly tight. Bright red berry fruit, mint, chalk and lifted floral notes give the 2017 a good bit of energy. There is a purity to the Sangiovese that works so well with the wine's grippy tannins, but patience is key. ~95+VM
