2019 Tenuta di Nozzole La Forra Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 6pk 6x750ml

Tenuta di Nozzole has been on the map since 1300, when it belonged to the Florentine Strozzi family. In 1971 the Folonari family — wine producers for over two centuries — bought the estate and turned it into one of Chianti Classico's most reliable sources of terroir-driven Sangiovese. Today the farm spans 385 hectares in Greve in Chianti, with 90 devoted to vineyards and 15 to olive groves.

La Forra is the estate's single-vineyard statement — the kind of Chianti Classico Riserva that separates a Tuesday bottle from a cellar candidate. Minimum two years of aging, hand-selected fruit, the patience that lets Sangiovese show what it can do. The 2019 spent 24 months in oak, combining traditional structure with modern finesse. James Suckling scored it 94 points.

The vintage gave the estate everything it needed. Normal winter with hard frosts, average spring rainfall, a hot summer without drought stress. Harvest started in the last ten days of September. The result: Sangiovese with optimum sapidity and tannin, good alcohol, excellent acidity.

In the glass, you get ripe cherry and violet on the nose, with cedar and subtle spice underneath. The palate is medium to full-bodied — red plum, tobacco, dried herbs — held together by refined tannins and the kind of bright acidity that makes Sangiovese age gracefully. Long, layered, and spicy on the finish.