2022 Mazzei Castello di Fonterutoli Gran Selezione Chianti Classico

The Mazzei family has farmed this hill since 1435. Twenty-six generations. That is not a marketing line, it is a land registry.

They were among the first to bottle what the world now calls Chianti Classico. The name itself traces to a document written by Ser Lapo Mazzei in 1398. The family still works Tuscany, plus Maremma, Sicily and the Veneto.

"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire." That is the line the family quotes about itself, and this bottle is the proof.

Fonterutoli sits at 470 metres in Castellina in Chianti, facing south and southwest. Alberese rock and limestone underneath, vines between 25 and 35 years old. Woods above the vineyard pull cool air down at night.

This bottling came out in 1995, two decades before the Gran Selezione category existed. Mazzei built the tier before there was a name for it.

Since 2017 it has been drawn from eleven plots around the hamlet. All Sangiovese — six clones plus eight of the estate's own massal selections. No Bordeaux grapes, no shortcuts.

2022 was a dry year in Chianti Classico. Mild winter, little rain, and a summer that barely let up. Heat that early usually wrecks Sangiovese. Here it thickened the skins instead, and the fruit held its shape through ripening.

The estate made less wine than usual — 42,000 bottles. Without the rain, the clusters weighed less.

Fermentation happens in stainless steel, 15 to 16 days on skins. Then 18 months in 500-litre French oak, half of it new, and four months in concrete before bottling.

Most Chianti at this price is trying to taste expensive. This one is trying to taste like Castellina.