2018 Mazzei Ser Lapo Chianti Riserva

2018 Mazzei Ser Lapo Chianti Riserva

2018 Mazzei Ser Lapo Chianti Riserva The 2018 Chianti Classico Riserva Ser Lapo is a powerful, wild wine. Crushed flowers, game, herbs and licorice notes give the 2018 its distinctly savory, earthy personality. Brooding in feel, the 2018 will benefit from a few years in bottle. Most of this fruit comes from Mazzei’s Caggio property, the site that informs the new Ipsus wine. In my view, Ser Lapo is the hidden gem in the Mazzei range, and the wine I would most like to drink, if forced to chose just one Chianti Classico in the lineup. Galloni Vinous.

Featuring black cherry, blueberry, mint, iron and Tuscan scrub flavors, this solid red is built for aging, with ripe fruit returning on the long finish. All the components are there—this just needs time. Sangiovese and Merlot. Wine Spectator

Black cherry, bark and earth on the nose with some dark-mushroom character. It’s full-bodied with very soft tannins and a juicy, savory finish. Wet-earth and forest-floor character comes through nicely at the finish. Drink or hold. Suckling

Castello di Fonterutoli is one of the greatest wineries in Tuscany. Their flagship Super Tuscan “Siepi” is one of the greatest wines made in Italy, stated by James Suckling as one of the top 50 wines that changed Italy.

Today’s wine is one of the three “Gran Selezione” bottlings from Fonterutoli and one of my all time favorite “sleepers” of Tuscany. The 2018 Mazzei “Ser Lapo” Chianti Riserva is a work of beauty.  It received 95 from James Suckling and 93 from Wine Spectator, two of the leading authorities on Italian wine.  Chianti Riservas spend an extra year in barrel, an extra year in bottle, and can rival some of the greats from the neighboring village of Montalcino at a fraction of the price.  This wine is named after the Mazzei family’s ancestor Ser Lapo, author of the first official document mentioning “Chianti wine” (December 16^th, 1398).  Lovers of Italy, of history, and of world class red wine, this is a tremendous deal at the price that I will personally be procuring for my own collection.

The winery is owned by the prestigious Mazzei family (right).  Founder Philip Mazzei, who enjoyed calling himself a “Citizen of the World”, befriended Franklin, Adams, Washington, and  Jefferson; the latter invited him to introduce vine growing  in Monticello, Virginia. In a letter to George Washington, Mazzei writes that the soil and climate of that region are wonderfully suitable for wine production. Filippo inspired Jefferson with the idea that “All men are by nature equally free and independent. Such equality is necessary in order to create a free government”. In his book A Nation of Immigrants, John F. Kennedy himself acknowledges that “The great doctrine ‘All men are created equal’, incorporated in the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, was paraphrased from the writings of Filippo Mazzei, an Italian patriot and dear friend of Jefferson”. In 1980 for the 250th anniversary of his birth, Philip Mazzei is commemorated as an “American Patriot” with a stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service.  Philip Mazzei helped bridge the gap between Italy’s fabled wine history and America’s newly found democracy.

Carlo Ferrini possibly the greatest winemaker in Tuscany today and whose clients include Tuscany’s finest wines: Casanova di Neri Brunello, Fonterutoli, La Massa, Brancaia, Brolio, Petrolo, Sapio, Terriccio and San Fabiano Calcinaia.