Antinori

Really classy on the nose, this is a classic Bordeaux blend with hints of graphite. Beautifully elegant on the palate it shows a touch of French oak barrique alongside full bodied Cabernet Sauvignon fruit in perfect balance, followed by a fine, long and satisfying finish. Superb!
David Berry Green, Fine Wine Buyer, August 2011

Rich, dark fruit on the nose, black cherry fruit from the Sangiovese dominating the blackcurrant fruit from the Cabernet at present, potent and powerful with hints of graphite in the background. Full-bodied and savoury on the palate, dark cherry fruit again, but more influence from the Cabernets creeping in. Mouth-watering acidity gives away its Chianti Classico roots, while soft, fine tannins complete the picture. Fabulous balance and a long, elegant finish rounds off this great Tignanello. Drinkable from 2020, but better still in 2025-2035.
Chris Pollington – Private Account Manager

Renzo Cotarella’s favourite. Still very concentrated purple with lots of mineral notes. Very charming and fresh with extreme vitality. Great stuff! Wonderful completeness and energy. Fully ripe. Great combination of freshness and intensity.
Jancis Robinson MW - jancisrobinson.com - Apr 2015

Tignanello’s origins lie in a single vineyard Chianti Classico known simply as “Vigneto Tignanello” made for the 1970 vintage. From 1971 the wine was classified as lowly Vino da Tavola, and the Cabernets were added to the Sangiovese for the first time. The original Super Tuscan was born. The 2013 is the first release since the passing of the great Giacomo Tachis, Head Winemaker at Antinori from the late 1960s through to the 1990s and creator of Tignanello, Sassicaia, Solaia and many of the notable wines of Tuscany and Italy. The 2013 is a fitting tribute to this very talented man.

This Bordeaux blend is both sophisticated and refined, with tight-knit tannins and a taut structure balanced by cassis and blackberry fruit layered with nettle and spice. What truly stands out is the texture across the palate where velvet and energy meet.
Drink 2017-2025.

Now firmly amongst the greats of the Italian wine scene, Tignanello’s origins lie in a single vineyard Chianti Classico Riserva ‘Vigneto Tignanello‘ made for the 1970 vintage. Even at this point it broke new ground by being the first Sangiovese aged in small oak barrels, and the die was cast from the 1971 vintage, when it became a Vino da Tavola della Toscana and was named Tignanello after the vineyard from where the fruit originates. Over the following eleven years Tignanello gradually evolved into the wine we recognise today – a wine that no longer follows the rules laid down by Chianti Classico Disciplinare.

This is a Tignanello vintage with wonderful purity of fruit on the nose first and foremost. Pure, unadulterated bramble, hedgerow fruit – exquisite! Behind that initial and impressive wave of fruit there are complex layers of nutmeg, black tea and Asian spices. This continues apace on the palate, and also where the Sangiovese really comes into play. The taut structure and fine tannins build neatly through the midpalate where more layers of hoi sin, dark coffee and subtle meatiness. The finish is textbook Tignanello, refined yet focussed and wonderfully long. Drinking from 2018 onto 2030.
Gary Owen, Fine Wine

Tignanello releases are always of huge interest – a superb Super Tuscan red which still offers significant value. This 2012 release demonstrates the quality and consistency of the Antinori estate very well indeed. The nose offers generous dark fruit, black cherry and cassis with notes of clove and dried herbs. The palate is laced with fine acidity giving real energy and vibrancy, very moreish. Fine, silky and eminently approachable now, but there is more to come of course and more layers will emerge over the coming years. Drink 2018 – 2028.
Martyn Rolph, Fine Wine 

Deep ruby. Grilled herbs and coffee complicate ripe, smoky black fruits on the nose and palate. Soft and fleshy in the mouth, showing a high-pH mouth feel. The youthfully chewy, long finish features smoky tannins. One of the more successful Guado al Tassos of recent memory.
Ian D'Agata, vinous.com December 2014

Solaia is derived exclusively from its namesake vineyard, Solaia—meaning sunny one—a 10-hectare, southwest-facing site that is comprised principally of marl soils and albarese rock.. The Marchesi Antinori firm produced this wine for the first time in the 1978 vintage with an initial blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc, a blend repeated again in 1979.

Solaia is a 50 acre (20 hectare), southwest-exposed vineyard of the Tignanello estate situated between 1150 and 1320 feet (350-400 meters) above sea level on stony soils consisting of calcareous clays and limestone rock. The Marchesi Antinori produced this wine for the first time in the 1978 vintage with a blend consisting of 80% Cbernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc, repeating the initial production in 1979. In the following vintages 20% of Sangiovese became part of the blend and certain corrections in the ratio of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc were made as well until the current composition of the blend was defined and became definitive. Solaia is produced only in high level vintages and was not produced in 1980, 1981, 1983,1984, and 1992.

2011 Solaia has a ripe, perfumed nose with sweet plum, blueberry, morello cherry and cassis notes. It is a nose that really confirms the favourable growing conditions they had in 2011, there was clearly an abundance of healthy grapes. The palate is less flamboyant than the nose, which at this stage of its evolution can only be a good thing. The cassis and blueberry show again with a really pleasing acidity that gives the wine a lovely definition and flow. It is mouthfilling and stylish with herb and cedar notes on the finish rounding things off beautifully.
Matt Tipping, Fine Wine Sales Manager

We often taste wines which leap out of the glass, but 2011 Solaia does this with a vengeance. On the nose there is a beautifully crafted wall of complex blackcurrant and juicy dark fruit from the pure, ripe Cabernet Sauvignon. Laced within this are light, deft touches of subtle cherry and dark plum fruit coming from the Sangiovese. On the palate this purity is clear to see again where there further complexity comes from the refined and framing oak. As the fruit of the palate seamlessly moves into the structure and body of the wine there are notes of coffee, fine chocolate and a whole span of herbs and spices – nutmeg, cloves but also sage and rosemary to name but a few. There is no doubt that this is a bold wine if you take it as a whole, but there is a very uncommon level of refinement and subtly here. 2011 Solaia can be drunk now such is the finesse and subtly of the tannins but I feel that if you can leave this in the cellar even for 2 or 3 years there will be added layers of complexity ensuring that this is a very special wine indeed.
Gary Owen, Private Account Manager

Another triumph from the superb 2011 vintage in Bolgheri, Tuscany. Stunningly rich and focussed, the high proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend is clear to see. Lifted and pure cassis fruit dominates the nose, supported by plum, ripe cherry and notes of graphite, liquorice and sweet spice. Exotic yet refined, a wonderful nose. The vibrancy continues across the palate, impossibly fine tannins, perfect balance. Offers precision and class at every moment, the finish is effortless with violet and mineral hints. Utterly delicious.
Martyn Rolph, Private Account Manager Antinori is the most famous name in Italian wine and the influence of Piero Antinori in the last 25 years has been nothing short of revolutionary. Antinori's flagship wine, Tignanello, first appeared in 1971 and caused a sensation by its use of Cabernet Sauvignon in a Sangiovese blend and with its practice of ageing in small French barriques. Antinori was accused of vinous treachery and treason but soon barrique-aged blends of Sangiovese and Cabernet began appearing all across Tuscany.

Solaia, a twenty hectare (50 acre) vineyard of the Tignanello estate with a south-western exposure, is situated at 350-400 meters (1175-1325 feet) above sea level on a soil of calcareous rock (known as “alberese in Tuscany). The Marchesi Antinori firm produced this wine for the first time in the 1978 vintage with an initial blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Cabernet Franc, a blend repeated again in 1979. In the following vintages 20% of Sangiovese was added to the Cabernet grapes and the ratio of Cabernet Franc to Cabernet Sauvignon was changed in order to create a wine which has now become definitive in its various composing elements.

The 2010 Solaia is even better than the Tignanello. Here, too, it is the wine's energy and sheer vibrancy that stand out most. Blackberry jam, graphite, tar, espresso, violets, crushed rocks and spices all take shape in the glass. The 2010 is a wine I have followed since its infancy, and it has never failed to deliver the goods. Earlier this year I had a chance to taste every vintage of Solaia back to the inaugural 1978. It is still early, but there is little question the 2010 is one of the greatest – if not the single greatest Solaia ever made
97/100 Antonio Galloni - Aug-2013

The 2009 Antinori Solaia is similar to the 2007 in its volume and richness, but it is less extroverted. This is another gorgeous Solaia that will drink well pretty much during its entire life. The warm year yielded a racy Solaia with no hard edges and fabulous overall balance.
Antonio Galloni - Dec-2013

The 2009 Tignanello is quite beautiful. Cedar, graphite, sweet herbs, licorice and leather add complexity to a core of highly expressive red fruits. The 2009 impresses for its energy, drive and focus. Today, the 2009 comes across as slightly understated relative to many recent vintages, especially 2007 and 2008. There is a silkiness and polish that is reminiscent of the 2004. Tignanello is 75% Sangiovese, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc from vineyards in San Casciano Val di Pesa, one of the most evocative hillsides in all of Italy. 

Longtime winemaker Renzo Cotarella has done a fabulous job with the flagships Tignanello and Solaia in 2009. In my blind tastings the pedigree of those two wines in particular came through with notable eloquence.
Antonio Galloni - Wine Advocate #201 Jun 2012

With the 2007 vintage Antinori have made an important change to the Guado al Tasso blend, replacing the Syrah component with Cabernet Franc. This has undoubtedly resulted in a more sophisticated wine. The nose is now all about finesse, elegance, suaveness, while the palate delivers charming, fragrant red fruit characters couched in a black chocolate bed; the effect of 16 months in 100% new French & American oak perhaps. Delicious now but will improve over the coming decade till 2017+.
(David Berry Green )

The Sangiovese dominates on the nose with notes of grilled meats and Morello cherries. These are echoed on the palate, reminiscent of great Chianti Classico, before the blackcurrant comes in towards to the finish to remind you that the Cabernets are there. Great acidity and full, but soft tannins indicate that this will drink relatively early, but has at least a decade of life ahead of it. Another delicious Tig’ from the team at Antinori.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager