2021 Nozzole - Chianti Classico Gran Selezione La Forra (750ml)
Tenuta di Nozzole is one of the oldest farms in Chianti Classico. It dates to the 1300s and appears in the medieval Florentine chronicles of Giovanni Villani. The estate lies at Passo dei Pecorai, north of Greve in Chianti, in rugged hill country about 30 kilometers south of Florence. Of its roughly 385 hectares, about 90 are planted to vines. The Folonari family, whose wine history goes back to buying Ruffino in 1912, acquired Nozzole in 1971. Ambrogio and Giovanni Folonari run it today and have made it the heart of their group of Tuscan estates.
La Forra is Nozzole’s historic flagship Chianti Classico, made since 1980 from the estate’s finest vineyard, the La Forra parcel. The vineyard sits on a south-facing slope at about 300 meters. The wine is made entirely from Sangiovese. The grapes are hand-picked in the second half of October and fermented in stainless steel with about three weeks on the skins. The wine then ages close to two years in large Slavonian oak casks and several more months in bottle before release.
The wine is a deep, intense ruby. It shows Marasca cherry, violets, and sweet spice, with an earthy hint of black truffle. On the palate it is dry, deep, and firmly structured, with ripe dark-cherry fruit and a long, persistent finish. It pairs well with bistecca, braised wild boar, or roast meats with porcini mushrooms.