Every so often I get a tip off from a fellow wine scribe about a wine I ought to have a go at. Of course, this only works when one’s pal knows the precise shape of my own palate and the Olympian standards that I adhere to in my carefully chosen recommendations. There are only a handful of people, globally, who fit the bill as critic for this critic and one of these talented tasters is Jane Parkinson – the wine expert on the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen. Jane found this debut vintage of Vigneto Erchi before me and made a fuss about it on Instagram. As a life-long Selvapiana fan (this is the fourth mention for this elite estate in MoneyWeek since my debut in 2006), I called in a sample without delay.
What a wine! Made by the greatest producer in Chianti’s Rufina zone, this is a richer wine than many of the breezy, slender reds made by this property and this is because it comes from a south-facing vineyard that soaks up the sun’s rays while maintaining vital freshness on its finish, thanks to the elevated Rufina topography. With a 10% French oak addition to the traditional large botti format recipe, this is a wine with a large slice of panache on top of its indisputable leagues of flair.
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If you are familiar with Selvapiana’s epic Chianti, Bucerchiale, then Erchi takes this model and brings even more intensity and bravado to the mix. Grazie, Jane.
2016 Chianti Rufina, Vigneto Erchi, Fattoria Selvapiana, Tuscany, Italy – about £55, stswithinswineshippers.com, oldbridgewine.co.uk, valvonacrolla.co.uk, thefinewinecompany.co.uk.
Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com)
This article was originally published in MoneyWeek
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