Fontodi Flaccianello Super Tuscan Vertical Tasting

If reassurances could dull pain, nobody would ever go to the trouble of pressing grapes.

SCOTT LYNCH, The Lies of Locke Lamora

The Manetti family has owned Fontodi since 1969 but has been in Chianti for centuries. Though they have always made wine, their primary business is still the production of Chiantii´s finest terracotta at their factory in Ferrone. Giovanni Manetti has run the property since 1980 and ensures the wines are as meticulously made as the vineyards are immaculately tended. Their 80 hectares of vineyard, 90% of which are Sangiovese, are situated in the prime i´concadi´oroi´ (golden shell) of Panzano, and over the past decade these have been converted to organic viticulture. Giovanni is now following biodynamic principles to obtain the best quality fruit. There are 80 hectares of south facing vineyards, all of which are found in an amphitheatre-shaped valley to the south of Panzano. This shape facilitates the full ripening of the grapes. The stony galestro soils allow for excellent drainage and encourage the vines to put down deep roots.

I just had the 2004 Flaccianello at the Wine Bar a few weeks ago and it was spectacular!!  This wine is just starting to reach maturity and was also the star of the last Fontodi Flaccianello vertical tasting a year ago.  The 1999 was also still incredibly fresh and lively and I bet you could hold on to it for another 10+ years.   After last year’s tasting I decided to make this an annual event as there is no better way to spend an evening than with 10 vintages of Flaccianello and therefore we will offer our “Wine Drinking people” this opportunity every year until I have no more Flaccianello to drink!!

This tasting features Fontodi’s flagship wine (100% Sangiovese based) Flaccianello going back to the 1999 vintage we like this wine so much we have many selections in magnum and 3 liter format!  Flaccianello was a single vineyard wine up until the 2004 vintage when they replanted the vineyard then it became a selection of the best Sangiovese from the entire property.  We feel it is one of the best wines made in Tuscany and will be drinking as many bottles as we can!

In fact, we have one of the largest selections of Fontodi wines on the planet earth so check out everything that we have in the store on this offering after the information about this tasting.  The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $195 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

Fontodi Flaccianello Vertical Tasting 1999 – 2015 Vintage at Wine Watch

Saturday July 18th

7:30pm

1999 Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve Tuscany

List Price: $250.00            Your Price: $220.00          Quantity in Stock: 17

(92 points) Made from 100% Sangiovese and aged 12 months in French oak, the 1999 Flaccianello is immensely impressive. Its opaque ruby/purple color is followed by scents of high class French oak intermixed with black cherry liqueur, minerals, spice box, tobacco, and blackberries. Concentrated yet elegant, this sweet, pure, exceptionally long wine can be drunk now, or cellared for 10-12 years. Wine Advocate #144 Dec 2002

2000 Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve Tuscany

Price: $145.00    Sale Price: $120.00    Quantity in Stock: 30

(89 Points) The 2000 Flaccianello della Pieve is this estate's prime Sangiovese. The wine is fragrant, floral, and sweet on the nose, focused and precise on the palate with tannins which support and sustain the significant length of the flavors. The elegance of the wine makes it deceptively approachable - 2006 to 2014 should be the optimal drinking period. Wine Advocate # 152, Apr 2004

2004 Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve Tuscany

Price: $215.00    Your Price: $189.20         Quantity in Stock: 7

(96 Points) Manetti-s 2004 Flaccianello della Pieve (100% Sangiovese aged in 100% new oak) is simply stunning. Fresh and vibrant, it offers compelling aromatics and endless layers of fruit that develop in the glass, with superb length on the palate and gorgeous overall balance. Although it is still holding back much today, make no mistake about it, Flaccianello is one of Italy-s blue-chip wines and the 2004 is a profound vintage for this wine. In order to enjoy its full range of expression readers will have to wait at least another five years after which it will provide memorable drinking to age 25, perhaps longer. A recent bottle of the 1982 was still full of life when tasted a few months ago. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2029. Wine Advocate # 171, June 2007

2005 Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve Tuscany

Price: $186.00    Your Price: $163.68   Quantity in Stock: 8

(94 Points) Shows complex and subtle aromas of blackberry, black licorice and cedar, with just a hint of dried spices. Full-bodied, with a wonderful concentration of fruit, chewy tannins and a long, long finish. Powerful and layered. Sangiovese. Best after 2012. 3,000 cases made. –JS Wine Spectator Issue Oct 15, 2008

2006 Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve Tuscany

Price: $250.00    Your Price: $220   Quantity in Stock: 2

(99 Points) Shows excellent color and richness for a Sangiovese, with aromas of sultana, coffee, toasty oak and vanilla bean. Full-bodied, with masses of fruit and chewy tannins. The concentration and depth of fruit and layers of tannins leave me speechless. A blockbuster. Best after 2014.-J.S. Wine Spectator

2008 Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve Tuscany

Price: $169.50   Sale Price: $149.16   Quantity in Stock: 10

The 2008 Flaccianello della Pieve is quite pretty, even if it is a bit buttoned up. It possesses lovely perfume and sweet Pinot-like fruit backed by acidity and structure that are unquestionably those of Sangiovese. Today the 2008 impresses for its energy and verve. It should be a fabulous wine to drink in another few years, once the tannins settle down a bit. This is yet another 2008 that has grown considerably in stature over the last year. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2023.

2012 Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve Tuscany

List Price: $160.00            Your Price: $140.80          Quantity in Stock: 2

A very pretty nose of bright red berry fruit, fresh flowers and dark spices, very pretty bouquet very enticing with incense like spice and not quite as big as the Sorbo without the Cabernet Sauvignon this wine still has more complexity and a long nuanced finish, so for me this wine was a big better on this evening both of these wines received one vote for second place.  Finish 50+              Most Excellent

2013 Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve Tuscany

Price: $159.00    Your Price: $139.92         Quantity in Stock: 8

(98 points) The 2013 Flaccianello della Pieve is a commanding wine and a strong protagonist of both the vintage and its territory. Connoisseurs of Sangiovese will be hard pressed to find a wine more authentic, elegant, complex and pristine than this. I am a huge fan of the 2013 vintage in Chianti Classico and the Flaccianello della Pieva is one big reason for this love affair. The bouquet is gorgeous and delineated with wild berry, tangy spice, crushed mineral and forest flower. Yet, the wine's color is dark, brooding and austere. The wine offers exuberance and energy in the mouth, thanks to its balanced acidity and seemingly never-ending finish. It should age forward for twenty years or more. Congratulations Fontodi.(ML)" (12/2016) Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

2014 Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve Tuscany

Price: $130.00    Your Price: $114.40    Quantity in Stock: 1

(94 Points) Well-marked by toasty, vanilla-scented oak, this red boasts a core of cherry, floral, tobacco and graphite. Pure and intense, with fine harmony. Sangiovese. Best from 2021 through 2040. Wine Spectator

2015 Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve Tuscany

List Price: $169.75            Your Price: $149.38          Quantity in Stock 15



(98 points) I'm hardly surprised to report that Fontodi's 2015 Flaccianello della Pieve is one of the best wines recorded in this report of new releases from Tuscany. This wine sits as tall and as proud as the Colosseum in Rome or the Pyramids of Giza in its undeniable glory and beauty. It would be impossible to exaggerate its many lasting attributes and qualities. Perhaps the most remarkable is the smooth and seamless nature of its many complicated moving parts. It produces abundant power, intensity and elegance as if this were the easiest accomplishment in the world. But we all know that's far from the truth. Despite the heat of the vintage, this wine is constructed with firm building blocks as if it were from a cooler year. That's the Panzano magic in a nutshell. This vintage is very young and tight, and you need to exercise patience to allow it enough time to evolve. (ML) (10/2018)  Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Menu

Charcuterie and Cheese Selection

Butternut Squash Ravioli with white bean puree and sage infused Fontodi extra virgin olive oil

Bistecca Florentina with porcini Sangiovese natural sauce and bacon basted polenta cake

The fee for this tasting is $195 + tax, this includes dinner.   For reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. 

Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have special dietary restrictions chef Toni is happy to accommodate you.

A bit about Fontodi:

In the beginning there were Fontodi bricks and tiles.  The work comes from fonte di odo, which means a place rich with water.  Brunelleschi’s Florentine cupola was restored with Fontodi tiles.  Ancient and modern day Florentine homes use Fontodi tiles for decoration and for their natural warmth.  The same family made the bricks that pave the Uffizi Galley in Florence.  This family with the same hand and the same will has also been involved with the wine but for a shorter time.  It was Maria, the mother, who took an active part in the winery.  She first got the family interested in wine   They purchased the winery in 1968, and by 1980 the had moved there from Panzano.  It is a difficult land to farm but it yields some of the finest stone and clay for bricks, and tiles, but the finest oils and the most noble wines.

Today, Fontodi is one of the leaders in Chianti, their wines have consistently impressed the critics; from the Gambero Rosso (the Italian wine bible), Robert Parker of The Wine Advocate (the American authority on wine), to The Wine Spectator (the most popular international wine/lifestyle publication), all of these publications have waxed poetic about the wines from this estate.  The estate of Fontodi is on a hill just south of Panzano, from where you can look across the valley towards Rampolla and Cafaqqio.  The gardens are full of Rosemary and in May the cuckoos are noisy.  Since the Manetti family has owned the estate they have undertaken a major renovations of the vineyards.  The young and talented owner, Giovanni Manetti, is one of the most far-sighted and intellectual grower-producers in all of Italy.  His estate is enchanting, not only because of the villa where it is based is spectacularly beautiful, but also because Manetti has consistently made quality the first priority in all areas of the business, from rootstock, to trellising, to hiring the brightest mind in winemaking in all of Italy, Franco Bernabei.  Franco has won more "Glasses" in Gambero Rosso than anyone in the history of the guide.  Manetti’s greatest attribute is his common sense and his commanding personality which makes others stand up and listen. 

The winery focuses its efforts on seven wines.  Two Chianti’s, a Classico and a single vineyard wine called Vigna Del Sorbo.  The Chianti Classico is 100% sangiovese and is the product of traditional winemaking.  The wine is aged for six months in oak barrels, it completes its refinement in the bottle.  It is a graceful, balanced, elegant, and stylish wine, but still easily to enjoy in its youth.  The Vigna Del Sorbo Chianti Classico Riserva is a blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon blended according to traditional methods and matured in small oak casks. 

The flagship wine Flaccianello Della Piave, a 100% Sangiovese based wine which until the 2004 vintage this wine was made from a single vineyard surrounding the age-old parish church in Panzano, but from 2005 on it has become a selection of the best Sangivoese from the entire property.  This wine is made with carefully controlled fermentation and strict temperature control during the initial stages.  It is big and powerful wine yet retains a ripe, soft, seductive character. 

The only white produced here is named Meriggio, it is 100% sauvignon blanc grapes vinified in stainless steel tanks, temperature-controlled and matured on lees for 6 months.  This is the first time this wine has been exported to the U.S. and we are proud to be the exclusive retailer of this wine in South Florida!

Two of the smallest production wines with the Fontodi moniker are the Syrah and Pinot Nero cuvées bottled under the Case Via label. The Pinot Noir reflects the influences on Giovanni's wine education, having grown up at a time when Chianti was a much derided region, and he looked abroad to Burgundy, among other regions, for inspiration. The Pinot Noir vines were planted in 1985, as were the Syrah vines, during a period of youthful experimentation for Manetti.  The Syrah is one of the best examples of this varietal made in Italy and can rival the Flaccianello in quality in great vintages.

Fontodi also makes a Vinsanto, an Italian dessert wine, this is a blend of malvasia and sangiovese grapes which are naturally air dried on straw mats until December.  After a soft pressing the wine is aged for four years in four different kinds of wood (oak, chestnut, cherry and juniper) in cask that vary also in age and capacity.  This wine has a yellow-golden color and a delicate fragrance of honey and hazelnuts.  On the palate it is dry, warm, fragrant but suitably soft.