We’re starting 2017 with determination and optimism—determined to drink well every single day, and optimistic that we can make that happen. This wine, a perfectly cellared Tuscan red with bottle age at an amazing price, keeps us on that righteous path.
I pulled this bottle from my cellar while my parents were visiting for Thanksgiving. It was 1/4th to 1/10th the price of the various top-tier Burgundies and Champagnes already open on the table, and with virtually no press or reputation to precede it. I’ve been a fan of Ceretto-Libri for a few years and was curious to taste for myself, but mostly I was trying to placate my father, an unabashed Tuscan wine lover. Much to everyone’s surprise, this modestly priced Chianti embarrassed every other wine on the table. Furthermore, it bested many of the great (and stratospherically priced) Brunellos and Tuscan classics I tasted in 2016. This is a brilliant, timeless, and incredibly delicious wine—every bit on par with the top wines in all of Italy. I wish we had a thousand cases of this beauty.
Enjoying a bottle of this truly mesmerizing Chianti Rùfina from Cerreto-Libri is like drinking the history of Tuscan wine. This small vineyard has been in the same family’s hands since the 1700s, and its breathtaking ancient cellar is built on top of Etruscan ruins that date back to 500 BCE. In addition to the property’s incredible depth of history, Cerreto-Libri bottles traditional Chianti in a style and class that is virtually extinct in the region. This is as pure, painstakingly handcrafted and terroir-driven a wine as one could ever hope to discover in Tuscany—it’s the real deal. Add to that, nine years of patient maturation in the family’s cool underground cellar and you have one truly special bottle of wine that is ready to drink right now.
Sometimes overlooked, Rùfina is the most northeasterly of all Chianti’s subregions. It is a sun-drenched hilly terrain with balmy summers and vineyards that frequently ripen earlier than neighboring subregions to the south and west. Paradoxically, the handful of flowing rivers that carve up Rùfina also bring cooler nighttime temperatures than the rest of Chianti. The result is a terroir producing wines that are often more robust and masculine than elsewhere in the region, but that also possess impressive detail and finesse. I often think of the best examples of Chianti Rùfina as being a hybrid of the nuance and rusticity of Chianti Classico and the depth and power of Brunello di Montalcino. With less than 25 producers in total, Rùfina stays relatively invisible in the global wine market. The culture of the region is more rural, rustic, and generally more connected to agriculture than luxurious tasting rooms and mass marketing. But despite Rùfina being an underappreciated and perhaps under-resourced region, this offer is proof that its soils and climate possesses all that is necessary to produce truly world class wine at a refreshingly modest price.
Fortunately, Cerreto-Libri grower/winemaker, Andrea Zanfei (who is always shadowed by his wise old canine companion), does nothing to conceal or obscure the purity of this terroir. All fruit on the property is grown in strict accordance with organic and biodynamic principles. Furthermore, there is no sulfur introduced to the juice at any point during vinification. Grapes are simply loaded into a battery of ancient WWII-era concrete fermentation tanks. When fermentation is complete, the wine is left to slowly mature in enormous neutral French oak casks until bottling. There is no filtering, no fining, and hardly any mechanized equipment in the property’s tiny cellar.
The 2007 Cerreto-Libri Chianti Rùfina has a dark crimson center quickly moving to a light garnet and orange reflections on the rim. Aromas are savory, perfumed and highly complex. Notes of cherry blossoms, red currant, dried orange peel, dried roses, thyme, sage, dried tobacco, leather and fresh clay delicately rise above the glass in near perfection. The palate is medium bodied, but with a density and power on the palate that gives the impression of a much richer wine. Flavors of just picked preserved cherries, wild berries, red plums and tobacco dominate the palate, with a supporting cast of dried flowers and a final hint of exotic dried spices. This wine begins to open up after 20 minutes in a decanter and shows best after an hour at roughly 60-65 degrees, which allows its more delicate floral aromatic to remain intact. This is not a simple wine to pour alongside a tomato based pasta dish—it can stand up to much more intense flavors and robust textures. To make the most of this beautiful wine, I recommend pairing with this
Grilled Lamb Chop preparation. Fire up the grill, fill the decanter and strap yourself in.
