Nozzole Chianti Classico is one of those wines that you come to appreciate when you find yourself dining in a restaurant of the sort that you would never go to for the wine list alone. As you become despondent over the pedestrian offerings of domestic Cabs and Chards, you turn the page to find old friends--Jadot Beaujolais, Drouhin "La Foret" Bourgogne Blanc, and Nozzole Chianti Classico. Thank goodness, you say to yourself, for long-standing commercial success.
Nozzole has never been the glitziest of Chianti Classico estates and over the years it has garnered less than its fair share of critical acclaim. Now that the property's owners, Ambrogio and Giovanni Folonari, are no longer involved in the Ruffino company, perhaps their Tenuta di Nozzole will move into the limelight. The very good 2001 vintage in Tuscany provides suitable material for image-raising.
The 2001 Nozzole Chianti Classico Riserva is a very traditional Chianti Classico. It is not a new-oak englossed, fruit-focused wine, and it is not super-ripe. It is medium-bodied with a firm backbone of acidity and deep, concentrated aromas and flavors that are earthy and savory more than fruity; some typical tart cherry is evident on the nose and dark cherry notes come across on the palate, but a smoky, nutty, dusty character that to me is distinctly Chianti is the strongest aromatic strain. Like true, classic Chianti, the wine's texture is dry. But the tannins are ripe, soft and fine-grained, not at all astringent.
The wine's composition is likewise traditional: 91 percent Sangiovese, with 7 percent combined of Canaiolo and Colorino, and 2 percent white grapes, Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia del Chianti. Since 1995, regulations have no longer required white grapes in Chianti Classico, but Nozzole continues to use them, to bring freshness and nuance to the wine, while the two minor red grapes are intended to bring color and suppleness. (And the Sangiovese contributes most of the aromas, flavors and structure.) The wine ferments with ambient yeasts and matures in large Slavonian oak casks of four- to seven-thousand-liter size, as opposed to French oak barrels of 225 liters, which many other producers use. (Nozzole also makes a single-vineyard Chainti Classico Riserva called "La Forra," $40, which ages briefly in two- and three-year old barriques, before subsequently aging in the Slavonian oak vats; despite the oak, this wine is clearly identifiable as Chianti.)
The 2001 Nozzole is a great wine for classic dishes such as roast chicken, hanger steak, grilled sausages, or any rosemary- or sage-infused dish. It has the concentration to live and develop for ten years, becoming softer in texture and more complex in flavor in the process--and no doubt developing the wonderful harmony of flavor and texture that traditional Sangiovese wines can attain. Or you can enjoy it sooner, the next time you find yourself in one of those restaurants with an otherwise uninspired wine list.
89 Points
