Tonight, to accompany a dinner of ravioli with a homemade tomato sauce, I opened a bottle of the 1997 Tenuta Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva. This decision was motivated in part by seeing the eponymous Antinori in Mondovino this week, and in part to see how the ballyhooed '97 vintage in Tuscany would hold up in the glass. My experience with Chianti over the years has largely been a sad one, having learned the hard way of the highly variable quality of the region; hope springs eternal, though, so on to the wine:
color: dark garnet with no sign of browning nose: pencil shavings, dusty cherries, later developing into more funky, tobacco-like notes palate: crisp entry, rich cherry fruit in the midpalate with good acidity, some tannins left and a rich finish; later on, the flavors became less primary, with some barnyard and tobacco competing with the fruit
Overall, this is easily one of the best CCRs I've had. It had enough fruit for even a CalCab lover to enjoy, and the acids -- while copious
-- were kept in balance. It paired well with the tomato sauce and, surprisingly, also with the smoked andouille with onions and red peppers that accompanied the pasta. The wine clearly has another 5-10 years ahead of it and one should be in no hurry to drink it. To my taste, it was better an hour after decanting than it was to begin the evening. On the basis of this bottle, I can hardly wait to try some of my other '97s.
Mark Lipton