2016 will surely go down as one of the finest vintages for Tuscan wine for many years. Querciabella, the masters of sub-regions and parcel differentiation in Chianti, produced a phenomenal Chianti Riserva in 2016.
Walter Speller MW - places this wine on an exceptionally high pedestal, giving it a top score of 18/20. This was the joint highest score he has given any Chianti Riserva in 2016. Indeed, it outscores all but one Gran Selezione Chianti from 2016 as well! This is hardly surprising as the Riserva is, in spirit, a Gran Selezione. Querciabella do not use the name as they see the restrictions as too lax, so they decided to bottle a wine based on their three very best plots as a Riserva.
This wine is a testament to Querciabella’s Burgundian approach to making Chianti. The winemaker Manfred Ing is meticulous to the point of madness, mapping different parcels – sometimes a single row of vines – and harvesting and vinifying them entirely separately. This labour of love resulted in the discovery of three superlative sites that resulted in the birth of the Riserva with the 2011 vintage: one each in the communes of Greve, Radda, and Gaiole, which each bring distinct characteristics of elegance, power, and concentration. Above all, Querciabella’s signature perfume and energy drive this wine forwards, which will reward anyone strong enough to resist its charms and cellar for well over a decade.
Chianti Classico Riserva 2016 Querciabella
£155 ib ex VAT per 6x75cl
"Beautiful, concentrated ruby. Quite closed and backward, but subtle and complex on the nose. Bags of concentrated fruit and yet super-elegant palate. Vibrant with perfectly built, long, fine tannins. Refreshing and complex."
Walter Speller 18/20
"The 2016 Chianti Classico Riserva is an attractive wine built on aromatics and structure, with the fruit more in the background. It will be interesting to see if it fleshes out with more time in bottle. Sweet red cherry, lavender, rose petal, mint and spice gradually develop in the glass, but the 2016 remains quite reticent. It will be interesting to see if time in bottle brings out more depth. Today, the 2016 is decidedly shy. I very much like the energy here."
Antonio Galloni 93+/100