Producer

Mazzei

I have reviewed three wines from Mazzei, from the 2015 to 2017 vintages, across Toscana and Chianti Classico. All are Sangiovese. Scores range from 95 to 96, averaging 96; the highest is the 2017 Mazzei “Siepi” Toscana (96 points).

The Mazzei family has made wine at Castello di Fonterutoli in Castellina in Chianti since 1435, and it was an ancestor, Ser Lapo Mazzei, who wrote the first known document mentioning “Chianti,” in 1398. The estate combines centuries of tradition with modern technology; its gravity-flow cellar is an architectural landmark.

The Castello Fonterutoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione comes from the estate’s oldest and highest vineyards around Castellina, where limestone — fairly rare in Chianti — gives depth and structure. Aged 18 months in French oak, it is bold and complex, with black cherry, violets, graphite and Mediterranean herbs. MIX 36 is the fruit of more than three decades of research: a blend of 36 different Sangiovese biotypes, and its 2015 was the last vintage before the wine took the Gran Selezione name.

Siepi, a 50/50 blend of Sangiovese and Merlot, is one of Italy’s original Super Tuscans and proof that the blend need not lose its Tuscan soul: the Merlot brings dark chocolate and blackberry, the Sangiovese a crunchy core of blood orange, wild mint and iron, all on a vertical spine of acidity.