Not a huge Riserva guy, but this thing brings on fairly serious wonder for fans of pure Sangio. Kinda shocked at the age–it has developed nearly ZERO tertiary–displaying pitch-perfect youthful acidity and tinniness start-to-finish. Nose is solidly old-world, with clean rusticity pouring out on top of thin cherry fruit and a charming bit of funk.

On the palate, more cleanliness abounds: it is gracious and mouth-filling while seriously restrained. No stand-a-fork-up-in-it concentration or woodiness here: oak is basically non-existant, while shocking cranberry and meager pie-cherry ply shards of acidity throughout. There’s a solemn tone to the finish, though, making up for its lack of extravagance with careful placement of petrichor and delicate berry inside a tannin-package not overwhelming, but dedicated enough in its balance to cause attention. *Wet-cellar* in the final grips strong enough to almost consider ‘corked’, but it is not, and only brings the beauty of classical Italian wines into perspective. My gut is this is a huge house with probably rather watered-down offerings for the general non-discriminating public, but the “1435” and 13-point-MF-oh are all the convincing I need to give them fair shot. I would say this is a nearly timeless wine, with two decades to go rather easily, but you need to love Sangiovese. You don’t have to love Chianti, but you must love Sangio.

2012 MARCHESI MAZZEI ‘Ser Lapo’ Sangio/ME 90/10 Classico Riserva Chianti DOCG 13-0

https://us.mazzei.it/