Description: Intense ruby red colour. Spicy hints of cinnamon and cloves, alongside oaky and piquant peppery aromas. A rounded, creamy, sweet and well-balanced palate throughout the tasting. The aftertaste mainly expresses aromas linked to the ageing period - incense, balsamic hints and more spice.
Robert Parker: Wine Advocate # 177. Jun 2008. Reviewer : Antonio Galloni. Antinori’s flagship Chianti, the 2004 Chianti Classico Riserva Marchesi Antinori, reveals greater depth, vibrancy and freshness. Ripe black cherries, new leather, menthol, smoke and wild herbs flow from this sweet, layered Chianti. The wine is approachable today, but also has the tannic backbone and stuffing to insure another decade or so of very fine drinking. It spent 14 months in small French oak barrels prior to being bottled. Drink: 2009 - 2019.
Wine Spectator: Issue: Oct 15, 2008. Earthy aromas soon blow off to reveal a dense core of crushed black fruit, with hints of bitter herbs and clay. Full- to medium-bodied, with fine, fruit-coated tannins and a medium finish. Offers mature and fascinating Sangiovese character. Drink now. 30,000 cases made.–JS.
Stephen Tanzer: Jul/Aug 07. By Ian D'Agata. Dark ruby. Warm-weather aromas of cherries macerated in alcohol, red berry syrup and prune on the initially obvious nose, then nicely complicated by cinnamon, clove and bay leaf. Rich, ripe and deep, with considerable weight to the overripe fruit and mocha flavors. Finishes with noticeable, mounting tannins.
Vinification: Due to the weather, the selected grapes were harvested about two weeks later than usual for the two main varieties (Sangiovese and Cabernet). After destemming and soft crushing, the grapes were placed in stainless steel vats where alcoholic fermentation took place. The phenolic and aromatic components were slower to be extracted than in the hot dry 2003, and in the cellar this meant longer maceration, slightly higher fermentation temperatures and more frequent racking and délestage. After alcoholic fermentation, malolactic fermentation took place spontaneously by the end of the year when the wine was in French 225-litre barriques used for the second and third time. After malolactic fermentation the wines were selected, blended and replaced in the same barriques for about 14 months. At the end of the ageing period, every single barrique was tasted and the necessary selections made, after which the wine was bottled, and aged in the bottles for another y Alcohol : hol: 13.5 %
