The new vintages?



With the Chianti Classico Collection now in the past, our thoughts go straight to the calendar and the imminent release on the market of the new vintages, given the impatience shown by those who tasted them in the preview: Brolio 2018, Brolio Riserva 2017 and Brolio Bettino 2017 will be available from 20 March, 2020. This is a date underlined in red on all the calendars at Brolio because our hospitality season also begins again on the same date.

Here are some short tasting notes of the three wines and some considerations on each related harvest.

Brolio Chianti Classico 2018

Bright ruby red color. The nose is marked by hints of small red fruits, irises and violets. In the mouth, elegant, with velvety tannins well integrated with acidity. Persistent finish, expression of the territory of Brolio.

These few lines, like the subsequent ones related to the other two wines, come directly from the Brolio laboratory where for many years now our technicians have been studying and researching the olfactory and tasting profiles of our wines. So not only poetry and sensations, but certain and proven data from know-how and technology.

About the 2018 vintage, our faithful readers will most likely remember the posts (13.09.2018 and 27.09.2018), of which the following is a significant excerpt:

(…) The month of August was irregular and treacherous, because while temperatures were always standard for the season there were frequent and full rain showers, with 63 mm of rainfall. For those of us who remember the drought of last year, this simple, small figure is amazing! Fortunately, this unusual weather pattern worked to the advantage of the grapes in their natural ripening. And most importantly, the plants never went into water stress and are perfectly healthy, down to the grape clusters.

It is a pleasure to reread passages referring to the harvests of past years and rediscover the emotions of those days. 

The 2017 harvest, on the other hand, was of a different kind: it is impossible to forget such a hot and dry summer, and at the time we wondered right here in the magazine (post of 14.09.2017) about what the wines deriving from that complicated harvest would be like. Well, now we can see that our many and well-founded fears can be put aside, because when work in the vineyard is done well, the results inevitably arrive.

Brolio Chianti Classico Reserve 2017

Intense ruby red color. Rich and complex nose, which recalls ripe red fruits, spices and sweet notes of vanilla. In the mouth it is voluminous, with structured, appreciable tannins. Long and persistent finish.

Finally, Brolio Bettino Chianti Classico 2017, for which the same considerations on the season and the harvest apply, but below are the notes of our laboratory.

Ruby red color. On the nose hints of amarena cherry, balsamic and spicy notes. While in the mouth at first sweet and soft, the finish is savory and persistent. The aftertaste confirms the harmony of the olfactory impressions, confirming in this wine all the typicality of the terroir of Brolio.

Although it is not time for scores and guides, we would like to point out that in the Falstaff tasting on Central Tuscany, Brolio Bettino 2017 got 93/100.

Unfortunately, we still have to wait a month, but the countdown has begun and there are only 30 days to go!