This is my second chianti review, so I'm assuming it'd be a nice opportunity to dig deeper into the always interesting world of chianti. This is a Chianti Classico, which means it comes from the original area of Chianti in Tuscany. When you read just "Chianti" on the wine label, its referring to the expanded area around the Chianti Classico region that started the blend. The wine is also a single-vineyard wine, hence the "Croce" name after the wine producer name, Terrabianca. Single-vineyard wines are supposedly of higher quality and concentration than multi-vineyard wines (of course, this is just another wine-world generalization.)So lets get to it. I'll start off by saying that a 2005 chianti is a little bit on the older side for a chianti, they're typically meant to be had younger than this one. It was also in a magnum, 1.5 liter bottle, so we had to let it breath for about an hour before drinking it.
Its color was nice, dark red with a slim orange hue on the outer rim. What struck me in the color was that it was a burgundy red, however the color burgundy, as far as I know, is exclusive to French Burgundy wines. I don't know why that is, but hey, I'm a novice here, despite what you may think.
The nose is where this wine got me (as most chiantis will.) This particular wine is composed of 97% sangioveto and 3% canaiolo grapes. The sangioveto grape is a genetic clone of the sangiovese grape, allowing for the deep and complex aromas, while the canaiolo is responsible for bringing acidity, body, and color to the rest of the wine. I was bull-rushed with forest-green notes deep within the bouquet, an elegant tobacco from the light oak, and a possible mint/cedar combination coming in at the end. There was also the scent of dried, dark fruits up front, probably what you'd notice at first if you don't look for anything else. It was a fun wine to sniff while it was opening up in the glass.
The flavor was great, displaying aged fruits including: ripe plums, blackberries, and raspberries. The raspberry might be debatable, but I'm not too familiar with wild forest berries, which is what I assume that flavor really was. There were some light tannins, that honestly, by glass four, got to me. Luckily I had some cheesy lasagna to break them down. As most chiantis are, this chianti was also on the lighter side, but it had enough body to be considered a medium-bodied wine.
I enjoyed the wine a lot, then again, its hard to have a bad wine when my father's the one picking the wine for dinner. As the two of us had a final glass of the wine together outside with a cigar, he told me something pretty nice. We had spent the entire meal discussing this wine, figuring it out, noticing the little nuances as they unfurled with our meal, but my father told me, "Wine... wine is like a woman. As soon as you figure it out, you're lost all over again. It's such a mysterious thing... so in the end the important thing is to just enjoy it while it lasts." Boy my dad sure is profound by the end of the bottle. He's right though, with each glass the wine showed something else, and as soon as we thought we got it- something else would come out of no where, forcing us to start all over again. What really mattered is that we had a good time breaking it down. 'Till next time, guys!
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