Antinori – Tignanello 2009
A signature wine falls a bit short of the mark – can a winemaker producing vast quantities of mid-priced wines make a truly great wine?
November 5, 2016

Marchesi Antinori is an Italian wine company that can trace its history back to 1385 and today is one of the biggest wine companies in Italy. Tignanello is the top Super Tuscan wine produced by Antinori, so our expectations were high. The wine was made from 80% Sangiovese, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Cabernet Franc and was fermented in small French and Hungarian oak barrels for approximately 16-18 months. Although I don’t have production quantities for this wine, the fact that it was produced from a parcel of 140 acres indicates that production is considerable. The wine is generally available at most fine wine retailers for prices averaging about $100/ btl. My wife and I enjoyed the Tignanello at a local Italian restaurant, La Villetta which is located on east 52nd street in New York City.
Although we did not decant this wine, the nose still presented with hints of leather and sweet wood. It also had an earthy bouquet that had that indistinguishable aroma of Sangiovese. I Nelson Charles Earle Director of Wine Research & Strategy www.wines-earle.com Domaine Notes November 5, 2016 2 GATES Capital Corporation thought the wine was dark in color and had some good initial tannins on the back palate. It did not appear to be especially complex at first and had a faster finish than I would have liked. Over the next hour the wine did become a bit fuller and sweeter, as the sangiovese began to better express itself and it did not overpower the food. While we felt the wine became bigger with time, it did not reach the level we were expecting from Antinori’s top wine and it never extended the length of its finish. It was also hard to be impressed with the structure of this wine, as it more resembled good Chianti rather than Antinori’s top Super Tuscan. Perhaps this was an off year but the wine was clearly a disappointment, as we had expected a much more complex wine with competing flavors of Sangiovese and Cabernet vying for attention on the palate. Overall I would have to give this wine a CW 88 rating as it was a clear disappointment.
Although we did not decant this wine, the nose still presented with hints of leather and sweet wood. It also had an earthy bouquet that had that indistinguishable aroma of Sangiovese. I Nelson Charles Earle Director of Wine Research & Strategy www.wines-earle.com Domaine Notes November 5, 2016 2 GATES Capital Corporation thought the wine was dark in color and had some good initial tannins on the back palate. It did not appear to be especially complex at first and had a faster finish than I would have liked. Over the next hour the wine did become a bit fuller and sweeter, as the sangiovese began to better express itself and it did not overpower the food. While we felt the wine became bigger with time, it did not reach the level we were expecting from Antinori’s top wine and it never extended the length of its finish. It was also hard to be impressed with the structure of this wine, as it more resembled good Chianti rather than Antinori’s top Super Tuscan. Perhaps this was an off year but the wine was clearly a disappointment, as we had expected a much more complex wine with competing flavors of Sangiovese and Cabernet vying for attention on the palate. Overall I would have to give this wine a CW 88 rating as it was a clear disappointment.