2016 Fontodi "Vigna del Sorbo" Chianti Classico Gran Selezione (1.5L)
SKU #1487396
98 points
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna del Sorbo is another benchmark wine from Tuscany that shows the incredible potential of this iconic vintage. This beautiful single-vineyard Sangiovese reveals a graceful side with dark fruit intensity, cherry, plum, fresh violets and tilled earth. Tar, tobacco and licorice appear as delicate background tones, giving more volume and texture to the wine's sensorial impact. Vigna del Sorbo shows its own precise identity that is fiercely faithful to Sangiovese, but that also pushes the boundaries to go beyond our highest expectations of the grape in terms of color, concentration, aromatic complexity and staying power. That's the Panzano magic in a nutshell. (ML)
(7/2019)
97 points
Vinous
The 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna del Sorbo is a wine of tremendous aromatic intensity, freshness and nuance. Sweet floral and spice notes meld into a core of blue/purplish fruit, lavender, licorice and leather, with veins of bright acids that perk things up nicely. Readers need to be patient with the 2016, as it is going to need at least a few years to come into its own. But I have seen this before with Vigna del Sorbo. Sometimes the more reticent vintages turn out the be the most complete and thrilling wines with cellaring. I imagine that will be the case here as well. (AG)
(8/2019)
97 points
Wine & Spirits
Giovanni Manetti’s Gran Selezione Vigna del Sorbo is a standout in 2016, exuding scents of lavender and mint that showcase the vintage’s soaring aromatics. Made entirely of Sangiovese from 40-year-old vines grown on the slopes of Panzano, in the heart of Chianti Classico, it is vibrant and fresh, characteristics Manetti attributes to the significant diurnal shift. It offers taut, fine-grained tannins, some coming from 18 months of aging in French oak barrels (half new), yet the concentrated cherry and raspberry flavors absorb them. Though the wine is immediately appealing for its sheer elegance and resonant red-fruit tones, its intense flavors and muscular tannins will benefit from a few years of cellaring.
(4/2020)