Castello Di Meleto 2009 Chianti Classico, $10.70-$16.99, 87 points, appears the color of dense cranberry trending plum pink toward the broad transparent rim.
Aromatic notes of sweet and sour plum with a hint of apple and alcohol (13.5%) was not so pleasant.
Hints of mint and tart black cherry flavors are good, but a dominant plum is a bit too strong for my palate.
With considerable air the finish developed firm hot and spicy notes.
The good acidity and moderate tannin were carried smoothly on a near full body.
Note, that I called for a store clerk to open a third case of this wine, because all the corks in the two open cases were slightly protruding, but even the best bottle I could find had corks maybe a 1/32" beyond the rim. The clerk seemed dubious as to my concern. Though the flavor seemed bright enough, and drinking this wine came juxtaposed to finishing the Château Patris Saint Émilion Grand Cru 2009 Bordeaux, which was so much the superior wine, I struggled to be as judicious as possible.
Still, not a bad red table wine for less than $11.00!
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Dennis,
ReplyDeleteNever seen this bottle or heard of the producer. I am generally wary of unknown, inexpensive Chianti. A producer recently told me that Antinori stopped buying a lot of fruit from Chianti. They used to bottle "Villa Antinori" as a Chianti Classico and now it's just an IGT. As a result, lots of growers are looking elsewhere to sell their fruit.
This one sounds as though the acids/alcohol were a bit out of balance and given the nature of Sangiovese, that can be a bad thing.
And, as for the last of many points you brought up in one such small post - I don't know what ticks me off more - that I sometimes know more about wine than the people selling it, or that the wine may have been subjected to heat. I can't stand when clerks are clueless.
But then again, maybe I'm just a little cantankerous today. :)
John, anyone with as good a disposition as you have has the RIGHT to a little cantankerousness; I just hope that I'll always see through it and see the goooood guy that I can tell you are. After all, you've been mentoring a doltish novice like me for what, 2 yrs.? Always gracious and helpful, you are!
DeleteThanks,
Dennis
You're too kind my friend. On another note, my recent report on 2008 Barolo might catch your fancy. But after all those Nebbiolo, I'm ready for some Sangiovese.
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