2016 Castello di Fonterutoli Chianti Classico Ser Lapo Riserva

Bay leaf and taut red fruit, the sense of a wine pulled tight and fine across the tongue. Herbs, home-dried, twisted into the ropes of flavour sinew, along with cedary oak and dried cherry and raspberry sherbet. Very fine tannins. You could, at a push, pair this with fish in a rich tomato sauce. It pings with energy.  GV  as a part of a special mixed case that Petersham Cellar is doing at the moment. (TC)

Here's a terrific wine, at a reasonable price point, that gives you an authentic albeit contemporary taste of Tuscany. The 2016 Chianti Classico Riserva Ser Lapo (made with 90% Sangiovese and 10% other red varieties including Merlot) reflects the best qualities of this classic vintage with sharp lines, good freshness and delineated contours. The wine shows a tight core of black fruit surrounded by softer layers of spice and smoke at the edges. Some 175,000 bottles were made.

The 2016 Chianti Classico Riserva Ser Lapo is bold, rich and full of energy. Super-ripe red cherry, kirsch, wild flowers, mint, blood orange and spice all run through the 2016. Bright acids keep the flavors bright, with all of the juiciness that is such a Fonterutoli signature very much front and center.