2011 Carpineto Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva 750 ml

Stunning Senior Editor Bruce Sanderson for a Second Straight Year

In 1967, nearly all the wines of Chianti Classico were unmarketable to the global economy. One producer joked with us that during harvest, he instructed pickers to toss seeds as they clipped bunches because “wheat was more valuable than Sangiovese.” As is so often the case with entrepreneurial success stories, enologist Giovanni Carlo Sacchet and winemaker Antonio Mario Zaccheo chose the apparent least opportune moment to purchase vineyard land in the heart of Greve in Chianti. They called their new estate “Carpineto.”

Recognizing that the challenges facing Tuscan winegrowers lay both in the vineyards and the cellar, little by little the partners tightened up their grape-growing protocol, replacing high-yielding old clones with newer clones, producing smaller-berries with more concentrated bunches. Over time, they reinvested aggressively, building a state-of-the-art temperature-controlled cellar, allowing them to extend vinification without fear of oxidation, nursing out the red-fruit, floral beauty that is Sangiovese’s calling card. Then Lady Luck paid the partners a visit in the form of a magnificent 156-acre estate perched at 1,000 feet above the Etruscan village of Gaville, with breathtaking views of the Arno.

Fifteen years later, after producing some of Chianti’s top Sangiovese, the duo decided to take on a new project 80 kilometers south in the warmer region of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, just 30 kilometers east of Montalcino. Sacchet and Zaccheo would build another estate pillared on their success in Chianti and attempt to produce the southern region’s finest Sangiovese and Canaiolo.

If you’ve tasted the wines of Carpineto in a great vintage, you know the wines are built on muscularity and elegance. For much of Italy, 2010 was considered legendary, especially in Montalcino, an opinion shared by Robert Parker, Antonio Galloni, and Wine Spectator. In some microclimates, including those 30 miles east of Montalcino in Montepulciano, the 2011 vintage was arguably even more favorable than 2010, yielding uber-ripe Sangiovese with incredible richness and vibrancy. Such was the case for Carpineto’s Vino Nobile estate. After earning the #26 spot on the Wine Spectator “Top 100” for their 2010 Riserva, Sacchet and Zaccheo produced yet another remarkable Riserva in 2011, stunning Senior Editor Bruce Sanderson for a second straight year, again earning 93 points.

Carpineto’s 2011 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva is beautiful dark-ruby to the rim, with enticing aromas of sweet black cherry, crushed violets, earth, and leather. Exuberant and rich on the attack with blackberry currant, spices, and dark chocolate. Velvet-like tannins and chiseling acidity suggest a cellar-worthy red to either forget about for the next 5-10 years or enjoy now.

For those of you who have traveled to Tuscany and fallen in love with the wild-berry intensity and seductive aromatics of the region’s finest Riservas, but have recently grown tired of the $50-$100 price tags, Carpineto’s 2011 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva is a bargain-hunter’s dream.

$26 today, compared to $55. Shipping included on 4.