2015 Mazzei Castello di Fonterutoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 750 ml

The Tuscan Sommelier’s Choice

After a long day of travel, all we wanted that night in Tuscany was an easy-drinking bottle of red wine we could crush in under an hour. But what we got was the 2015 Marchesi Mazzei Catello di Fonterutolio Chianti Classico Gran Selezione, a dynamite red that set the tone for our entire trip.

We modified our travel schedule, and found ourselves at the estate’s front door two days later. Standing at the gates, which surrounded an “estate” more the size of a village than a winery, it became immediately clear that this was a place of history and accomplishment. It’s been owned by the Mazzei family since 1435, and over the course of 24 generations, the wines have ranked as among the greatest in the region. For several hours that morning, we tasted their stunning range from their Super-Tuscans to the Chiantis. But it was the 2015 Gran Selezione that haunted us throughout. 

It’s a wine we needed to share, and today it’s on our shores thanks to no shortage of hustle— with dual 96-point scores, this crimson red isn’t going to last. 

With its cornucopia of wild berries and dried flowers, all of it cut through with a deep sense of minerality, this is a Chianti that is absolutely classic and alongside standard Italian fare, the wine sang an even more beautiful aria than it did on its own: Typical of Chianti.

We shouldn’t have been surprised: This release is a near mirror-image of the 2013, which Wine Access members snapped up last year. Then came the critic scores: James Suckling awarded the ‘15 96 points, praising the wine as “focused and dialed-in” with “dried violets and lavender, cedar, cloves, vanilla and tobacco.” The Decanter World Wine Awards also gave it 96 points, swooning over its “herbal-led nose and cherry, plum and oak spice notes…Exceptional stuff.” And Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate couldn’t resist chiming in either, noting this Chianti “shows the sharpness and detail that wine is supposed to evoke in the best vintages.” 

Modern, yet traditional, this is a wine that sings of its terroir and of the top-end processes behind creating it. The Gran Selezione level of Chianti Classico was created as a way of expressing the best that a particular vintage has to offer. The wines must be produced from estate-grown fruit, follow the stringent guidelines set forth by the Chianti Classico Consortium, and then aged for an extended period of time—more than 30 months. That extended aging lends this garnet red a softness not seen in standard “Chianti Classico” bottlings, and a fusion of red fruit flavors, spice, and integrated tannins that’s hard to beat. 

Months after our visit, after tasting dozens of Chiantis we remain convinced: the 2015 Mazzei Castello di Fonterutolio Chianti Classico Gran Selezione is one of the greatest bottlings of the style that was produced in 2015. The work required to craft such a transporting wine—it’s the result of 40 years of research across 120 separate blocks and 36 different clones of Sangiovese, of which 18 are unique to Fonterutoli—paid off huge dividends in 2015. It would be a steal at twice the price. Thankfully for Wine Access customers, you don’t have to worry about that.