Marchesi Antinori Tignanello 2021, Toscana IGT

Marchesi Antinori Tignanello is one of the most influential wines in modern Italian history. It comes from the Tignanello vineyard on the Antinori family’s Tenuta Tignanello estate in Chianti Classico, a hillside at 350 to 400 metres on limestone-rich marl. First made in 1970 and named Tignanello from 1971, it was the first Sangiovese aged in small barriques and among the first Tuscan reds to blend in Cabernet and leave out white grapes, helping to create the Super Tuscan style. Today the blend is mostly Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, aged for over a year in mostly new French oak, then further time in bottle. It is only released in favourable vintages.

Tignanello is intense ruby red, with ripe cherry, red berries and violet on the nose, followed by spice, cocoa and fine graphite notes. The palate is juicy, deep and elegant, with silky tannins, lively acidity and a long, savoury finish.

Pair it with bistecca alla fiorentina, roast lamb, wild boar ragù, porcini dishes or aged pecorino. Decant an hour ahead and serve at 16 to 18°C. Tignanello is approachable young but rewards patience, ageing beautifully for fifteen to twenty years.

Few names carry as much weight in Italian wine as Antinori. The family joined the Florentine Winemakers’ Guild in 1385 and has run the business directly for twenty-six generations, from the Palazzo Antinori in the centre of Florence. Over the centuries it has gathered some of Italy’s great estates, from Tenuta Tignanello in Chianti Classico to Tenuta Guado al Tasso on the Bolgheri coast. Antinori is famous for pushing Tuscan wine forward: in the 1970s Tignanello became the first Sangiovese aged in small oak barriques and one of the first Tuscan reds blended with Cabernet, helping to launch the style now known as Super Tuscan. The approach remains the same: respect for tradition, matched by a willingness to experiment.