TENUTA TIGNANELLO 'Tignanello' by Antinori - IGT Toscana 2021 Bottle

Description

Tignanello 2021 is a remarkable expression and a celebration of this iconic Tuscan wine, receiving 98 points from The Wine Advocate. It showcases an exceptional blend of 79% Sangiovese, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 8% Cabernet Franc, exhibiting a vibrant bouquet of tart redcurrant, tea leaf, and crushed white pepper. The palate is full-bodied and rich, revealing flavours of blood orange, licorice, and nutmeg, all wrapped in silky, integrated tannins. Vinous also rates it 98 points, praising its exceptional finesse and harmonious balance. Decanter scores it 93 points, highlighting aromas of menthol and fresh hedgerow berries. This vintage combines depth with elegance, making it perfect for enjoyment now or cellaring for years to come.

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Tignanello was a milestone in Tuscany and is one of the most iconic wines to come out of Italy. It was the first Sangiovese to be aged in barriques, the first contemporary red wine blended with untraditional varieties (specifically Cabernet) and considered one of the best of all the Super-Tuscan wines and certainly one of the most sought after.

THE WINE ADVOCATE 98 points
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
Drink Date: 2025 - 2048
First made in 1971, this legendary Italian wine now celebrates its 50th birthday. Happy Birthday, Tignanello! The Marchesi Antinori 2021 Tignanello (made with 79% Sangiovese, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Cabernet Franc) pulls on all the heartstrings. To be released in May, the wine shows a quintessentially pretty taste profile with tart fruit flavors, redcurrant, tea leaf, heritage rose, crushed white pepper, licorice, nutmeg, clove and chopped mint. It opens slowly to reveal more richness and exuberance with time, becoming downright voluptuous and heady a short while later. The through line, however, remains the bright freshness and minerality of Sangiovese. Compared to the 2018 vintage (which I also loved), this vintage has more overall fruit weight and volume.

Marchesi Antinori General Manager Renzo Cotarella tells me that 2021 is the best vintage he has ever overseen. Ever. He prefers it to recent classics like 2016 and 2010. There was frost in the spring, and the growing cycle was very long. This is something that most grapes, and especially Sangiovese, need in order to exhibit aromatic depth and flavor complexity. "This is an exceptional year," he says, citing the inner energy certainly exhibited by the wines from 2021.

I agree, mostly, but not unequivocally. I love the precision and tension inherent to these wines, but I didn't encounter that same breathless vertical lift and linearity that I remember so well in 2016, for example. That was a vintage that managed to effortlessly balance both power and elegance, which is by no means an easy feat. To me, 2021 has the elegance but not the same piercing power that you only get in cooler vintages when sugar and phenolic ripening line up seamlessly. So, while I love these wines, especially the Chianti Classico Riserva Marchese Antinori and the outstanding Tignanello, my money is still on 2016 as the better vintage, speaking generally. But zoom in on one wine and my money is on the 2021 Tignanello over everything else.
Published: Mar 21, 2024

VINOUS 98 points
The 2021 Tignanello is every bit as impressive from bottle as it was from barrel and then just after bottling. Silky and polished, with exceptional finesse, the 2021 has all the pedigree to become a modern benchmark for Tignanello and Italian wine more broadly. Bright dark red fruit, blood orange, spice, cedar and sweet pipe tobacco all soar out of the glass, framed by a discreet touch of French oak that adds raciness. In some vintages, the elements are discernible. In 2021, it is the total harmony of the wine that makes the strongest and deepest impression. The 2021 spent 17 months in wood, three months in neutral oak during the malolactic fermentation and then 14 months (50% new) for the rest of its aging. Superb. - Antonio Galloni

DECANTER 93 points
Tasted by: James Button (at Windsor, 30 Jul 2024)
Drinking Window: 2025 - 2036
Among this estate's 130 hectares of vines in San Casciano Val di Pesa are the Tignanello and Solaia vineyards. This Riserva is fermented in stainless steel, undergoing a spontaneous malolactic fermentation and ageing in French and Hungarian oak barriques for 12 months before bottling. An old vintage, 2010, impressed us all in 2023 by topping the leaderboard at our ‘Ageing Chianti Classico’ panel tasting, and this 2021 equally has plenty of potential. It oozes with menthol, fresh hedgerow berries and some baked currants. There's plenty of fruit intensity, backed by well integrated wood structure, and it keeps quite a vertical profile in the mouth which helps to belie its density. Powdery tannins coat the cheeks, balanced by fresh acidity, while the inherent juiciness of the fruit waits to be unlocked with time.