Ottantadue Il Carnasciale 2021

Ottantadue 2021
Il Carnasciale
Valdarno, Tuscany
$31.99
$29.99 on 3+

100% Sangiovese

91 pts Wine Advocate
The Il Carnasciale 2021 Valdarno di Sopra Sangiovese Ottantadue is fermented in cement vats and aged in stainless steel. There is 20% whole-cluster fermentation, and some carbonic maceration occurs naturally. Indeed, the bouquet reveals punchy raspberry and wild cherry aromas with some natural spice from the skins. This is a rather concentrated and dark expression of Sangiovese. This wine was not produced in 2020 because the season saw too much rain. This is a 4,800-bottle production.

About Ottantadue

If Sangiovese took the form of red Burgundy or Pinot Noir, this wine would be the place to start.  Purity of varietal character and terroir transparency, this is a wine to not miss and we have very little in stock in what was a drought year and short in production.
  
I visited Il Carnasciale back in June 2017, we were met by the Carnasciale enologist Marco Maffei and winemaker Peter Schilling. Peter showed us the home vineyard "Carnasciale", healthy and green in the warm June sun with shoots and leaves rising up from the small goblet trained old wood of the vines. 

As a treat, we also got to taste a new third wine made from 100% Sangiovese called Ottantadue from the 2015 vintage. This was also very good, but clearly a different grape and a different spin on Sangiovese. In a clear glass bottle that reveals a pure, vibrant red color, it is a stripped-down, pure version of Sangiovese, unlike anything I have ever tried. The Ottantadue showed little influence of wood and instead focused on the fruit, spice, texture and raw components of Sangiovese.

• Grapes: 100% Sangiovese
• Soil: planted at 150-175 meters in limestone soils with chalk and sandy components
• Vinification: Vinified in stainless steel
• Maturation: Half aged in 2nd use oak barrels for 12 months, the other half in stainless and then blended