Back in family hands, Chianti’s Ricasoli again makes top wines
By
John Schreiner
October 24, 2005
Grape growers in Tuscany since 1141, the Ricasoli family is one of the great names in Chianti.
Barone Bettino Ricasoli, who was Italy’s second prime minister in the 1850s, is better remembered as the “inventor” of Chianti. He was the man who laid down the rules for making Chianti. The primary rule is that the wine is made from Sangiovese and Canaiolo Nero grapes.
The quality of Ricasoli’s Brolio Chianti Classico was so high for many years that the winery achieved what writer Hugh Johnson once called first growth status.
In the mid 1970s, control of Ricasoli was taken over by Canada’s Seagrams spirits empire. The rationale was that Seagrams had the capital that this historic producer needed for its rejuvenation.
The reality is that Seagrams began to run Ricasoli into the ground. Burton Anderson, in Vino, his 1980 book on Italian wines, grumbled gently: “Although the price of Brolio riserva remained at the top of its category, the quality, perhaps, had not.” And Hugh Johnson in 1983 wrote that the winery’s first growth reputation was “in eclipse.”
When Seagrams began exiting its wine investments in the 1980s, Ricasoli now ended up in the hands of the Hardy wine company from Australia. God knows why. The Australians simply exacerbated Ricasoli woes.
No one was more pained by this than Francesco Ricasoli, the current Barone (he is the 32nd to hold that title). He had been pursing a successful career as an advertising photographer when, in 1990, he took charge of the vineyards which the family owned at Brolio Castle.
Three years later, the Australians, bruised by the losses they were racking up, decided to get out of Chianti. Francesco Ricasoli was able to bring the wine business back under the family’s control. He has been cleaning up the mess ever since, replanting most of the 250 hectares of vineyard and totally rebuilding the antique winery.
What strikes me about that story is the déja vu that is occurring currently. There now are four or five giant wine groups in the world, such as Constellation Brands and Foster’s, that are going around “rationalizing” the industry, which is another way of saying they are chasing the lowest common denominator.
Constellation bought Mondavi last year and has been busy at dismembering it, in a process that should produce a few good quarters. In the long run, however, Mondavi is likely to suffer the same fate that Ricasoli did because the giant wine conglomerates are all about manufacturing good results for pension fund managers and mediocre wine for the masses.
Francesco Ricasoli recently was in Canada, showing off his turnaround wines to the wine media and to restaurateurs.
His entry level wine is Ricasoli Toscano IGT 2003 (IGT is simply an acronym that means table wine), which is currently listed at $19, with a $4 a bottle price reduction coming in November. At the lower price, it is good value. It is a light to medium-bodied red, an uncomplicated wine that would be good with pizza. And it is a nice change of pace from the heavy Australian reds in this price range.
Brolio Chianti Classico 2003 ($28) is Ricasoli’s meat and potatoes red, a Chianti with spicy red fruit, mineral notes and good weight on the palate. This a particularly good vintage because the winery did not think its wines quite made the cut for its super-premium labels. Those wines were diverted to the less expensive label to the delight of Chianti fans. I scored this 86 points.
The flagship wine here is Castello di Brolio Chianti Classico, first produced in 1997 when Francesco Ricasoli was getting the family firm launched on its comeback. In Vancouver, he showed four vintages of this wine. The one in the market is the 2000 vintage, which sells for $55 a bottle.
These are wines of understated power and elegance. The 1997 vintage (90 points) is plump and savoury. The 1999 (90 points) has spicy berry aromas, flavours of plums and prunes and good concentration on the palate. The 2000 (87 points) has bright cherry aromas and flavours, decent concentration but is just a trifle short. The 2001 (89+) moves the style up a notch with a total of 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blended with the Sangiovese. This wine has all the elegance of the earlier vintages, with the added touch of a core of sweet fruit on the palate. I suspect it would score higher in a couple of years.
Without a doubt, Francesco Ricasoli has saved a great family winery from the oblivion into which its conglomerate owners had taken it.
goodgrog@shaw.ca
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