2021 Chianti Classico San Lorenzo Gran Selezione
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Tasting Notes
The fruit for Castello di Ama’s San Lorenzo Gran Selezione comes from across their four vineyards (Bellavista, Casuccia, Montebuoni and the eponymous San Lorenzo), with the blend combining around 80% Sangiovese with Merlot and Malvisa Nera. A deep and luminous red colour, this is intense, brilliant, complex and profound on the nose: red dark fruit (blackcurrant and redcurrant, plum, cherry) at the beginning then mineral notes, with leather, liquorice, tobacco and hint of mint at the end. It’s smooth, but fresh (very interesting acidity), intense and elegant, especially on the finish – guaranteed to be powerful and complex in the future. Tasted with larded lamb, this was simply perfect.
Critic Scores
Average Score
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
This is really perfumed and gorgeous, with black cherries, blackcurrants and violets. Full-bodied with totally integrated tannins and a palate presence that is pretty spectacular. Wonderful finish. Give this three or four years. Try after 2027.
This wine represents a selection of the best Sangiovese sourced from various plots with a tiny addition of Merlot and Malvasia Nera. The Castello di Ama 2021 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione San Lorenzo takes a few extra moments to open in the glass, but unlike the La Casuccia that holds back, this wine comes into full view quickly enough. The wine's flavor profile is a little meatier and fuller, and this could be linked to the warm vintage conditions. San Lorenzo is a generous wine, and it is a bottle you can enjoy in the medium or long term.
The 2021 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Castello di Ama San Lorenzo is packed with dark red fruit, licorice, spice, leather and graphite. This is a decidedly patent, backward Gran Selezione. Clean mineral notes extend the finish, presaging a brilliant future. The sculpted style is hugely appealing. Here, too readers will have to be patient, as the 2021 is very young
About the producer
Castello di Ama is one of the pre-eminent estates in Chianti Classico. Situated in the southern-most district of the appellation, the estate has only been making wine since the late 1970s but has since built a reputation as one of the region’s best.