Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Villa Rosa of Cecchi Family

The complete vertical of a wine that, though young, has already made its mark in the world of Chianti Grand Selections. Occasion: the Cecchi family's 130 years as entrepreneurs in the wine business.

One might begin with the classic phrase: the year ran ... and we have to go back to 1893, the year that saw the progenitor Luigi Cecchi become a professional taster and négociant of Tuscan wine. 130 years later, the family business is firmly in the hands of Andrea, fourth generation, studies in agriculture, who has personally overseen the major changes the winery has faced over the past 30 years. Always focused on Sangiovese and its expressions, the last decades have seen the growth of the estates project with a very strong rooting on different territories.

It is a case of recalling the series of acquisitions that allowed the company to change its face: in 1996 Valle delle Rose in Maremma. "A 'transversal' area, where not only Sangiovese reigns," says Andrea Cecchi. "Proof of this is the Vermentino project, started in 2000, to answer the question of what would be the Tuscan white grape of the future. Then the internationals."

In 1998 it was the turn of Montefalco, in Umbria, where Tenuta Alzatura was born, which in 25 years has made it possible to understand how in this area more than the grape variety (as was thought at first) the territory counts, which for Andrea Cecchi translates into Rosso Doc, the classic blend of Sangiovese and Sagrantino with the addition of Merlot, and into Trebbiano Spoletino.

But of course the heart continues to beat in Chianti Classico, specifically in Castellina, where the company headquarters and the Villa Cerna property, purchased in 1962, is located. Cecchi immediately embraces the Gran Selezione project as an expression of territoriality and decides that for such a territorial project an ad hoc estate project had to be created. Hence the acquisition in 2015 of the historic Villa Rosa, also in Castellina, a purchase long advocated by Giulio Gambelli, who produced wine there for the previous owners, the Lucherini Bandini family. 

The property is located within the cypress grove of Sant'Agnese, the oldest in Europe, at an altitude ranging from 255 to 425 meters, and wine has always been produced there. The Cecchi family felt it was the ideal place to launch the estate's first Grand Selection.

Galestrous schist soils, 27 hectares of vines, partly replanted. Five bodies planted with vines: Casetto, from 2001, the highest, with the greatest identity imprinting; Palagione, the historic '65, multivarietal vineyard; Villa, the most recent; Fornace and Ribaldoni, where vineyard renewal is underway with the current best clonal selections of Sangiovese.

We tasted the 5 vintages produced; they are 100% Sangiovese with maturation in 5- and 7-hl tonneaux, followed by a period of rest in cement after blending and a year of bottle aging. The oenological consultant is Carlo Ferrini. 

Andrea Cecchi said, "We researched what we think should be the characteristics of a Grand Selection: longevity, finesse, elegance."

Click on the name to read the review:

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• Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Villa Rosa 2019
• Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Villa Rosa 2018
• Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Villa Rosa 2017
• Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Villa Rosa 2016
• Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Villa Rosa 2015

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