[Photo: Lorenza Sebasti and Marco Pallanti, producers of the Chianti Classico San Lorenzo, at their Castello di Ama wine estate in Tuscany.]
A Tuscan wine has made Wine Spectator’s Top Ten in the magazine’s highly awaited annual list of the year’s Top 100 wines.
The Chianti Classico San Lorenzo Gran Selezione 2010 di Castello di Ama has placed sixth. Produced in Gaiole in Chianti near Siena, where 90 hectares of vineyards churn out 300,000 bottles, this Chianti has achieved a score of 95 out of 100. It costs $52 a bottle on the U.S. market, with 8,000 cases exported to the U.S.
Wine Spectactor describes the Chianti Classico San Lorenzo this way: “Offers a combination of power and elegance, with a racy feel. Notes of wild cherry, strawberry and rose, with leafy, woodsy flavors, permeate this driving red. The finish is long, but this needs time to shed the tannins. Well-defined from start to finish.”
According to Wine Spectator, “Top 100 selections are based on four criteria: quality, value, availability (based on the number of cases made or imported into the U.S.) and the “X-factor” - the excitement generated by the wine. All of the wines are reviewed by Wine Spectator editors in independent blind tastings.”
Italy has scored Wine Spectator’s top position three times: in 2006 with Brunello di Montalcino 2001 of Tenuta Nuova di Casanova di Neri, in 2001 with Ornellaia 1998 of Tenuta dell’Ornellaia, and in 2000 with Solaia 1997 of Antinori (all of them Tuscan).
