Recommendation: Not Recommended1.
Paired With: Pasta with chicken and homemade marinara sauce; Caesar style salad.
Tasting:
He said: Opened one hour before drinking. Dark ruby color. Very light cherry and plum aroma with hints of alcohol. Dry, dark fruit taste that ends in a dusty, smooth, dry finish with lots of mouth puckering acidity. Very drinkable Chianti and I would call it “not bad”; however, at this price point I would not recommend it. For this price it’s just not special and not even in the same ball game as the Caparsino Chianti Classico Riserva 2008 (which is about the same list price).
She said: My first sniff was positive but when I tasted the wine with the marinara sauce I was very turned off. The wine was dreadful! But the marinara sauce was a bit sweet due to a pinch of sugar I had added to balance the acidity of the tomatoes. I was really down on the wine until I tasted it with the very lemony, acidic salad. I completely changed my overall opinion of the wine. It is not a great Chianti but it was very drinkable with the salad. Since the last tasting of this we have had better Chianti in this price range so I no longer recommend it.
Comments: 1We have downgraded this Chianti from a Buy Recommendation to Not Recommended because we have had many better Chianti’s at this same price point since our first tasting of the La Castellina 2007 Chianti Classico.