Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva 2019

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 "She also knew that she herself probably read more than was healthy for her, set too much store by reading, had a kind of neurotic obsession with literature and its supposed moral benefits." 

When I have reached page 52 of Jonathan Coe's Middle England I was confronted with a cruel reality that may affect me as well. Unsure about my rather obsessive behaviour and how it seems to get even more obsessive as I am getting older I have run to my girlfriend and asked whether I was, by any chance, close to such a state. She coldly said I was already stranded there. For a long time. And with wine as well.

I am not going to pretend that I got shocked with the answer as I was already suspecting that something similar would be coming.  

It is, somehow, true, I have to recognize.


The diversity of offers in what respects the book and the wine market are, to a certain extent, very similar.

You have an almost non-ending offer of styles, different quality levels (in this case books win as prices tend not to escalate as much), different origin countries and authors, in sum, a bit of everything for every possible mood you may have.

Both with wine and books I am quite a moody person. 

As I have started reading Coe's novel about Brexit, I was definitely needing this perfect humouristic narrative and witty criticism to cheer me up in this long Hamburg's winter. 

As the main characters are often portrayed drinking wine in a rather selected middle upper class intellectual environment, I have decided to open something that I thought it would match the atmosphere created by Coe, even though it never does a reference to a specific wine throughout the book. 

This was a pure unconscious choice, simply inspired by my own personal perception of the book. 

Going to the wine, this is exactly what you should expect from a good Chianti. 

Produced by one of the most iconic wineries in Tuscany, it had a tremendous depth, with clear and lively red fruits with slight iron on it. It also had very pronounced spices which made it tremendously fascinating and it has made it a perfect background to a major part of my reading time. 

I was only a bit sad of already opening this bottle as I think it still has quite a lot of aging potential, eventually developing fascinating tertiary aromas in a near future. But now there is no turning back.  At least for this one bottle. 

If there is a Tuscan wine which would sum what a Chianti Classico should be, this could really be the one. 

Just as a small side note, I have been noticing that Chianti has been seen by a large segment of the German market as something not too good, mainly due to the massive consumption of cheaper ones in the 70s and 80s in the typical Fiasco bottles.  

As a salesman I do find it hard to invert this idea, even though I do am a fan of Chianti in general and I believe it is a  style of wine which belongs to everyone's private collection. 

But that is just me. 

 

By the way, as I am finishing writing this post I have both finished the book and the bottle and I am already ready to embark in new worlds.  

 

16/20
Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany
Grapes: Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
Winemaker: Renzo Cotarella
14%
Link: https://www.antinori.it/de/vino/marchese-antinori-de/?wineyear=2019

 

Location: Hamburg, Germany

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