Castello della Paneretta Vin Santo del Chianti Classico 2001
I was immediately hooked when I read this description of Vin Santo in Vino Italiano:
“Vin Santo is a unique experience, almost like a cross between a wine and a whiskey…the fermentation literally takes years, and no new wine is added during the fermentation and maturation, meaning that over the course of the three-plus years a Vin Santo is required to age, there is some evaporation. The resultant wines are usually a burnished amber.”
While dessert wines generally hold only a small interest to me, after having tried the Vin de Paille from Domaine de Montbourgeau I am fascinated by the concept of dessert wines that are aged for several years and allowed to oxidize to some degree. The incredible wide range of flavors that I experienced in that Vin de Paille has stuck in my mind and left a palpable excitement at the idea of being able to find something similar to that once again.
Most incredibly, the experience of drinking a Vin Santo was actually better than I was prepared for. While out at dinner recently the restaurant offered a selection of dessert wines, including Vin Santo. I couldn’t resist, and was definitely rewarded. The wine was a amberish-gold, the nose spoke of candied fruits and nuts, the palate was filled with flavors. Very exciting indeed. The bottle that I was tasting was from Badia a Coltibuono, and so I began to keep my eyes open for that or other Vin Santos that I might run across.
Shortly thereafter I found one at an interesting little wine shop in the North End named The Wine Bottega. It struck me as one of those shops where they don’t offer a huge selection, but what they do offer is going to be top-notch. So I snatched up a bottle of the one Vin Santo that they had, this Castello della Paneretta Vin Santo del Chianti Classico 2001.
Castello della Paneretta is a small to medium-sized winery in the Chianti Classico zone in Tuscany. They produce about 100,000 bottles annually from the 16 hectares of vineyards that they own. Their portfolio includes seven wines, all of which are reds aside from the Vin Santo. I don’t know how their wines in general, or this Vin Santo in particular, stack up against the spectrum of wines from Tuscany. Unfortunately they were not included in Italian Wines 2008, which perhaps is indicative, I’m not sure. But I’m comfortable giving them the benefit of the doubt, in large part due to the shop I got the bottle from.
The Vin Santo consists of 70% trebbiano and 30% malvasia. The grapes are harvested in September and left to dry on straw mats until January. During those four months the grapes gradually dry out, concentrating their sugars. After pressing the wine, now measuring 16%, is put into small oak casks and left to age for anywhere from three years on up. I’ve seen one Vin Santo in shops that has been aged for 16 years! In the case of Castello della Paneretta the Vin Santo is aged for 5 years before bottling. Notably, the Vin de Paille from Domaine de Montbourgeau that was so good was also a 2001…
The resultant wine is really quite remarkable. The color is amber with rich gold accents. The wine is clearly very viscous as it leaves distinct tears on the side of the glass. The nose is dominated by the scent of walnuts, golden raisins, candied cherries, and a hint of sweet acidity. The wine is thick on the palate, coating your mouth completely, and is much brighter than those would indicate. There is sufficient acidity to brighten the flavors, providing an excellent backdrop for the flavors of raisins, apples, walnuts, and candied pears. The finish starts with a hint of fresh strawberries and raspberries that slowly gives way to a prolonged taste of walnuts. The finish is quite long.
My memories of the Vin de Paille are too long ago to fairly compare this Vin Santo to it. Off the cuff I’m leaning towards saying that the Vin de Paille left me a shade more excited, but that may have less to do with its flavors than with its backstory (I still have a very soft spot in my heart for wines of the Jura). This Vin Santo is very, very good and I feel very lucky to have taken a chance on this bottle. I am especially pleased to know that while I may long to once again have a bottle of Vin de Paille on hand, Vin Santos are much, much easier to find, and at a much better price as well.
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