Nozzole Chianti Classico Sangiovese with Pasta at Italian Village Chicago
Hosting a valued business partner leader, we dined at Italian Village Restaurant, Chicago, our usual locale for such occasions, downtown in the middle of the Loop, merely blocks from our office.
We both ordered the handmade Ravioli pasta, my guest the meat filled pillow shaped pasta, with the red meat bolognese sauce, and I selected the pasta stuffed with cremini and white mushrooms, garlic, ricotta and parmesan cheese with mushroom cream sauce (shown).
We were served by one of the IV veteran long tenured staff, Hans, and Wine Director Jared Gelband who gave my guest and me a quick tour of their magnificent extensive Italian Village wine cellar that serves all three of the IV (Italian Village) restaurants.
To accompany our power lunch, he served from the extensive Wine Spectator Best of Award winelist, glasses from the WBTG offerings - Nozzole, Toscana, DOCG Chianti Classico Riserva - an ideal pairing with our pasta entree dishes.
Nozzole Chianti Classico Riserva, Toscana, DOCG 2018
This 100% Sangiovese is from Villa Nozzole run by owners Ambrogio and Giovanni Folonari, heirs of the historic estate that dates back to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The founder, Lorenzo Folonari, was born in Valtellina in 1729 and moved his family to Val Camonica, where they were entrepreneurs in trade and then producing wine.
In 1882, the brothers Italo and Francesco Folonari moved the company, then known as Fratelli Folonari, from Val Camonica to Bresci.
In 1911, they bought the historic Tuscan winery and producer Ruffino, widely known for its Chianti Classico wines, bottled in traditional wine flasks wrapped in straw.
The Villa di Nozzole, located in the heart of the historic Tenuta di Nozzole, was taken over by the Folonari family in 1971. The classic Renaissance architecture castle and estate overlooking the vineyards, olive groves and surrounding hills dates back to the seventeenth century.
The Nozzole estate produces a broad portfolio of wines starting with this Chianti Classico Riserva sourced from their estate just north of the village of Greve at Passo dei Pecorai in the heart of the Chianti Classico region, and several single vineyard designated premium labels. The estate covers a striking, rugged, mountainous area of about 1,000 acres at 300 meters in elevation. Yields are kept low in order to obtain concentration and complexity in the wines.
Winemaker Notes: "Cherry and violet aromas, persistent and rounded flavors of spices and mushroom. Great structure with elegant finesse."
This release was awarded 93 points by James Suckling and Wine Spectator.
Ruby colored, medium bodied, bright cherry and raspberry fruits with notes of floral, earth and tobacco on a moderate tangy acidic soft finish.
RM 89 points.
https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=4001918