Great Story of Tignanello
The emblematic Super Tuscan wine by Antinori
Once upon a time, I got my hands on 1981 Antinori Tignanello magnum coming from a trusted source. For a few more years, it was sitting in my cellar impatiently waiting to be uncorked. Since its vintage was my birth year, I had a couple of occasions to pull it out, but each time I found a convincing reason to put it back until a better happening arrives. On the past weekend, stars have finally aligned.
I used Durand corkscrew to make sure I don’t screw up when removing a fragile cork. It came out wet almost all the way through and its poor appearance justified all the hard work it had been doing over decades protecting the wine with a good seal and allowing it to slowly evolve in the bottle. The first pour in the glass revealed a seductive perfume reassuring this forty-years-old wine was alive and shined gracefully.
This made me think of the history of this emblematic Super Tuscan wine. In 1981, Tignanello were celebrating the 10th anniversary of their first ever vintage of 1971. In 1970 they released the experimental wine Chianti Classico Riserva Vigneto Tignanello vinified as a single-vineyard. That was the tipping point that marked the beginning of the Renaissance of Toscana. In the next three-four decades there have been more changes and developments than in prior…
