2008 Vin Santo
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Tasting notes
This Vin Santo sports a more sophisticated and savory approach that is in part due to its very character and in part due to its age. The 2008 Vin Santo del Chianti Classico (in a 375-milliliter bottle) shows a polished copper color with resin, brown sugar, caramel and dried fruit. This wine has a touch of wild mushroom or underbrush as well. The finish is powerful, very sweet and delightful. This wine shows a very careful sense of balance and harmony. It's almost underplayed as far as Vin Santos go, but it is exceedingly elegant nonetheless. The blend is 55% Malvasia and 45% Trebbiano, and the oak aging is extended over ten years. Only 8,000 bottles were made.
Critic scores
Tim Jackson MW, jancisrobinson.com
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2008 Vin Santo del Chianti Classico is fabulous. Rich, deep and exotically beautiful, the 2008 has so much to offer. Ten years in small casks yielded a Vin Santo loaded with personality, complexity and character. Orange confit, burnt sugar, dried herbs, spice and caramel are some of the many notes that lift out of the glass. A touch of Petit Manseng (unusual in Vin Santo) helps brighten the acids. If I had to pick only one bottle to demonstrate what Vin Santo is all about, it might very well be Isole e Olena's 2008, as it is a real reference-point of both excellence and pedigree.
55% Malvasia, 45% Trebbiano. Grapes dried up to five months. Fermentation and maturation in small barrels for eight years, with ‘madre’ starter culture. RS c. 200 g/l. Bottled 2018. 8,000 bottles . Mid-deep amber with orange glints. Rich, fudgy, walnut marzipan aromatics, with dried, mixed citrus peel, cooked apricots and layers of Christmas cake spices. Fully sweet and rich, with cooked apricot and citrus that quickly gives way to Christmas spice, dark chocolate and some polished wood. Brisk acidity just about copes with the sweetness on the front palate, to allow the long, walnut finish to carry through. (TJ)
About the producer
Situated north of Castellina, on the western side of Chianti Classico, Isole e Olena was created by the De Marchi family in the 1950s and has since become one of the region’s leading names. It is renowned for its top bottling Cepparello, a pure Sangiovese, as well as its brilliant Chardonnay.