One bottle of Tignanello, 1994 vintage; Fill level: into neck; Wine Spectator (1997): 89/100
Two bottles of Tignanello, 1996 vintage; Fill level: 1x base of neck, 1x into neck; Wine Spectator (1999); 87/100
Five bottles of TIgnanello, 1997 vintage; Fill level: 2x base of neck, 3x into neck; Wine Spectator (2007): 94/100; Antonio Galloni (2009): 91/100
Produced by Marchesi Antinori
Toscana IGT, Tuscany/Italy
Original filling quantity: 0.75 l

This lot comprises eight bottles of Tignanello from the Antinori winery in Tuscany, including one bottle from the 1994 vintage, two bottles from the 1996 vintage and five bottles from the 1997 vintage.

Tuscan vines grow in the cultural landscape of central Italy, a region not only regarded as the birthplace of the Renaissance and with that European culture in general. It’s no wonder then that the agriculture of winegrowing here has produced genuine wine types and distinct styles. Tuscany is home to some fantastic wines. It is like a wild bull, tamed by the Etruscans many years ago. Its beauty has always attracted and fascinated foreigners. It is a landscape that can be as captivating as Mona Lisa’s smile. One cannot fathom it, melt into it and be thrown back out without understanding what once came to blossom here. However, fascination alone does not result in good winegrowing – it is the art of planting vines in the ground and producing exceptionally nuanced wines from their fruits. Tuscany can be divided into two main parts: the historical main area of Florence and Siena and, in its wilder south, the Maremma – historically a poor farming region that has experienced a winegrowing boom over the past two decades. The first wine dynasties of Italy, the Polizianos, Antinoris and Frescobaldis, came to the Maremma towards the end of the 1990s, when land in Chianti Classico became very expensive.

Toscana IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is a wine quality closely tied to its origin. It simply describes a wine whose grapes were grown in a Tuscan wine region. Since 2009, this is also labeled IGP. The term can also signify top, highly-prized Tuscan wines, similar to Vini da Tavola, if a producer wants to interpret the wine authorities’ guidelines more freely.

In 1994 the weather in Tuscany was cool and dry during the harvest and the wines produced in that year are among the best of the decade with good structure. 1995 was also a good vintage leading to the creation of some great wines, the best of which are now at their peak, albeit in small numbers. In 1997 the summer in Tuscany was extremely hot, the quality is rather inconsistent but some wines are quite extraordinary.

The 1994 vintage Tignanello was rated 89 points by James Suckling for Wine Spectator in 1997. The 1996 vintage Tignanello was rated 87 points by James Suckling for Wine Spectator in 1999. The 1997 vintage Tignanello was scored by Suckling at 94 points on Wine Spectator’s website in 2007. This wine was rated 91 points by Antonio Galloni for Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate in 2009.

The fill levels are excellent (3x base of neck, 5x into neck). Some labels are very slightly soiled and damaged. The capsules are in perfect condition.