Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Ipsus Il Caggio 2021 (1.5L)

99 Points, Aldo Fiordelli, JamesSuckling.com: "This is a sleek, restrained wine with aromas of slate, minerals, earth, dried cherries, potpourri, cinnamon, orange zest, red currants and violets. Graceful on the palate, with a medium to full body, licorice root flavors and fine, velvety tannins. It shows the typical chalky texture of pure sangiovese yet is well covered by fruit. Long and crisp if not zesty, with intoxicating savoriness, it will age beautifully if you can wait. It will be released in October. Try it then." 03/25

97 Points, Antonio Galloni, Antonio Galloni: "The 2021 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Ipsus is magnificent. It’s also the first wine from the Mazzei family’s ambitious new Caggio winery that truly captures the magic of this evocative site in Castellina. Wild cherry, orange peel, exotic spice, new leather and white pepper are some of the many notes that build as the 2021 shows off its wonderfully complex, beguiling personality. The winemaking approach is quite different relative to the approach at Fonterutoli. Ipsus sees long fermentations with submerged-cap maceration for some lots, followed by aging in various vessels, including larger format oak and ceramic. Not surprisingly, the winemaking team needed a few years to dial everything in. The 2021 suggests they have started to do so. It's a superb wine by any measure." 07/25

95+ Points, Monica Larner, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "This is a special limited release made in a dedicated winery with fruit from a prime vineyard site by the Mazzei family in Castellina in Chianti. The Caggio 2021 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Ipsus is infused with elegant dark fruit, blackcurrant, blackberry and blue flower. However, there is a spicy oak-driven note that is a little too prominent at this young stage. The wine is matured in a combination of clay amphorae followed by tonneaux and botte grande, and you feel the effects on the mouthfeel that is both polished and fine. It offers a bright style overall with balanced acidity and many fine-tuned flavors that are straight from the Sangiovese playlist. However, I'm going to suggest a few more years of cellar aging to tone down the oak notes." 10/25

97 Points, James Button, Decanter: "Giovanni Mazzei describes the 2021 vintage in Chianti Classico as ‘a combination of vintages: 2019 without the opulence, and the freshness of 2018 but with more grip.’ Each year of this relatively young project, the amount of oak is reduced in favour of ceramic vessels for what Mazzei describes as a ‘wine with no filter’. Spicy dark cherry and leafy herbal aromas introduce a streamlined palate, not massively intense but instead showing suppleness and balance. There's a lovely line of stoniness and a ripe, succulent core of sapid dark cherry and blackberry. Spicy and grippy, flecks of balsamic herbs, dark chocolate, iron oxide, and woodland complexity lurk. There's a squeeze of blood orange on the long, gentle finish, giving the impression that time is all that's needed for this to stretch its legs and unfurl." 07/25