Highlights: Isole e Olena Cepparello 2021 IGT Toscana, Italy
Isole e Olena Cepparello 2021 IGT Toscana, Italy
15% alcohol. This is 100% Sangiovese from Chianti Classico. First released in 1980, when you couldn’t label 100% Sangiovese as Chianti Classico, this was Paolo di Marchi’s final vintage at the helm – the property is now owned by Groupe EPI, a French private investment group who also own Piper-Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck, and since. They bought Isole e Olena in 2022, five years after purchasing Biondi Santi. This is a paradox of a wine: it weights in at 15% alcohol, but it’s still fresh and taut. Substantial and well structured with a rush of brambly black cherry fruit with some raspberry brightness as well as some liqueur-like richness and a touch of sweet spicy oak, as well as grippy tannins. So much promise here: a rich expression of Sangiovese with concentration and refinement. Give this time. 95/100
