The Cecchi family has for 120 years been one of the premier producers in the Chianti region. Through acquisitions and partnerships they have started making wine in other areas in Tuscany. This tasting with Andrea Cecchi offered a mix of wines from their regular range and also one unique wine. BKWine Magazine’s reporter Peter Cronström met with Andrea Cecchi and tasted his wines.
Andrea told me that their effort in Maremma was starting to bear fruit and they see these wines as being very interesting for the future. Maremma is located in southern Tuscany with the principal town being Grosetto. The estate that Cecchi owns is called Val delle Rose.
We tasted two wines from Val delle Rose. First a white Vermentino, Val delle Rose Litorale 2015, an aromatic wine with flavours of ripe fruit and some spiciness with a relatively high acidity.
Next we tasted a red Morellino di Scansano, Val delle Rose Poggio al Leone 2011, from the same estate. Morellino is a Sangiovese clone that is slightly darker than that grown in Chianti and that works better in warmer climates as in Maremma. The wine is made from 90% Morellino and also including Cabernet Sauvignon and some other grapes. It has been aged 12 months in oak barrels. The wine has aromas of ripe fruit and oak and high tannins and some maturity in the taste.
From Chianti we tasted Cecchi Riserva di Famiglia 2013, a Chianti Classico. The wine is made from 90% Sangiovese and the rest is cabernet sauvignon and is, according to Cecchi, their most representative wine. It is a very good wine with ripe cherries and great spiciness in aroma and balanced tannins in taste.
Then we tasted Cecchis “super Tuscan”, an expression which Andrea Cecchi does not really want to use instead, preferring to call it “elegant Tuscan”, Cecchi Coevo 2011. It is a blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Merlot . The wine is only made in good years from grapes from both Chianti and Maremma. It is aged for 18 months in oak. A very complex and fine wines that can be aged for many years but also can be drunk now, with relatively soft tannins.
From Montepulciano, situated near Siena, we tasted Cecchi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2012, which is made from a different sangiovese clone called Prugnolo Gentile. Also in this case it is 90% Prugnolo and the rest is from other grapes. It has been aged in small oak barrels for 24 months. The wine has a good maturity with violets and spices in the aroma and balanced tannins and acidity in taste.
From Montalcino so we tasted a Cecchi Brunello di Montalcino 2010, which is made from yet another clone of the sangiovese grape, one that gives complex wines with high tannins. The wine has retained a lot of fruit and has relatively high tannins and may well need a few more years to be at its best.
To end the tasting Andrea had brought with him a wine from his private collection, a wine from 1989, Cecchi Villa Cerna La Gavina 1989, which was made from 100% cabernet sauvignon from a newly planted vineyard in Castellina in Chianti. It was planted in 1986 so this was the first harvest. The wine was very mature but not in any way too old but had clear aromas and flavours of leather and black currant with still a lot of tannins.
In addition to these wines Cecchi also makes a budget wine, a Cecchi Sangiovese from Tuscany, which is a bargain in its class.
Peter Cronström writes on BKWine Magazine on wine tastings with wine merchants and importers.
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