2011 Mazzei "Philip" Cabernet Sauvignon Toscana IGT 750 ml

A July 4th Tribute to Philip Mazzei — Wine Advocate’s 93pt Cabernet of the Year

In 1773, a Florentine merchant named Philip Mazzei arrived in America and was soon introduced to a Virginia landowner named Thomas Jefferson. On horseback, Jefferson took Philip on a tour of Monticello, a 198-acre property set on the south side of the plantation. A few months later, Mazzei planted Monticello to vines. When war broke out, Philip Mazzei now enamored of the spirit of these new Americans, picked up a gun and joined the American Revolutionary War effort.

“When we were young,” Francesco Mazzei told us in the catacombs beneath the ancient castle of Fonterutoli, “all of the kids were told the story of Philip Mazzei. It was like a rite of passage that taught us that if we’re scared to take risks, we’re mitigating rewards.”

In so many ways, Francesco later told us, that’s the underlying story of the 2011 “Philip” — the richest and most age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon ever to come off Fonterutoli.

Wine Enthusiast Winemaker of the Year Carlo Ferrini is the mastermind behind the 2011 “Philip” Cabernet Sauvignon. Drawn from two superb vineyards — one set on the cold-soil hillsides of Castello di Fonterutoli; the other from a single, sun-drenched perch on the coast at the Mazzeis’ Belguardo Estate — the warm Tuscan summer of 2011 proved magical for late-maturing Cabernet Sauvignon. Both sites produced deeply concentrated crops of small, thick-skinned berries. Fonterutoli, cooler and higher in the Tuscan hills, was harvested in the third week of September at near-perfect physiological maturity, while the warmer Belguardo in Maremma came in more than two weeks earlier on September 6th.

Perhaps more than any Tuscan enologist, Ferrini draws his winemaking protocol from a high-end Napa Valley playbook. Crop-thinning was aggressive at both sites, accounting for a tiny crop of just 2 tons per acre. Despite the high summer temperatures, Ferrini chose to wait before picking, finally harvesting at “extreme” ripeness. The long and cool vinification would nurse out deep and dark color, sumptuous concentration, and dusty Tuscan tannins, making for a 2011 blockbuster that seems almost more at home in St. Helena than these Tuscan hills.

Saturated purple in color. Luscious Oakville-like aromas of crushed black fruits, black raspberries, violets, and graphite, tinged with sweet herbs. Rich, dense, and pliant on the attack. Suave and silken in texture. Featuring a full-throttle core of black-fruit preserves, sweet crème de cassis, and raspberry liqueur. Finishing with supple, dusty Tuscan tannins. The Wine Advocate suggests the 2011 “Philip” be consumed over the next decade. We’re with Parker on this one.

Matching 93-point scores from The Wine Advocate and James Suckling. $55 on release. Just $29.99 this morning, as we pay tribute to Philip Mazzei’s contribution to this evening’s fireworks display.