2016 Rodano Chianti Classico Tuscany Italy 750 ml

A Wine Delicious Enough for a Road Trip

“Wait, seriously?” Eduardo said. “How are we going to fit all of the wine in this thing?”

Sur glared at the ridiculously small trunk at the back of their rental Fiat Panda with his Master Sommelier-certified eyes. Utilizing the same discernment that he employs to tell the difference between whether a Pinot Noir is “shimmering garnet” or “translucent ruby” in the glass, he tried to picture how the cardboard box would fit in a space that seemed to measure approximately five square centimeters total. He shook his head slowly. “You’re right, Ed. There’s no way we’ll be able to fit these.”

So there they stood: two grown men, grimacing through purple teeth, a mixed case of wine at their feet, in the middle of a parking lot in Verona.

“Alright,” Sur finally said. “Here’s what we do: We’ll ditch the wines—find someone in the lot here and just give them the box: it’ll be like they hit the grape Powerball or something—and email the producers when we get back home. But we still have two days before we have to leave. I say we call up Rodano and see if we can check out where their Chianti is made. It was the best wine of the week, and Tuscany is only a three-hour drive.”

“I love it,” Eduardo said. Both of them had immediately been won over by the energetic, classically styled wine, which boasted beautiful swirls of black cherry, dried flowers, and tobacco—and is bargain-priced for pizza night (or any night). “My gut is that it’s the Rodano will sail through the process back at the Mother Ship, so we may as well visit while we’re here.”

Driving south on the A22, winging their way toward Castellina-in-Chianti in an overflowing yellow Fiat, the hills of Tuscany were seriously crinkling the earth beneath their wheels. Hillsides reached up to the cloud-streaked sky, and spear-topped Tuscan cypress trees pierced the horizon. They turned into the property when the wonky GPS told them to, and they were greeted by Enrico Pozzesi, who runs the show. His father, Vittorio, first started making his own wine there in 1967, and for years the winemaker was Giulio Gambelli, who consulted for Soldera, Montevertine, and others.

And yet, despite is history and the absolutely stunning wines they make, Rodano remains one of the great hidden gems of Tuscany in general and Chianti in particular.

We’re hoping to change that with the 2016 Rodano Chianti Classico, a textbook example of what makes the appellation so important and this producer so exciting. Crafted solely from local varieties this certified-organic bottling dances with dark cherries, dried flowers, tobacco, and licorice. Its fine-grained tannins make it perfect right now but also lend the Rodano enough structure to continue to evolve for another five-plus years. Back at the office, away from the sweeping Tuscan vistas, and tasted blind beneath the fluorescent lights alongside the rest of our team, it proved to be just as remarkable.

And because Sur hadn’t driven to the office that day in anything resembling the yellow Fiat Panda, he finally did what he wanted to in Italy but just couldn’t:  “Guys,” he said, grabbing the half-full bottle of 2016 Rodano Chianti Classico from the table and sinking the cork into the neck. “I’m bringing this home.”

We all agreed that he’d earned it. The next day, he reported back that it was fantastic with pizza. Topped with prosciutto, of course.