Stands shoulder to shoulder with Tignanello for half the price

97 pts Jane Anson
97 pts Jane Anson
96 pts Decanter
96 pts Decanter
95 pts James Suckling
95 pts JS
95 pts Vinous
95 pts Vinous
95 pts Wine Advocate
95 pts RPWA
95 pts Wine Enthusiast
95 pts WE

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2019 Mazzei Castello di Fonterutoli Concerto Toscana 750 ml

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Retail: $99
$60	39% off	1-11 bottles
$55	44% off	12+ bottles

quantity: 1

Shipping included on orders $150+.

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97 pts

Jane Anson

So much promise on the nose, your mouth starts watering in anticipation even before the vivid fruit hits on the opening beats. This holds the line throughout, delivering classic Sangiovese character of raspberry, fresh cherries, and cut herbs, with concentrated liqourice, tobacco, tar and leather. Sculpted and precise, and that perfect Italian signature where you just want to grab a bottle and a plate of food to go alongside. So easy to love, and more proof of how enjoyable the 2019 vintage is in this part of the world. 3.5ph, 70% new oak in barrel and cask format, plus four months in concrete tanks before release. A classic vintage also, with the right amount of rain at the right time, everything went right, so a great production year in terms of yield. Gionata Pulignani winemaker, owned by Marchesi Mazzei.

96 pts

Decanter

Such a fragrant and appealing burst of aromas here with milk chocolate, blackcurrants, dried herbs and flowers. A blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon, this has a core of cherries and raspberries alongside savoury olive and oak elements with round, just-there tannins that give support to the fresh and lively fruit. Great power, depth and concentration. The wine is aged for 18 months in small French 225l oak barrels, 70% new, before moving to concrete tanks for four months.

95 pts

James Suckling

This is very fine grained, with polished, silky tannins that provide wonderful texture and length to the wine. Plenty of cherry, blackberry, chocolate and mahogany flavors that follow through to the palate. Complex and refined. Drink after 2024, but already very elegant and beautiful.

95 pts

Vinous

The 2019 Concerto di Fonterutoli, the estate's 80% Sangiovese and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon blend, is quite the powerhouse. Cabernet very much drives the blend in 2019, in its aromas, flavors and overall structure. Dark cherry, herbs, licorice, menthol and spice abound. Whereas the 2020 is already quite open, the 2019 needs a year or two in bottle, if not more, to be at its best.

95 pts

Wine Advocate

The Mazzei 2019 Concerto di Fonterutoli comes from a classic vintage that happily brought both quality and quantity in terms of harvest. It recalls some of the greatest vintages made in the 1980s. Winter temperatures were below average and rainfall was scarce. The summer was hot but not excessively so. September brought moderate weather with good diurnal temperature fluctuations. This is a beautiful wine that is showing especially well at this moment. It offers great primary intensity, dark fruit and black cherry over elegantly chalky tannins. The 2019 comes out strongly in this retrospective.

95 pts

Wine Enthusiast

The nose is a desert gunfight, with whiffs of powder and flint wafting through the wild herbs, before hints of sweet, oven-dried tomato break up the harsher notes. On the palate, smokiness, salinity and herbaceousness continue, with subtle undertones of dark fruits creating an immensely savory, luxurious wine.

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An Icon Worth Thousands of Words

Mazzei’s Concerto checks every box for greatness. The product of a historic estate and rigorous farming, it’s outstanding, year in and year out, which is why it’s earned widespread critical praise. Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate recently devoted thousands of words to a retrospective going back to the ‘81 vintage.

One of the highlights? Today’s stunning 2019, which “recalls some of the greatest vintages made in the 1980s.” It’s a gorgeous bottle of wine that tied Tignanello ($150+) in the eyes of Vinous, James Suckling, and Wine Enthusiast—Wine Advocate had them only a point apart.

First bottled in 1981, Concerto dates back to the early days of the Super Tuscan category. Dominated by Sangiovese and bolstered by Cabernet, it’s one of the benchmark wines in the style. On our last visit to Tuscany, during lunch with Filippo Mazzei himself, we shared a bottle of Concerto. And that inspired us to bring it back for our members.

A Mazzei has been making wine in Tuscany for more than six centuries, but one Mazzei, Philip, played an indispensable role in American history. In 1774, Thomas Jefferson asked Philip, an Italian Renaissance man and friend, to plant a vineyard at his Monticello estate. Mazzei obliged, and Jefferson didn’t just soak up Philip’s ideas about viticulture. In fact, Mazzei’s writings inspired the iconic phrase, “all men are created equal,” which in turn inspired the world when it appeared in the Declaration of Independence.

“All of us were told the story of Philip Mazzei,” managing director Francesco Mazzei once recalled. “It not only made us feel proud to be part of our family, it made us understand that we needed to take risks in life and in the vines,” he said.

This is what a true Super Tuscan should be. It showcases Sangiovese, beefed up and deepened by a dose of Cabernet and polished to a supple sheen by small oak. When you take a sip, you can just feel that, when the first adventurous vintners combined the two varieties in French oak barrels, this is exactly what they were going for.

2019 Mazzei Castello di Fonterutoli Concerto Toscana 750 ml

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