The Wines of San Felice

When I was in Italy in May, one of my favorite places was visiting San Felice.  It was an abandoned town that the owners decided to do over in a fabulous resort.  8th Century buildings surrounded by beautiful vineyards and a first class restaurant.

Luxury accommodations, breath-taking scenery, great food, and great wine in the heart of the Chianti region in Tuscany.   Well, great news, because I was at a tasting this past week for San Felice wines and they announced they will be coming to Canada, and will be arriving in Halifax in about a week’s time.

This is Fabrizio Mencioni at the Port by the NSLC  explaining the region and the wines of San Felice.

There are 3 wines that will be available here shortly.  One of them is the 2011 San Felice Vigorello.

This is San Felice’s Super Tuscan, wines from Tuscany that incorporate both Italian grapes and traditional grapes.  This particular wine is a blend of 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, grapes we refer to as traditional grapes.  And there is 35% Pugnitello, an Italian grape and 5% Petite Verdot.  The Pugnitello grape was just about extinct in Italy and was known as the forgotten grape.  It is a super interesting grape that the bunches grown in small round clusters shaped like a fist.  Fist is Pugno in Italy,  and San Felice has been doing great things with this grape, and this Super Tuscan blend is no exception.  Beautiful structure with good tannins and hints of vanilla.  It was a beautiful wine and will sell here for $57.79 a bottle.

This is Chianti Classico at its finest.  There are 9 regions in Chianti and one of them is Classico, once thought to be the finest of the Chianti wines.  In 2014, certain winemakers in the Classico region wanted to let people know of an elevated quality product in the bottle, so they started Gran Selezione, which means Grand Selection.  Only the finest quality grapes are being used and the aging requirements are longer than even Reserve wines.  This wonderful wine has been given 94 and 95 point ratings across the board.  It’s a fantastic wine with 80% Sangiovese and 20% made up of Pugnitello, Abruzzo and Mazzesse.  It’s a big full-bodied wine with firm structure and a great wine for aging.  This wine will sell for $47.79 a bottle and is available next week.

And last but not least…. my favorite

When you come back from Italy you are allowed to bring back 2 bottles duty free.  This was one of my bottles.  It has a great story.  In the follow up movie to Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, an escaped Hannibal Lecter, played by the brilliant Anthony Hopkins is eating in a restaurant and this is the bottle of wine on the table.

 

The San Felice Il Grigio Riserva is 100% Sangiovese and 100% Spectacular.  It sees 24 months aging, with at least 3 months in the bottle before release, and some aging takes place in small barriques, which imparts a very unique wood flavor to the wine.  Those distinct cherry flavors from Sangiovese are front and centre with this wine, and it will be available for the great price of $31.99 later next week.  Whether you’re a wine lover and or a movie buff, who doesn’t want to try Hannibal Lecter’s favorite Chianti.

I’m doing a wine tasting tonight featuring some fabulous wines, including sme new ones.  I will tell you all about them next week.

Till then, Cheers

Darlene