The 2018 Chianti Classico Riserva Ser Lapo is a powerful, wild wine. Crushed flowers, game, herbs and licorice notes give the 2018 its distinctly savory, earthy personality. Brooding in feel, the 2018 will benefit from a few years in bottle. Most of this fruit comes from Mazzei's Caggio property, the site that informs the new Ipsus wine. In my view, Ser Lapo is the hidden gem in the Mazzei range, and the wine I would most like to drink, if forced to chose just one Chianti Classico in the lineup.\n Producer Information\n For 26 generations, the Mazzei family has been producing benchmark Italian wines from their historic Castello di Fonterutoli estate in Tuscany and more recently in the Maremma, Sicily and the Veneto. The passion, commitment and expertise that goes into these expressive wines is a reflection of the Mazzei’s spirit of innovation and respect for each property’s unique terroir.Since the 1400’s the Mazzei’s have been producing wine; making it one of the oldest running Italian companies - of any kind! Their ancestry is closely woven not only into Tuscany’s winemaking history, but as well as to this venerated region’s political and cultural past. The notable merchant, Ser Lapo Mazzei, is credited for authoring the first official document mentioning “Chianti wine” (December 16, 1398). Years later, Philip Mazzei, winemaker, political thinker and friend of Thomas Jefferson, is credited for influencing another historic document, whose philosophical writings on equality of man served as inspiration for the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
