Castello di Querceto Cignale IGT 2016 - Tuscany, Italy

94/100 Robert Parker
94/100 James Suckling
94/100 Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate
91/100 Wine Spectator
95/100 Raffaele Vecchione (2015 vintage)
95/100 Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate (2015 vintage)
91/100 Falstaff (2015 vintage)
94/100 James Suckling (2013 vintage)
93/100 Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate (2013 vintage)

Silver - Concours Mondial de Bruxelles
Gold - Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (2015 vintage)
Silver - Decanter World Wine Awards (2011 vintage)
Silver - Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (2011 vintage)
Silver International Wine & Spirits Competition (2010 vintage)

90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot

Robert Parker ".. is mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with a tiny part Merlot to soften it up. This is a plump, rich and nicely structured wine with a dark core of dense fruit, spice, dark blackberry and dried plum. The wine is structured and firm with good support for all that rich and dense oak fruit. Compared to the slightly softer 2015 vintage, this wine is more angular and tightly wound."

James Suckling "Aromas of blueberries, fresh mushrooms and dried meat. Flowers, too. Full and flavorful with blue-fruit, dried-mushroom and wet-earth character. Just a hint of citrus rind at the end. It’s so driven and beautiful."

Robert Parker "...captures the sunshine and heat of the vintage with its tasty and succulent fruit. This wine matures in oak for 18 months. I've always liked this wine because it brings me back to a baseline taste that I associate with a super Tuscan wine, although I fully admit that claiming any single definition for that catch-all category is an impossible feat. However, despite the international and contemporary character of this wine, with its bold cherry and chocolate-like flavors, there is no doubting that special Tuscan soul." (2015 vintage)

James Suckling "A standard-bearer for Super Tuscans..." 'Very floral and beautiful with hints of dark fruit, blackcurrants and dried flowers such as violets" (2015 vintage)

Raffaele Vecchione “Full body, juicy and balanced in the centre of the palate and a slender and agile finish that closes in a solid and brilliant way. Best from 2021.” (2015 vintage)

Falstaff "Pepper-spicy and leathery nose, plum, cherry. Juicy on the palate with hearty tannin. Opens up nicely, has character, elegant." (2015 vintage)

James Suckling "A big and ripe red with chocolate, coffee bean, toasted oak and a ripe fruit. Full body, layered and juicy. An intense wine."

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate "shapely and opulent red wine from one of the most beautiful corners of Tuscany. The wine's appearance is inky and richly saturated with a velvety black appearance. The bouquet is almost over the top with ripe and thickly extracted aromas of blackberry marmalade and prune. The finish delivers firm structure and sweet flavors of baking and exotic spice. This is the proverbial big boy wine that ages in French oak for 24 months." (2013 vintage)

The Querceto estate sits atop a hill in the Comune di Greve in Chianti. Amidst the oaks and olive groves lie the vines that are the source of the superior wines of Castello di Querceto. This winery is known for the key role they played in Tuscany’s “new wave”, introducing the use of international varietals in what would come to be known as Super Tuscans. The estate has been owened and oeprated by the Francois family for over 100 years.

The Comune di Greve in Chianti, Italy is the area deeply associated with the Super Tuscans – fine Italian wines, produced from grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon that are normally associated with France and the New World.

Super Tuscan refers to a style of red wine that originated in Tuscany, Italy, in the early 1970s. Many examples come from the region of Maremma, on the Tyrrhenian Sea coast in the southwest of Tuscany. The earliest Super Tuscan wines were high quality red wines made by noble winemaking families that did not fit into the Italian Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) classification system because they used grapes not allowed by the rules of the DOCs in the region.

Super Tuscan wines vary in style, but the influence of Bordeaux is apparent in their use of new oak barrels and French grapes like cabernet sauvignon and merlot in addition to sangiovese, the classic grape of Tuscany. The best Super Tuscans are rich and full-bodied, with well-integrated tannins and spice from oak, and can age for decades.