2019 Mazzei ‘Philip’ Toscana IGT

If there ever was a family synonymous with Tuscan wine, it would be the Mazzeis.

They’re credited with the first historic reference to Chianti wine, in 1398, and have farmed and vinified grapes at the Castello di Fonterutoli estate since 1435. 

Over the intervening 600 years, they’ve carefully acquired some of the best vineyard land in the region—both in Chianti and on the coast in Maremma, where Mediterranean breezes foster the perfect climate for the production of Super Tuscans.

From those choice holdings, they select only their TOP Cabernet to produce the “Philip” red—a bottling that earned an impressive 94-point score from Wine Advocate, who called it a “bridge from the Old World to the New” that “nails that proverbial sweet spot between softness, structure, fruit and spice.”

We rarely see this sort of quality at this price from either Napa or the Left Bank. Anyone who loves those regions will find a lot of enjoyment and a TON of value in this star bottling. 

“Philip” is a reference to the legendary Filippo “Philip” Mazzei, a contemporary and friend of Thomas Jefferson. The two men pioneered viticulture in Virginia, with the president’s vineyards at Monticello serving as the model for others in the state. 

The only way to properly honor a man of that stature is to use the best possible raw materials, so the Mazzeis take their best Cabernet grapes from two different areas for this wine: the historic Castello di Fonterutoli estate in Chianti and the Belguardo Vineyard in Maremma.

Aged for 18 months in a mixture of French and American oak barriques, this bottling is beautiful now but has a decade of comfortable evolution ahead of it. 

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 13.50%
• 30 mins
• Now – 2034
• 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork