The 2020 Tignanello is a smooth, elegant Super Tuscan that’s already showing plenty of charm. With dark fruit, violets, and just a hint of chocolate, it’s refined and beautifully balanced. Mostly Sangiovese with a splash of Cab Franc and Cab Sauv, this vintage is drinkable young but will shine even more with a few years of patience.

Jamessuckling.com | JS 97
Published: Jul 24, 2023

Violets and lavender with dark fruit and hints of dark chocolate. Sophisticated nose. Medium-bodied with fine tannin structure that gives this finesse and beauty. It’s very long and goes on for minutes. Precision. 68% sangiovese with the rest in cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon. Drinkable but better in three or four years.

The Wine Advocate | RP 95
Published: May 31, 2023
Drink: 2025-2045

Newly on the market now, the 2020 Tignanello shows a gorgeous bouquet with an upfront and accessible personality. Right off the bat, you get dark cherry, dried raspberry, spice, toasted almond and citrusy blood orange. The blend is normally 75% to 80% Sangiovese with 7% Cabernet Franc. The grape in between, making up 13% to 18%, is Cabernet Sauvignon. This vintage is very pretty and won’t require a long wait. The tannins are sweet and silky. “Tignanello proves itself as a great vineyard site in both the challenging and the classic years,” says Managing Director Renzo Cotarella. Annual production falls between 300,000-350,000 bottles.

One of the biggest news stories to hit fine wine this year is the full acquisition of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in Napa by Tuscany’s Marchesi Antinori in May 2023. The Antinori family enjoyed a 16-year partnership with the celebrated winery founded by Warren Winiarski in 1970. It is now the full owner. The announcement was made by the Antinori family and long-time USA partner Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, which has a portfolio of wines in the American Northwest (Washington and Oregon).
Marchesi Antinori is the only Italian company to own a winery in Napa. Marchese Piero Antinori first traveled to California’s wine country in the 1960s and fell in love. In 1985, his family started making wine in Napa (with the company known as Antica, which is short for “Antinori in California”).
“It is an honor for me and my family to make good on a promise made to my friend Warren Winiarski 16 years ago,” says Marchese Piero Antinori. “We wanted to safeguard the values and the heritage of the prestigious Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.”
The Stag’s Leap 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon was singled out in the celebrated Judgement of Paris in 1976 that pitted the best of Californian wine against Bordeaux. It sparked a revolution in the world of fine wine.  

Antinori.it

Climate
Mild and dry winter weather marked the beginning of the 2020 growing season in Chianti Classico, only at the end of March did the area experience a brief cold spell. These climatic conditions prompted early bud break. Spring brought average rainfall and rather cool temperatures while the following summer months were hot, uninterrupted by extreme heat events and favored with brief periods of rain showers that provided grape clusters with perfect conditions for optimal growth and ripening.
The month of September, when harvesting operations got underway, was defined by scattered light precipitation, especially at the end of the month, that allowed the fruit to complete phenolic maturity. The harvest window was an intense three weeks, from September 20th up until October 9th, picking began with Sangiovese and Cabernet Franc and was completed with Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Design
The label was designed by Silvio Coppola in 1974 for the release of Tignanello 1971. The idea to commission this artist was discussed at an event at Castello della Sala in 1973. Silvio Coppola was an important Italian graphic and interior designer who was famous for his minimalist lighting fixtures and austere furniture but also for book cover designs for Italian publishing company Feltrinelli. Silvio Coppola was the perfect match for the job.

The Signature
Marchese Piero Antinori, the current Honorary President, decided to have his father, Niccolò Antinori, sign the label as a sign of recognition for his father’s confidence in him.

Te Duce Proficio
The historic family crest of the Antinori family

The Sun
Tignanello’s stylized “Sun” by Silvio Coppola

Tenuta Tignanello
The Tenuta Tignanello estate is in the heart of Chianti Classico, in the gently rolling hillsides between the Greve and Pesa river valleys. It extends over an area of 319 hectares (788 acres), of which about 165 (407 acres) are dedicated to vines. Two of the estate’s prized vineyards are on the same hillside, Tignanello and Solaia, on soils that originated from marine marlstone from the Pliocene period rich in limestone and schist. The vines enjoy hot temperatures during the day and cooler evenings throughout the growing season. The estate’s two signature wines, Solaia and Tignanello, are produced from these vineyards and have been defined by the international press as “among the most influential wines in the history of Italian viticulture”. According to Marchesi Antinori, Solaia and Tignanello are an ongoing challenge and a never-ending passion. The Tignanello estate has vineyards of indigenous Sangiovese grapes as well as some other untraditional varieties such as Cabernet Franc.