The 2016 growing season was cooler than 2015, resulting in a long, slow ripening and a later harvest. After finishing picking the Fontodi vineyards, Giovanni Manetti harvested this higher altitude plot in Lamole between 14 and 16 October. Earthy rather than fruit-driven, this wine gradually reveals cranberry bush, wild red currants and rosepetal aromas. While the frame is lean, the fine, chalky tannins build to support the sinewy fruit. A more angular expression than Fontodi but really should be appreciated in its own right. (MM)

A touch of new oak lends spice notes to the mix of cherry, berry, tobacco and wild herb flavors. Densely wrought, with the tannins leaving a resonant tactile sensation as this plays out on the long finish. Balanced, but will need a little time to soften and harmonize. (BS)

The 2016 Chianti Classico Filetta di Lamole is a beautifully intense and direct expression that delivers a full bouquet of rich primary fruit with direct confidence and extreme precision. The wine is tight and streamlined with cooling fruit flavors of wild berry, cassis and sour cherry backed by linear mineral notes of crushed stone and flint. It is lightweight in terms of consistency with a fine and elegant close. Filetta di Lamole shows a slightly wild or untamed character within the greater Fontodi house style. The fruit comes from the cool-climate, high-altitude Lamole subregion (with vines planted at 600 meters above sea level), and this explains the wine's fragile and finely knit approach. (ML)