Multiple 90+ Scores Since 2008: 2019 Mazzei Philip Cabernet Sauvignon Toscana
This wine is a total steal... Wine Advocate gave it 94 points, and gave Tenuta Sette Ponti Oreno 2019 just one point higher at 95 points, and that wine is $80. However, you have about 6 seconds to hook someone, and while I love the historical reference, it is not enough to hook the reader and give them enough reasons to buy at the outset. I can take a stab at it.
James Suckling says this Super Tuscan is “excellent.” Wine Advocate blessed this wine with 94 points, claiming that “The 2019 vintage nails that proverbial sweet spot between softness, structure, fruit, and spice.”
Wine history buffs know of Thomas Jefferson’s love of European wines and his failed attempts at growing vinifera at Monticello, his home in Virginia. Jefferson had some help. His friend Philip Mazzei—an Italian political thinker, philosopher, and winemaker—planted the vines.
(It wasn’t Mazzei’s fault those vines failed. It would be a very long time before winemakers in the U.S. realized that vinifera had to be grafted onto different rootstock to thrive in U.S. soils.)
Mazzei’s writings deeply influenced Jefferson. Does the sentiment in this quote from Mazzei ring a bell? “All men are by nature equally free and independent.” It was Philip Mazzei (whose image is on the bottle) who inspired Thomas Jefferson to incorporate the fundamental ideal into our own Declaration of Independence. Seems there’s a lot to be thankful to Mazzei for, including quality Italian wine. The 2019 Mazzei Philip Cabernet Sauvignon Toscana comes from the Mazzei family, descendants of Jefferson’s friend, and this Cab Sauv is named for their forefather.
The Mazzei family has made wine in Italy for 26 generations, producing benchmark Italian wines from their historic Castello di Fonterutoli estate in Tuscany. More recently they’ve also made wine in Maremma, Sicily, and the Veneto. The Mazzei family is one of the most important quality wine producers in Italy today. They are authorities on how to make the grapes nurtured by Italian soils sing, and this Cab is evidence of that expertise.
This Cabernet Sauvignon with grapes from Chianti Classico and Maremma has inviting aromas of black cherry, herbs, coffee, with a hint of toasted oak. Dark fruits and flowers shine through on the palate. It’s complex. It’s exotic. It’s ready for your cellar!
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