2012 Maestro Raro

This is a superb set of wines from Fèlsina. What else is new? The move towards the new generation continues as Giovanni Poggiali takes on a greater role at the estate, while Giuseppe Mazzocolin enjoys the fruits of his labor in a gradual transition into retirement. Fèlsina fans will note an addition to the range, a Chianti Colli Senesi from estate vineyards. Mazzocolin and long-time winemaker Franco Bernabei describe 2012 as a year with a warm winter and very little rain all the way through to August, when some precipitation arrived. September was hot but with good temperature shifts between day and night. Of course, Fèlsina is in the south of the Chianti Classico appellation, where weather tends to be warm and dry in most vintages. Harvest started on September 14 and wrapped up on October 5. The 2012s present a combination of radiant fruit from the warm vintage, but with medium-bodied frames that are also typical of the year. The 2013s, from a cooler year, are shaping to be truly epic. Fèlsina was less fortunate in 2014, a year in which none of the top wines are likely to be bottled. Instead, it is looking like Fèlsina will release a single Chianti Classico. Tasted from barrel, that wine is exquisite today. It will be interesting to see what time brings. Lastly, readers might also enjoy this short video with Giuseppe Mazzocolin. I am down to my last bottles of the 1994 and 1995 Rancias, but both were magnificent when I last had them a few months ago and I was compelled to pry Mazzocolin for a little more background on those wines. May I make a suggestion? Readers would do well to buy a case of Rancia upon release every year and put it away. Few wines deliver so much pleasure and pedigree at maturity for what remains a very fair price.