Babo Chianti 2021

Description

Babo wines are made by Australian Justin Bubb (an honorary Italian having spent the last six years making wine in Italy and who splits his time between Tuscany and Tasmania at Pooley Wines) with the idea of utilising the best fruit possible to produce wines of elegance and purity with a focus on vibrancy of fruit, texture and balanced complexity. All the wines are made at a small wine making facility in Empoli.
All of these wines are very well made while still speaking clearly of their origins. They offer exceptional value, and are bottled under screwcap. The BABO philosophy is simple. Source the finest regional fruit from Italy, to produce wines of elegance and purity with a focus on vibrancy, texture and balanced complexity.

Cheap Chianti can be all kinds of wrong, but this deliciously juicy, medium-bodied Tuscan red is crazy good value. As far as we know, this was the first Chianti to be bottled under screwcap and offered in a Burgundy-shaped bottle (of course, others have now followed). Quality fruit, sourced from a southwest-facing vineyard in Vinci (near Empoli), elevates this to a status far exceeding what you’d typically expect at this price point.

The winemaking takes two paths. The first parcel ferments as whole bunches (fully carbonic) and is raised in concrete vats for six months. A second ferment is de-stemmed and matured in concrete for eight months. The blend captures plenty of Chianti’s trademark sour cherry tang, here combined with lifted florals and orange rind notes, juicy freshness and a hint of aniseed and dried-herb savouriness, which complements the fine acidity and gentle tannin on the finish. Just a delicious, jubey red that Justin aptly describes as “Beaujolais from Italy”.

Mike Bennie, Gourmet Traveller Wine, June-July 2019 “Renowned Aussie winemaker, Justin Bubb, created this Babo range to focus on ideal wine regions of Italy. While his nero d’Avola from Sicily is brilliant, it’s this wildly delicious rendition of Chianti that gets podium placing. It shows scents of sarsaparilla, clove and lavender while offering drinkers a masterclass in fine, al dente tannins stretched over lightly juicy, dark cherry and earthy spice flavours. It’s surprisingly bright, drinkable in its youth and generally feels like a wine of some seriously excellent value.”

RRP $35  Our Price $25.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine.