Cantine Melini

Cantine Melini is a Tuscan wine estate with vineyards spanning the hills of Chianti and Chianti Classico. The estate is most widely associated with Chianti, but makes a range of other Tuscan wines, including Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Brunello di Montalcino, Vernaccia di San Gimignano and modern Toscana IGT wines.

The estate began in 1705 in Pontassieve, a commune 9 miles (14km) east of Florence, where the Melini family established a winery and began producing Vermiglio wine. In 1860, Adolfo Laborel Melini began bottling the estate's wines in the distinctive straw-wrapped Chianti bottles that later became synonymous with Chianti wines. The estate's long history in Pontassieve came to an end in the 20th Century when it was acquired by Gruppo Italiano Vini, who relocated it to the Chianti Classico region.

Today, Cantine Melini cultivates approximately 136 hectares (336 acres) of vineyards in Chianti Classico. The La Selvanella vineyard is Melini's most significant, as it was one of the first to be vinified using specific parcels, and displaying the cru on the label. This change was initiated with the release of the 1969 Chianti Classico Vigneti La Selvanella Riserva vintage.

The La Selvanella vineyard, which covers 50ha (124 acres) of southwest-facing, calcareous soil slopes planted to Sangiovese vines, is still the source of Cantine Melini's Chianti Classico DOCG Riserva. The grapes are harvested by hand, macerated for 20 days and aged in French oak casks for approximately 30 months. Once bottled, this wine is allowed to age for a further 12 months before release.