Isole e Olena spotlight
Paolo De Marchi is on camera explaining the winemaking philosophy of Isole e Olena, the same house and hand behind this 2019 Collezione Privata Syrah, not the Chianti Classico.
The market on this bottle
Wine-Searcher tracks this 2019 Isole e Olena Syrah Tuscany, Italy (95JS/95RP) across the open market. Their published U.S. low is $67.35 and the average is $83.20. Our slash is $90.00.
2019 Isole e Olena Syrah Tuscany, Italy (95JS/95RP)
Paolo De Marchi's Collezione Privata Syrah with a drop of Viognier, dual 95s from James Suckling and Wine Advocate, a Tuscan 2019 you can open at ninety dollars.
The 2019 Collezione Privata is 98 percent Syrah with 2 percent Viognier: violet, dried blueberry, sweet tobacco, mocha, cracked pepper, and grilled meat after 18 months in barrique, now $90.
De Marchi's Tuscan Syrah, not a Chianti Classico under another name
This is Collezione Privata Syrah, Paolo De Marchi's northern-Rhone idea grown at Isole e Olena, not the house Chianti. James Suckling 95: violet essence, dried blueberries, sweet tobacco, mocha, vanilla, cracked pepper, grilled meat, firm ripe tannin, intense. Monica Larner, Wine Advocate 95: dark fruit, spice, pepper, crushed stone, blue flower, milky blueberry, 18 months in barrique with a little American oak and one-third new, 8,700 bottles, 15 percent alcohol. Antonio Galloni 95 found a delicate, silky, red-fruited 2019 with spice, orange peel, dried flowers, and white pepper. This is the bottle that puts De Marchi's Syrah on a table at ninety dollars.
The house
Founded in 1956 and shaped by Paolo De Marchi from the 1970s on. Collezione Privata is his international-variety lane, separate from Chianti Classico and Cepparello.
The wine
98% Syrah, 2% Viognier. Stainless ferment with stems, then 18 months in French barrique plus a little American oak, one-third new. 15% ABV.
The scores
James Suckling 95. Wine Advocate 95. Vinous 95. Wine Spectator 91.
The drinker
Violet and pepper first. Decant 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Lamb or a grilled steak.
Violet and blueberry, then pepper, mocha, and meat
Suckling found a big, powerful Syrah with violet essence, dried blueberries, sweet tobacco, mocha, vanilla, cracked pepper, and grilled meat, full-bodied, firm ripe tannin, chewy and fleshy. Larner found dark fruit, spice, pepper, crushed stone, blue flower, and milky blueberry, with a soft, creamy texture and seamless oak. Galloni found a distinctly red-fruited 2019, spice, orange peel, dried flowers, white pepper, deep and light on its feet.
A concentrated Tuscan red year. Larner noted freshness against fruit weight and primary intensity. Galloni found extra silk and a red-fruited profile unusual for this Syrah. Drink from 2023 through about 2035 with air.
Violet, dried blueberry, dark fruit, sweet tobacco, mocha, cracked pepper, grilled meat.
Full, 15% ABV, 18 months barrique one-third new, firm ripe tannin, creamy mid-palate.
Sweet spice, length. Decant 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
Stems in the ferment, then 18 months of barrique
The 2019 was fermented in stainless with stems, then aged 18 months in barrique, mostly French with a tiny percentage of American oak, one-third new. The blend is 98 percent Syrah and 2 percent Viognier. 15 percent alcohol. 8,700 bottles. That is De Marchi's Syrah grammar: pepper and flower first, oak as a frame.
This is not Chianti Classico and it is not Cepparello. Collezione Privata is the international-variety chapter from the same San Donato in Poggio estate.
Serve 60 to 64 F. Forty-five minutes of air is for violet, pepper, and the creamy close.
Two hamlets, a Syrah chapter
Isole e Olena takes its name from two hamlets in San Donato in Poggio. Syrah is how De Marchi spoke northern Rhone from that same hill.
The estate was founded in 1956. Paolo De Marchi's work from the 1970s onward made it a Chianti Classico reference, then a home for Syrah, Cabernet, and Chardonnay under Collezione Privata.
This bottling is the Syrah, not the Sangiovese. Pepper, flower, and a little Viognier lift.
De Marchi later sold the estate. This 2019 is his vintage in the glass: dual 95s, 8,700 bottles.
Lamb, pepper, and a little char
Tuscan Syrah wants herb, fat, and a grilled crust. Lamb takes the pepper. A steak takes the mocha close.
Two plates. One rosemary lamb chop. One butter-basted steak. Both can take this Syrah's tannin and spice.
Decant 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. A generous Rhone or Bordeaux bowl.
Rosemary Garlic Lamb Chops
Herb-crusted lamb for Syrah's cracked pepper, violet, and grilled-meat line.
Why it works: Lamb fat rounds 15 percent tannin. Rosemary echoes the savory spice.
View Recipe for rosemary garlic lamb chops (opens in a new tab)
Butter-Basted Ribeye
A hard crust for a 95-point Tuscan Syrah that still has tannin to spare.
Why it works: Fat and char cushion dense fruit while browned beef pulls blueberry, mocha, and pepper.
View Recipe for butter-basted ribeye (opens in a new tab)Put this Collezione Privata Syrah in the cart
Paolo De Marchi, James Suckling 95 and Wine Advocate 95. Ninety dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is Isole e Olena Syrah, not a Chianti Classico under another name.
