FLOAT 100 · Wine · No. 76
Tignanello 2019
In 1971 a Florentine wine family of nearly six centuries gave up the Chianti name, put Cabernet and French barrels into a Sangiovese, and sold it as humble table wine; the 2019 is that rebellion half a century on.
- Maker
- Marchesi Antinori
- By price in wine
- 94 of 100
Create a free account to see every recorded price and every grade.
Create a free account- Producer
- Marchesi Antinori, Tenuta Tignanello, San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Tuscany
- Classification
- Toscana IGT
- Grapes
- Mostly Sangiovese with a small share of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc
- Vineyard
- Tignanello, about 77 hectares (190 acres), limestone-rich soils, southwest-facing, 350-400 meters up
- Harvest
- Second half of September to October 16, 2019
- Aging
- 14 to 16 months in French and Hungarian oak, then 12 months in bottle
- First vintage
- 1970, as a Chianti Classico Riserva; named Tignanello from 1971
- Critic scores
- Wine Advocate 96, Wine Spectator 96, James Suckling 95, Wine Enthusiast 95
The wine that left Chianti
Tignanello comes from a single vineyard of about 77 hectares on the Tignanello estate in the Chianti Classico hills, with limestone-rich soils facing southwest at 350 to 400 meters above sea level. It is made only in favorable years: there was no Tignanello in 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1984, 1992 or 2002.
It began in 1970 as 'Chianti Classico Riserva Vigneto Tignanello,' a Chianti Classico Riserva from a single vineyard. That blend still contained 20% Canaiolo and 5% of the white grapes Trebbiano and Malvasia, but the wine was aged in small oak barrels. In 1971 Antinori dropped the Chianti name, sold the wine as a Tuscan red table wine, and called it Tignanello. The 1971 was released in 1974.
The house says Tignanello was the first Sangiovese aged in small barrels, the first modern red to use non-traditional varieties such as Cabernet in its blend, and among the first Chianti Classico reds made without white grapes; the whites were eliminated for good with the 1975 vintage. Antinori says the blend in use today dates from 1982; another account gives it as 80% Sangiovese, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc since 1995, with a variation from 2001 to 2006. The wine stayed a simple table wine until it received the Toscana IGT designation in 1994.
Piero Antinori and Giacomo Tachis
The Antinori family has made wine in Florence since 1385, when Giovanni di Piero Antinori joined the city's guild of winemakers. In 1506 the family bought the Palazzo Antinori for 4,000 florins, and it later received the title of marquis from the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. The company is counted among the oldest family-owned businesses in the world.
Piero Antinori took over in 1966 when his father Niccolo retired. He pushed the house toward early picking of white grapes, stainless-steel fermentation, malolactic fermentation and aging in small French barriques, techniques that Tignanello put on show. Solaia, which began with 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, followed in 1978.
His technical partner was the enologist Giacomo Tachis (1933-2016), who joined Antinori in 1961 and spent 32 years as technical director. Tachis is often called 'the father of Super Tuscan wines,' and his work spanned Tignanello, Solaia and Sassicaia, the Bolgheri Cabernet created by Antinori's relative Marquis Mario Incisa della Rocchetta. Sassicaia came first, but Tignanello is credited with shaking up the Italian wine industry and launching the Super Tuscan movement.
2019: a normal year, carefully handled
Antinori describes 2019 in Chianti Classico as a year of normal conditions. The winter was cold with little rain, and the first half of spring was cool and wet, especially in April and May. Summer was hot without major heat spikes, with slightly above-average rainfall that kept the vines growing normally. From the end of August through September and October the weather was ideal, letting every variety in the Tignanello vineyard reach full ripeness.
Picking began in the second half of September with the Sangiovese and ended on October 16 with the Cabernet. The house says the season demanded diligence in the vineyard and careful sorting in the cellar. Each lot fermented in truncated conical tanks, then went into small oak barrels for malolactic fermentation. The lots aged separately at first, were blended, and finished 14 to 16 months in French and Hungarian oak, part new and part used, before another 12 months in bottle.
Antinori's tasting note describes a deep ruby wine with red fruit, strawberry and pomegranate, apricot and peach in syrup, vanilla, dried flowers, chocolate and nutmeg, silky, vibrant tannins and a finish of roasted coffee and bitter chocolate. Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator each scored it 96, and James Suckling and Wine Enthusiast 95.
A recognizable bottle
Tignanello is the wine credited with starting the Super Tuscan category, and it has appeared several times in the top ten of Wine Spectator's annual list.
In October 2026 a U.S. merchant listed the 2019 at $209.95 a bottle, sold out. That is an asking price, not a sale.
The numbers
- Vineyard
- About 77 ha (190 acres), 350-400 m, limestone-rich soils
- Blend
- Mostly Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc; one account gives 80/15/5
- Barrel aging
- 14-16 months, French and Hungarian oak
- Bottle aging before release
- 12 months
- Harvest end
- October 16, 2019
- Wine Advocate
- 96
- Wine Spectator
- 96
- James Suckling
- 95
Timeline
Giovanni di Piero Antinori joins the Florentine winemakers' guild.
The family buys the Palazzo Antinori in Florence for 4,000 florins.
Giacomo Tachis joins Antinori as a junior enologist.
Piero Antinori takes over from his father Niccolo.
First vintage, as Chianti Classico Riserva Vigneto Tignanello, still with white grapes.
The wine leaves the Chianti appellation as a table wine named Tignanello.
The 1971 Tignanello is released.
White grapes are dropped from the blend for good.
Antinori launches Solaia.
The blend Antinori still uses is set.
Tignanello becomes a Toscana IGT.
Giacomo Tachis dies in Florence at 82.
The 2019 harvest ends with the Cabernet.
A U.S. merchant lists the 2019 at $209.95, sold out.
The world in 2019
Terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, kill 51 people.
Scientists publish the first image of a black hole, in the galaxy M87.
Omar al-Bashir is deposed as President of Sudan.
Fire destroys the roof and spire of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Easter bombings in Sri Lanka kill 259 people; the same day Volodymyr Zelenskyy is elected President of Ukraine.
Emperor Akihito of Japan abdicates, ending the Heisei era.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2026 | $210 | Asking price, not a saleRetail asking price per 750 ml bottle at a U.S. merchant, listed sold out. Not a sale. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Tignanello 2019 is number 94 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (76 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Tignanello's first vintage, the 1970, was a Chianti Classico Riserva that still contained white grapes.
- From 1971 until 1994, one of Italy's most influential reds was sold as plain table wine.
- Tignanello was skipped entirely in seven vintages, including 2002.
- The Antinori family joined the Florence winemakers' guild in 1385, more than a century before Columbus sailed.
- The 2019 spent more than two years in barrel and bottle before release.
- The enologist behind Tignanello, Giacomo Tachis, also worked on its famous rival Sassicaia.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026