Winemaker Notes
Castell'in Villa's Chianti Classico is estate grown in Castelnuovo Berardenga, as is 100% Sangiovese. The wine is fermented in stainless steel using indigenous yeasts and is kept in contact with the skins for a little less than two weeks. The wine is aged in large oval barrels for two years before bottling.
The resulting wine is the best kind of classic Chianti, with the classic aromas of sour cherry, fine leather, sandalwood, and cedar, fresh acidity, attractive fine tannins, and a long, complex palate impression.
This style of Chianti Classico is a very useful wine at table; medium-weight, savory, and based on fresh acidity rather than tannins. Drink it with pizza, roast chicken, pork, and red meats.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
There is incredible subtle complexity in this Chianti Classico. The nose shows licorice, bergamot, potpourri, violets and red cherries. The palate is graceful, with vibrant blood orange flavors, refreshing acidity and velvety, fine-grained tannins. Drink now or hold.
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Vinous
The 2020 Chianti Classico is a gorgeous wine from Castell'in Villa. Soft contours are the first sign of a rare young Chianti Classico from this estate that will drink well with minimal cellaring. Dark wild cherry, cedar and pipe tobacco open first. The 2020 offers gorgeous dark Sangiovese fruit along with all of the structure that is so typical of the wines here. Plum, graphite, leather, incense and dried herbs shape the striking finish. What an absolute delight!
Among Italy's elite red grape varieties, Sangiovese has the perfect intersection of bright red fruit and savory earthiness and is responsible for the best red wines of Tuscany. While it is best known as the chief component of Chianti, it is also the main grape in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and reaches the height of its power and intensity in the complex, long-lived Brunello di Montalcino. Somm Secret—Sangiovese doubles under the alias, Nielluccio, on the French island of Corsica where it produces distinctly floral and refreshing reds and rosés.
One of the first wine regions anywhere to be officially recognized and delimited, Chianti Classico is today what was originally defined simply as Chianti. Already identified by the early 18th century as a superior zone, the official name of Chianti was proclaimed upon the area surrounding the townships of Castellina, Radda and Gaiole, just north of Siena, by Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany in an official decree in 1716.
However, by the 1930s the Italian government had appended this historic zone with additonal land in order to capitalize on the Chianti name. It wasn’t until 1996 that Chianti Classico became autonomous once again when the government granted a separate DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) to its borders. Ever since, Chianti Classico considers itself no longer a subzone of Chianti.
Many Classicos are today made of 100% Sangiovese but can include up to 20% of other approved varieties grown within the Classico borders. The best Classicos will have a bright acidity, supple tannins and be full-bodied with plenty of ripe fruit (plums, black cherry, blackberry). Also common among the best Classicos are expressive notes of cedar, dried herbs, fennel, balsamic or tobacco.