Winemaker Notes
The color is bright ruby, the nose unveils layers of iris, violet, tobacco, black pepper and marasca cherry. The taste is well balanced, tightly knit with supple tannins, mineral notes, a mouth cleansing fresh acidity. Warm and persistent.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Wild herbs and pure red fruits are expressive in the 2020 Chianti Classico, with tomato leaf and raspberry liqueur. Medium bodied, with ripe tannins and a warming yet weightless finish, it has a profile of black cherry, tea leaf, and saline earth. Pure and classic, this is a killer value.
-
James Suckling
Fresh and sour cherries, raspberries, lemons, slate and cement on the nose. Medium-bodied, crunchy and vibrant with fine tannins and bright acidity. So drinkable now.
-
Tasting Panel
Black cherry, graphite, earth, and dried rose petals. Muscular tannins have real grit but resolve nicely with dried strawberry, Bing cherry, and sandalwood.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Cherry-vanilla notes eventually give way to soil and crushed rocks with herbs poking through on the nose, with the chalky, metallic elements of soil remaining present on the palate to push back against ripe fruit in tandem with tannins that cling to the mouth.
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.