Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Displaying a youthful red-with-orange color, the 2019 Chianti Classico Riserva is layered with cedar, black raspberry, anise, and tobacco aromas. Medium to full-bodied, it is refreshing without any weight, and its clean acidity is evenly balanced through the wine, with fine tannins that take a pleasing angular feel that’s well-managed. It’s long on the palate, its delicate perfume hovering on the palate after the wine is gone, with notes of bergamot. This very appealing wine will continue to improve with another couple of years in the cellar.
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James Suckling
Attractive red-fruited character with hints of walnuts, dried leaves, ground cloves and crushed rocks. Medium-bodied with polished tannins and chalky texture. Firm and linear with vivid acidity. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
Cherry, plum, leather, iron, sanguine and eucalyptus aromas and flavors mingle in this firm, linear red, which unfolds nicely on the palate, with fine staying power. Just a bit crisp on the finish. Sangiovese, Colorino, Canaiolo and Ciliegiolo. Best from 2026 through 2040. 3,400 cases made, 1,338 cases imported.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The organic Badia a Coltibuono 2019 Chianti Classico Riserva is 90% Sangiovese with Canaiolo, Ciliegiolo and Colorino that is submitted to three weeks of skin contact during fermentation and 24 months of aging in large oak casks. The key here is territory. This estate manages a very authentic and clean expression of Gaiole in Chianti, which is one of the wildest corners of the appellation with winding roads that cut through thick forests. That wild character is transmitted here with aromas of forest fruit, spice and earth.
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Wine Enthusiast
The nose is savory, earthy, stony and even a little smoky, although a hint of dried cherries and dried cranberries provides just enough fruit. On the palate, that balance between high-toned red fruit and smoky earthiness continues above a current of citrus, before a hot, acidic, lively finish.
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.