Winemaker Notes
Intense ruby red color. Rich and complex nose, which recalls ripe red fruits, spices and sweet notes of vanilla. In the mouth, it is voluminous, with structured, appreciable tannins. Long and persistent finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A spicy and classic wine with aromas of graphite, minerals, licorice, restrained black cherries, violets and chalk. Medium-bodied, crisp and tight, with tension, savoriness and velvety tannins. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Barone Ricasoli 2023 Chianti Classico Riserva Brolio is a nicely polished and textured expression of Sangiovese that captures the clear exuberance of the vintage. Dark cherry is backed by sweet spice and tobacco, with plenty of softness and character. Aged for 18 months in 500-liter tonneaux, the wine shows just the right amount of extraction.
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Vinous
The 2023 Chianti Classico Riserva Brolio is packed with blackberry, licorice, cloves and new leather. It’s an especially opulent, dense Riserva. The oak is a bit pushed, but it also works well in this style. Plush contours wrap it all together effortlessly.
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Wine Spectator
This red is rich and suave, boasting cherry, plum, iron, vanilla and toast aromas. Supple in texture, with a succulent feel and fine harmony. Ends with fruit and oak spice accents. Drink now through 2038.
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.