Winemaker Notes
Colledilà is the grand Chianti Classico cru with a complex structure and outstanding modern elegance. Pure Sangiovese, it exalts all the magnificent gifts of this varietal, and the limited volumes of the Colledilà vineyard render it all the more exclusive.
Ruby red color. Complex and intense bouquet of ripe red fruit, plums and flower scents. The entry is velvety and generous with delicate tannins. The fine texture and well-balanced acidity give the wine a long persistence on the nose and palate. Colledilà is one of the most representative wines of the terroir of Brolio.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The purity of fruit here is stunning with blackberry, blueberry and orange-peel aromas and flavors. Medium-bodied with ultra fine tannins. Racy and focused with precision and polish that is very impressive for the vintage.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Barone Ricasoli 2017 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Colledilà sources its fruit from a site at 380 meters in elevation called Monte Morello with calcareous alberese soils. These conditions give extra focus and linearity to the wine with layered aromas of crushed stone and spice. The wine is equally fruity with blackberry, wild cherry and crushed rose petal. Colledilà is a classic and lasting expression from Gaiole in Chianti.
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Wine Enthusiast
Red berry, rose, slate and camphor aromas are front and center on this 100% Sangiovese. Linear and elegantly structured, the medium-palate offers dried cherry, licorice and roasted coffee bean framed in fine-grained tannins before closing on an almost salty note. Drink 2022–2027.
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.