Winemaker Notes
Ruby red color. Intense and elegant nose with ripe plum, wood notes and caramel. Round, silky and elegant in the mouth with velvety tannins, which, together with a crisp acidity, gives a wrapped softening mouthfeel.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very perfumed with hibiscus flower, citrus and fresh cherry aromas that follow through to a medium body with layers of fruit and very fine tannins that go on and on. Totally integrated. A joy to taste and drink but will improve beautifully in the bottle.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Of these releases from 2020, I feel that the Barone Ricasoli 2020 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Colledilà is the most sensitive to the warm growing season. You sense more fruit ripeness in this wine with savory spice, leather and toasted espresso bean. There is plenty of plum and purple fruit that is framed by crushed stone and campfire ash. Although the bouquet is not quite as brilliant as the 2019 vintage, this expression from 2020 does indeed offer pretty, balanced freshness in terms of mouthfeel.
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Jeb Dunnuck
With a gorgeous nose and a jeweled ruby color, the 2020 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Colledila takes on a more floral and primary pure profile with its notes of framboise, candied roses, anise, and fresh pine. Medium-bodied and juicy, with ripe tannins, refreshing acidity, and a rounded mid-palate, it reveals floral notes that last through its fairly long finish.
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Wine & Spirits
Francesco Ricasoli makes three Gran Selezione wines with sangiovese selected from single vineyards on his 600-acre Gaiole estate. The 2020 Colledilà, from a 19-acre vineyard planted on stony alberese soils, shows impressive depth and precision, its flavors of ripe cherry and raspberry infused with a saline freshness, balancing notes of dark chocolate and warm spice.
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Wine Spectator
Like a laser beam in profile, this red evokes cherry, currant, mineral, wild herb and sweet spice aromas and flavors. The lingering, incisive finish leaves a dusting of fine tannins. Needs time. Best from 2025 through 2040.
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Wine Enthusiast
The nose has highlights of rich, ripe fruit, but with a savory balance provided by balsamic, mushrooms and natural notes of wood and stone. On the palate, sweet fruit continues and is emphasized by vanilla undertones, with a latent earthiness maintaining the woodsy balance.
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.