Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
An elegant wine with cedar, graphite, red cherries, sweet violets and licorice on the nose. Medium- to full-bodied, it shows fine tannins, savory fruit and a youthful, persistent, chalky finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Barone Ricasoli 2022 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Gaiole Colledilà shows a hint of sweet fruit that is typical of this vintage layered with plump cherry and blackcurrant. That distinctive mineral note that is such a driving force in past vintages appears with less intensity in this fruit-driven edition from limestone alberese soils. Bright acidity and silky tannins drive an elegant finish.
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Vinous
The 2022 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Colledilà brings together all the elements of the house style. Deep, ample and enveloping, the 2022 offers up copious dark red fruit, leather, incense, tobacco, menthol and dried rose petal. Plush contours wrap up this stylish Gran Selezione from Brolio.
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Wine Spectator
There is depth to this red, whose cherry, raspberry, mineral and spice flavors are expressive and well-matched to the vibrant structure. Deftly balanced, with a fluid feel and fine length on the aftertaste.
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.