Winemaker Notes
Wine to accompany the entire meal, especially thick soups, all kinds of meat and half-mature cheese.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Slightly reductive at first, but this opens up into fresh red berry territory with licorice, herbs and light spices as well as cedar. Medium-bodied with fine tannins, fresh acidity and a medium chewy finish. Drink now.
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Wine Enthusiast
Enticing aromas of fragrant purple flowers, ripe woodland berries and a whiff of pressed powder waft out of the glass. Bright and juicy, the savory palate shows crushed raspberry, fleshy Morello cherry, ground clove and a hint of coffee alongside polished, fine-grained tannins. Drink through 2021.
Editors' Choice -
Wine Spectator
Bright cherry, strawberry, floral and earth aromas and flavors are the hallmarks of this elegant red. Firm and balanced, persistent on the finish. Give this a year to integrate. Drink now through 2028.
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.