Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is chocolaty and mineral with ripe red and dark berries, walnuts, dried rose petals and nutmeg. Medium- to full-bodied, structured and firm but juicy and sleek at the same time. Shows depth to the fruit with a lingering finish. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
With the dark blue and gold label, the Borgo Scopeto 2017 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione is more evolved for sure, but it still shows the softness of fruit from a hot vintage. Baked plum cedes to toasted spice, licorice and tobacco. Drink it now to nab the best of those mature tones along with the dark fruit that has not yet faded.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Taking on a more garnet/red color, the 2017 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione has more evolved, ripe aromas of baked red cherry, red plum, cedar, crushed red flowers, and leather. Full-bodied, it offers a meaty texture with ripe tannins that turn a bit dusty, and it has more modest acidity. It has a more autumnal feel and is ready to drink now or over the next couple of years, but it has a lot to offer in the near term for enjoyment.
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.