Winemaker Notes
Pair with grilled meats, beef and veal roasts, stews, grilledfish and pasta dishes with strong sauces.
Blend: 80% Sangiovese and 20% Merlot.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Shows plenty of berry and chocolate character on the nose and palate. Medium body, soft tannins and a flavorful finish. One of the better 2014 Chianti Classicos.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Chianti Classico Riserva (80/20 Sangiovese and Merlot) is a rich and well-textured wine. Surprisingly, it also shows more delightful layering and intensity in terms of mouthfeel than you get with many of its peers. Soft flavors of cherry and blackberry segue to light spice, leather and savory tobacco. The finish is long and supple. There are not that many Chianti Classico Riservas made in this vintage, but this wine is certainly among the best.
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Wine Spectator
A pure cherry flavor is the hallmark of this focused and balanced red. Concentrated, with a steely side to the profile. Shows fine balance and sweet fruit on the lingering finish. Drink now through 2024.
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.