Winemaker Notes
#25 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2025
In the beautiful olive and cypress-studded countryside between Florence and Siena lay the quaint hilltop villages of the Chianti Classico region. The wine of the same name is produced exclusively in this charming and beautiful area.
Intense ruby red with garnet reflections. Elegant, full, harmonious, and persistent on the nose, with suggestions of vanilla and raspberry. On the palate, it is long, velvety, full, generous, and warm.
Perfect with roasts and game.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Spectator
This beefy red relies on its dense texture, concentrated flavors of black cherry and blackberry fruit, and muscular tannins to get its message across. Wild herb, iron and earth notes add depth, while the finish is long and spicy.
-
Wine Enthusiast
The nose is savory and umami, with aromas of leather, graphite, underbrush, crushed rocks, bitter herbs and citrus swirling in the glass. Those earthy, bitter notes remain on the palate, but sweet cherries and wild strawberries pop overhead, while charged with powerful tannins and acid.
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.