Winemaker Notes
Pair this wine with lasagna, ragù sauces, roasted rabbit, or braised veal shank.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Chianti Classico delivers a classic interpretation of Sangiovese – called "Sangioveto" on Paolo Panerai's insistence – with 5% Canaiolo. The wine shows enormous fruit purity and floral lift that brings the bouquet to life before your eyes and nose. You'll want to stock up on these bottles and keep them handy for informal nights when friends or family stop by for dinner. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2020.
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Wine Spectator
A graphite aroma introduces a burst of fresh cherry flavor in this fluid, supple red, with ample tannins. The density carries the detailed fruit, spice and tobacco notes, with fine length. Drink now through 2022.
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.