Winemaker Notes
Pair this wine with grilled red meats, bordelaise sauces, Bistecca alla Fiorentina, and butter-poached veal shank.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A spicy and smoky wine that’s graceful and elegant. Aromas of licorice, cedar, red cherries and strawberries. Medium-bodied with crisp acidity, tight style, firm chalky tannins and an austere yet balanced finish. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
A bit sullen today, this red offers plum, amaro, earth, mineral and eucalyptus flavors. Nonetheless, there’s vibrant acidity, and though this is dense, its tannins feel integrated in the end. Leaves a dusty finish, so decant now or wait another two to three years. Sangioveto, Canaiolo and Ciliegiolo. Best from 2029 through 2043.
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Vinous
The 2023 Chianti Classico Riserva Il Poggiale is the more potent of the two Riservas in this range. Beams of tannin shape a deceptively mid-weight Riserva that carries a good bit of punch and overall energy. Dark red-toned fruit, tobacco, cedar, incense and licorice add lovely somber intensity throughout.
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.