Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Purity and intensity mark this supple, complex red, bursting with black cherry, black currant, plum, graphite, sanguine and tobacco notes that show an underlying woodsy accent. The well-integrated structure lends support as this plays out on the long finish. Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2021 through 2035.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Chianti Classico impresses for the heightened level of vibrant freshness and aromatic precision that distinguishes it in a large playing field. Proprietor Maurizia di Napoli tells me that the 2016 growing season was not without its ups and downs. Farming was difficult, and not all sites came to ripeness with the same consistency because it was cooler toward the end of the growing season. Castello dei Rampolla avoids the use of sulfites in winemaking. However, these results are stunning, especially as this is positioned as a more affordable wine. The blend is 85% Sangiovese, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Merlot.
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Wine Enthusiast
Ripe black-skinned berry, underbrush, violet, new leather and cake spice aromas shape the nose on this earthy, fragrant red. Bright and savory, the vigorous palate offers juicy Marasca cherry, raspberry jam, cinnamon and star anise alongside a hint of game. Taut, grainy tannins provide support.
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Wine & Spirits
One of our tasting- panel members called this “a great natural wine to show someone who doesn’t drink natural wine.” It opens with some volatile notes that blow off to reveal palate-saturating flavors of black cherry and sour plum that are more blue-fruited than typical of sangiovese, perhaps derived from the small percentages of merlot and cabernet sauvignon included in the blend. Raspy tannins frame the flavors, which seem to gain vitality with exposure to air.
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.