Winemaker Notes
Red ruby punctuated by purple glints. Fruity aromas of blackberry, raspberry, currant and blueberry. Sophisticated, elegant and balanced, with a persistent and harmonic finish.
Blend: 95% Sangiovese, 5% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
First released in 2018, this wine draws its fruit from a site about one kilometer over from the celebrated Vigneto Bellavista with similar conditions. The Castello di Ama 2021 Chianti Classico Riserva Montebuoni is a broad and rich expression of Sangiovese that offers concentrated blackberry, plum and velvety tannins. The wine shows attractive accessibility and a generous mid-weight mouthfeel.
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Wine Spectator
Rich and fleshy, with a supple texture, plus saturated flavors of cherry, raspberry, rose and mineral. Firms up yet keeps building on the palate to the persistent and complex aftertaste. Already beautifully balanced but should integrate even further with a few more years in the bottle. Sangiovese and Merlot. Best from 2026 through 2042.
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James Suckling
Black cherry, dark mushroom and some lemon rind aromas follow through to a medium body with a slightly lean mid-palate, but it’s long and energetic at the end. Drink or hold.
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.