Winemaker Notes
The Chianti Classico Riserve has a medium-full body with excellent depth of fruit, distinct spice, outstanding acidity and nicely weighted tannins. This award-winning Riserva can be enjoyed for 10-12+ years. Decanting is preferable. Pair with roasts, game and young cheeses. An exceptional compliment to red meats, roasts and game.
Blend: 90% Sangiovese, 10% Canaiolo and Colorino.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A fresh and bright red with sliced-orange and black-cherry aromas and flavors. Medium body. Tight and compact. Long and flavorful finish. Will age beautifully.
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Wine Spectator
This is packed with black currant, black cherry, floral and juniper aromas and flavors. The tannins are assertive, matched to bracing acidity and a touch of heat. A bit boisterous today, but this should settle down nicely over time. Sangiovese, Canaiolo and Colorino. Best from 2022 through 2039.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Offering richness, density and a sharply delineated approach, the 2016 Chianti Classico Riserva is an elegant but also classic expression from this storied estate. The best qualities of this vintage come through here with tight and focused fruit flavors and clear perfumes of wild cherry, rose and button mushroom. There is a lingering note of cherry sweetness that serves to glue the wine's other attributes, like its freshness and integrated tannins, together in harmony. Pair it with a veal and mushroom lasagna.
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Wine & Spirits
The Bianchi family’s Riserva fi res on all cylinders in the 2016 vintage, unfolding with black cherry and red currant fl avors framed by dusty tannins and laced with notes of thyme and lavender. The fl avors are taut and precise, already highly expressive yet with the potential to age gracefully. Best Buy
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Decanter
Monsanto's Riserva represents almost half of the estate's production. It is assembled from throughout its 56 hectares of Sangiovese, which are a massal selection from the Il Poggio vineyard, as well as Canaiolo Nero and Colorino. Headily scented - anise, tobacco, violet and juniper echo on the palate. Here fleshy ripe red plum provides the backdrop and chewy tannins kick in. This is dense without being heavy and sports a lustrous sheen. While aromas and flavors are ready, the structure says wait a bit. Drinking Window 2022 - 2032.
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.