Winemaker Notes
The Chianti Classico Riserva has a ruby-red hue with a trace of garnet. The nose is elegant, displaying hints of spice and fruit. This a well-structured wine with smooth tannins and a long finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a perfumed and structured Chianti Classico with lavender, fresh mushroom and blackberries on the nose and palate. Full body, fine tannins and a racy finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Made from organically farmed grapes, this gorgeous expression of Sangiovese opens with rich aromas of ripe plum, leather and cooking spices. The vibrant palate delivers a core of black cherry and raspberry accented by white pepper, thyme, sage and mineral notes, with fresh acidity and solid tannins.
Editors' Choice
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Wine Spectator
This enticing red offers floral, strawberry, raspberry and mineral aromas and flavors. Elegant and harmonious, showing no shortage of structure, this has fine complexity, with a lingering aftertaste of berry and mineral.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Chianti Classico Riserva straddles a fine line between modernity and traditionalism. Aromas are chiseled and defined with bold cherry, Spanish cedar, moist tobacco and pressed red flower. The fruit layering is rich, but never over-the-top. In fact, the wine feels downright elegant, tight and pristine overall. It’s a pure expression of Sangiovese.
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.