Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
This historic estate (pronounced ‘Kal-chin-aya’) has been home to the Counts Capponi since 1524 and is today managed by brothers Sebastiano and Niccolò Capponi. Located in the heart of Chianti Classico, close to the town of Greve in Chianti, the estate includes 30ha of vineyard, which have been farmed organically since 1992. This Riserva is made from 100% Sangiovese, sourced from two blocks of old vines. Each block is aged separately for 15 months in 500-litre French oak tonneaux. After blending the two blocks, the wine is then aged for another four to six months in Slavonian oak casks before bottling. Susan Hulme MW: Aromas of dried cherry and herbs mirror the palate, which boasts an assertive structure and a lingering finish. Intriguing. Andrew Jefford: Very attractive red fruit aromas, embellished with a bay-leaf sweetness. Fine, rich, luscious and long on the palate, while exhibiting a magnificent resonance and great harmony. This is perfectly accessible now, but with the potential to age further. Monty Waldin: Very smooth, pure and balanced, with a fine fruit expression and an inner freshness.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Here's a library bottle that takes us back to one of the most celebrated vintages in modern Tuscan wine history. The Conti Capponi Villa Calcinaia 2010 Chianti Classico Riserva is identified by its elegant tertiary character, but the aging process is cautious and calibrated. The wine reveals dark fruit, plum, dried currant, cured tobacco and leather. The wine's fiber is rich and plentiful and ready to go. This wine is drinking very nicely today.
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.