Winemaker Notes
This wine is ideal with cheese, pasta with different kinds of sauce, grilled meat.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Welcome back! I say this to the ultimate come-back kid: Dievole in Vagliagli near Castellina-in-Chianti. The 2013 Chianti Classico does a great job of underlining the natural characteristics of Sangiovese. If a #nofilter hashtag could be applied as a sensorial characteristic in wine writing, it is a fitting descriptor to use in the case of this wine. It offers a clean view of cherry, wild berry, pressed flower and balsam herb. This is a wine of beautiful purity that offers a non-interventionist's approach.
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
A stand-out red wine in any crowd, the 2013 Dievole Chianti Classico is just plain fine! In Tuscany, producers can use a variety of grapes in their Chiantis. Most recently a trend to include more Sangiovese and a smaller percentage of lower class varietals has taken hold and the producers have responded by making some of the area's best wines ever. Made from 100% Sangiovese, this one deftly combines old traditions with new understanding of wine should taste like. This one is for everyone for it is just a really good wine. Medium ruby color; charming red fruit aroma with earth and dried dust in the nose, quite the example a fine Tuscan red. The Old World stands out, yet doesn't overplay its hand; medium bodied, smooth and just a bit precocious on the palate; dryish, medium acidity, good balance; ripe fruit flavors, easy and juicy in its textures; medium finish, smooth, soft aftertaste. (Tasted: December 10, 2015, San Francisco, CA)
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.