Winemaker Notes
#22 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023
Ruby red, with fine tonality and intensity. Spicy nose with notes of blossoms, wild berries, and mineral tones. Notes of spice and crisp fruit on the palate, with self-confident but supple tannins, and impressive structure and breed.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A juicy and pretty wine with berries, chocolate, and bark. Subtle. Medium-bodied with fine tannins that are slightly chewy and austere now but will soften nicely with age.
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Wine Spectator
A solidly built red introduced by aromas of mint, lavender and wild rosemary. Shows cherry, raspberry, earth, iron, sanguine and tobacco flavors allied to an almost viscous texture as this cruises to the long finish. Impressive now, yet will be better in three to five years. Best from 2026 through 2045.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
In a bottle with a black label, the Fèlsina 2020 Chianti Classico Riserva Berardenga shows an open-knit quality with soft fruit flavors of dark cherry and baked plum. Those fruit flavors are followed by pretty mineral notes and light spice. That openness and those sweet cherry flavors are characteristic of the warm 2020 growing season. The wine finishes with bright acidity that is typical 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.