Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Here is a beautiful expression that takes us back one decade in time. The Fontodi 2010 Chianti Classico shows beautiful tertiary tones that are tonic, bright and focused. A long list of descriptors applies, including cranberry, dried cassis, pie crust, leather, pressed violet, potpourri, button mushroom and forest floor. There is an ashy mineral note that I found across the entire range of Sangiovese wines from Fontodi. The wine has taken on volume and weight over the past 10 years. The mouthfeel is beautiful, showing tarry richness, wild sage and a touch of black rubber tire (Michelin, of course). The wine is poised to continue its evolution, but it shows great character now, and if you have a bottle, I highly recommend that you pull it out. This is a terrific surprise. Rating : 93+
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Wine Enthusiast
Made from organic grapes, this succulent wine delivers balsamic aromas and juicy black cherry flavors layered with cinnamon and white pepper. It’s radiant and structured, with big round tannins and edgy acidity.
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.