Winemaker Notes
Gallule – the ancient name of the property – is also the label of Gagliole's Chianti Classico Gran Selezione. This wine is made exclusively from Sangiovese grapes grown in centuries-old terraced vineyards on the Antico Podere Gagliole. These landmark protected terraces were already famed for their grapes in medieval times.
This is a wine of great harmony and remarkable depth, rich and complex, and with a lovely garnet hue – qualities that only very old Sangiovese vines can produce.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This organic wine has been upgraded to Gran Selezione status. With fruit from a terraced vineyard in Castellina in Chianti made with ancient stone walls, the Gagliole 2018 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Gallule is an intricate and complicated wine to craft. Sangiovese vines range in age from 20 to 60 years old, and the final blend represents a special match of various sub-plots that changes each year. Fruit selection is key. The results are lucid and especially bright, aromatically speaking, with forest floor, wild cherry, lavender, crushed oyster shell and plum. There's even a touch of smoked ham. Castellina tends to be cooler at night with greater diurnal shifts, and this adds pretty freshness. The wine sees 20% new oak for 16 months and a final resting phase in cement. It shows gentle tannins, and annual production is around 3,500 bottles.
Rating: 96+ -
James Suckling
Flowers and blackberries with bark and walnut undertones. Full-bodied with extremely well crafted tannins that give depth and length. Serious balance and structure. Goes on for a long time. Very clear character here.
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Wine Enthusiast
The herbaceous and floral nose on this wine also has notes of iron, new bricks, sour plum and sour cherry. Cherry lingers on the palate, swinging into fig and raisin like a chocolate fruit cake, with umami density from well-aged balsamic vinegar. Tannins are softened but hold their structure, and acid carries through a long finish.
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Decanter
Attractive display of smoky and toasty notes with crunchy black currants, violets and spices. Lovely freshness provided by a juicy acidity on the palate, plenty of substance, with a lingering finish.
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Wine Spectator
Aromas of vanilla and toasty oak lead off this version, which is backed by cherry and plum flavors. Vibrant, picking up tobacco and earth notes as this plays out on the finish. There is finesse and harmony here, just needs a few years to absorb the oak. Best from 2024 through 2037.
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.