Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A tangy and flavorful red with stone, blueberry and terracotta character. Medium to full body, firm and velvety tannins and a flavorful finish.
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Wine Spectator
The aromatics are terrific in this muscular red, with flavors of toast, spice and pipe tobacco surrounding macerated cherry. Needs time to resolve the oak. Best from 2019 through 2032.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Gran Selezione wines are distinguished by their added extract and the richer textural impact they make in the mouth, among other qualities. Tasting the 2013 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Il Margone next to Il Molino di Grace's 2015 Chianti Classico gives you a perfect view onto the stylistic distances between the two wines. This expression is redolent of dark fruit, baking spice and cinnamon stick. The mouthfeel here is brighter and more buoyant than expected, thanks to that crisp acidity (developed in this cooler vintage) tucked neatly at the back.
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Decanter
Meaty and savoury aromas on the nose that meld elegantly with sweet oak spice. A great knife-and-fork wine, with satisfying and vivacious flavour on the palate. Not huge finesse, but there is lots of drive here.
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Wine Enthusiast
Blue flower, baked plum and pipe tobacco aromas slowly take shape. The palate offers dried cherry, prune, star anise and crushed sage while firm acidity and assertive, close-grained tannins provide the austere backbone. Give this a few more years for the tannins to unwind. Drink 2019–2025.
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.