Winemaker Notes
#45 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023
Benchmark Sangiovese and Chianti Classico. Ruby red color with notes of blackberries, cherry, leather, and red currant touched by vanilla and licorice spice. Sweet and persistent tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2021 Chianti Classico is exceptional. A burst of ripe red/purplish fruit, lavender, spice, menthol, licorice and tobacco are all dialed up in this racy, layered Chianti Classico. The 2021 was aged in 20% in cement and 80% in 20-25hL casks. It’s a serious wine that will benefit from cellaring. The Chianti Classico points to a potentially superb vintage here for the top bottlings.
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Wine Spectator
The picture of harmony, elegance and purity, this red features black cherry, blackberry, violet and mineral aromas and flavors. Starts out supple, with vibrant acidity and firm tannins emerging on the finish. Drink now through 2033.
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Wine Enthusiast
Ripe and sour cherry and vanilla bean come out on the nose and again on the palate. A decisively salty, mineral streak comes through, with concentrated tannins and substantial 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.