Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Cherry, raspberry, blood orange and floral aromas and flavors come together in this vibrant red. Offers earth, Mediterranean herb and oak spice hints, while assertive tannins leave a firm grip. Best from 2026 through 2033. 4,500 cases made, 1,800 cases imported.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Chianti Classico has a deep magenta hue and is ripe and warming with aromas of black cherries, toasted incense, turned earth, and violets. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the palate with plush tannins, even acidity, and a peppery finish. It is a generous and warming Chianti Classico to drink over the next several years.
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Vinous
The 2022 Chianti Classico is a pretty rich wine for Il Poggerino. It shows the heat and dryness of the year in its intense dark red fruit. Even so, Piero Lanza has done a terrific job of avoiding the hard tannins that penalize other wines.
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Wine Enthusiast
The nose is clean and faintly medicinal, but gentle, like fresh hotel towels, with aromas of black cherry, vanilla, toasted coconut and licorice. The palate has the same overall feel, with notes of raspberry, earth, mint, eucalyptus and more cherries. Chalky, dusty tannins create a pleasing contrast with a fresh finish.
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.