Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This is pure, well-defined and intense, with cherry, black currant, violet, graphite and stone flavors fused to a solid structure. Balanced and resonant, persisting on the fruit- and mineral-tinged aftertaste. Drink now through 2035.
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Decanter
Brother and sister Piero and Benedetta Lanza have been managing Poggerino since 1988. With 12ha in Radda-in-Chianti, they craft the Riserva from 45-year-old vines. The wine is wild-fermented in concrete tanks, macerated for 55 days then aged in large Slavonian oak casks. It opens slowly, divulging rosehip, cherry blossom and liquorice spice. Racy acidity cuts through dark cherry fruit while layered, silky tannins build throughout the palate. This is more substantial than it appears, and is just a bit heady in alcohol.
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.