Winemaker Notes
Delicately perfumed on the nose with a balanced, mid-weight palate. Harmonious and refined with elegant tannins and a long, concentrated finish.
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
Monica Raspi crafts her Riserva from the estate’s original and eponymously named vineyard. At 350 metres, the warm westerly aspect and marly clay soil rich in stony, calcium carbonates typically yield a resolutely structured wine, yet the 2019 is not lacking in grace. Oak remains very much in the background, allowing the fruit to shine. It's beautifully weighted with red and black currants enfolded in terracotta-like tannins and offset by vibrant, crunchy acidity. Moist earth, green herbs and stony minerals reveal themselves slowly. This should show more of its generous side with time.
-
Wine Spectator
A focused red, this offers cherry, plum, iron, eucalyptus and resin flavors. Linear and tensile, with refined tannins providing support. Complex and lively, with a firm, lingering finish. Best from 2025 through 2042.
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.