Winemaker Notes
The 2015 Sergio Zingarelli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione is a deep ruby red color. The bouquet is fruity and intense, with a long persistence and a touch of spices. The palate is warm and velvety with a very good balance.
This wine is particularly suited for red meat dishes, game, and hard cheeses but it can be enjoyed by itself to better appreciate its qualities.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very ripe and rich red with dried-berry, plum, mushroom and bark character on the nose and palate. Fully body. Velvety texture.
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Wine Spectator
Distinctly sweet in aroma and flavor, this red offers ripe cherry, black currant, earth and oak spice flavors. Vibrant, with support from assertive, refined tannins, which drive the long finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is the top-shelf wine from Sergio Zingarelli. His namesake 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Sergio Zingarelli (100% Sangiovese) shows rich concentration and a seamless delivery of aromas that spans from black cherry and plum to spice and moist pipe tobacco. The fruit here is soft and luscious, but the mouthfeel is medium in length. It would turn a platter of modest carne asada soft tacos into an important dinner. Some 10,500 bottles were made.
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Decanter
First crafted in 2010, this Gran Selezione hails from the Zingarelli family's historical Le Macìe property. The vineyards here have been slowly replanted since the 2000 vintage and as of the 2014 vintage, the wine is made exclusively from Sangiovese. It's all sweet herbs, flinty pepper and toasted oak on the nose. Soft, ripe and full on the palate, its polished, powdery tannins provide a balanced framework, while the finish lingers with notes of menthol and underbrush.
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Wine Enthusiast
Underbrush, French oak, leather and camphor aromas waft out of the glass alongside a hint of violet. The full-bodied palate features dried black cherry, coconut, licorice and espresso alongside firm, close-grained tannins. Drink 2022–2027.
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.