Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with grilled steak; aged Pecorino; osso buco.
Blend: 95% Sangiovese, 5% Pugnitello
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Marco Ricasoli-Firidolfi harvests fruit for this Gran Selezione from two parcels planted in the rocky soils of his Gaiole estate, one with 50-year-old vines and a younger parcel with 20-year-old vines. He blends in five percent pugnitello, a thick-skinned indigenous variety added to his estate in the late 1990s, creating a dark and firmly structured Chianti Classico with flavors of toasted pine nuts, black tea and rich spice accents from 28 months in French barriques and casks. Another two or three years in the cellar will bring all of the elements into harmony, but this is delicious now for pouring with cinghiali ragù.
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Wine Spectator
Rich black cherry and plum flavors are augmented by licorice, leather and autumn leaves in this forceful red. Balanced, building to a long, slightly chewy aftertaste that channels the fruit, earth and mineral components. Drink now through 2023.
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James Suckling
A rich and structured Chianti Classico with dried berry, toasted oak and mahogany character. Full-bodied, chewy and flavorful. Serious. Better in 2017.
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.