Winemaker Notes
Pair with duck, lamb, pork, wildboard.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is a deliciously decadent Chianti Rufina with aromas and flavors of berries, cherries, wet leaves and coffee. Full body, chewy tannins and a flavorful finish. Drink now or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
This opens with enticing scents of blue flower, ripe dark-skinned berry, new leather, vanilla and sandalwood. Elegant and full-bodied, the palate delivers crushed raspberry, wild cherry, truffle and chopped herb, while intense licorice notes linger on the long finish. Fine-grained tannins and bright acidity provide impeccable balance. Drink through 2025.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Chianti Rufina Riserva Bucerchiale is a fantastic interpretation with seamless balance and carefully measured intensity. The wine opens to bright cherry and cassis aromas that are wrapped within a delicate veil of balsam or Mediterranean herb. The mouthfeel is silky and long with a good amount of power to move it smoothly over the palate. Selvapiana shows excellent results in this vintage.
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Wine Spectator
Sweet wood smoke, plum and cherry flavors pervade this dense red, which mellows with air, finding a nice harmony and lingering on the aftertaste. Drink now through 2026.
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.
Famous for its food-friendly, approachable red wines and their storied history, Chianti is perhaps the best-known wine region of Italy. This appellation within Tuscany has it all: sweeping views of rolling hills, endless vineyards, the warm Mediterranean sun, hearty cuisine and a rich artistic heritage. Chianti includes seven subzones: Chianti Colli Fiorentini, Rufina, Montalbano, Colli Senesi, Colline Pisane, Colli Aretini and Montespertoli, with area beyond whose wines can be labeled simply as Chianti.
However the best quality comes from Chianti Classico, in the heart of the Chianti zone, which is no longer a subzone of the region at all but has been recognized on its own since 1996. The Classico region today is delimited by the confines of the original Chianti zone protected since the 1700s.
Chianti wines are made primarily of Sangiovese, with other varieties comprising up to 25-30% of the blend. Generally, local varieties are used, including Canaiolo, Colorino and Mammolo, but international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah are allowed as long as they are grown within the same zone.
Basic, value-driven Chianti wine is simple and fruit-forward and makes a great companion to any casual dinner. At its apex, Chianti is full bodied but with good acidity, firm tannins, and notes of tart red fruit, dried herbs, fennel, balsamic and tobacco. Chianti Riserva, typically the top bottling of a producer, can benefit handsomely from a decade or two of cellaring.