Winemaker Notes
Blend: 90% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon
Vegan
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is quite reduced now, so it certainly needs some time in bottle before serving. It should turn out to be a beauty; dark cherries, black olives and blackberry tart intermingle with vanilla and spices. Full-bodied with a lovely, velvety mouthfeel and loads of layers of dark fruit. Drink in 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Chianti Classico Riserva is a nicely integrated and seamless wine, with satisfying fullness and richness. It reveals a very contemporary bouquet with black cherry covered in chocolate. The wine is thinner in the mouth, and the tannins make their presence known. But overall, it shows a very streamlined construction. Pair it with a French onion soup. The blend is 90% Sangiovese and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in French barrique for 12 months. Again, Tenuta di Arceno gives you great value for your money.
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Wine & Spirits
From south-facing blocks on the Jackson Family's Castelnuovo Berardenga estate, this wine's fruit ripened into flavors of black raspberry, cassis and roasted red pepper. The deep fruit tones are enriched with notes of dark chocolate, vanilla and peppery spice. Best Buy
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.