Winemaker Notes
Ruby red. Intense, persistent red fruit with touches of spice. Warm, silky mouthfeel with elegant tannins. Well-balanced with ripe red fruit flavors.
Vegan-Friendly
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Notes of dark chocolate, spices and cherry syrup with metallic hints of crushed rocks make for a luxurious nose with a palate to match, nearly spicy with pepper and acidity and structured if opulent tannins.
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Wine Spectator
Offers bright cherry, raspberry, floral and earth aromas and flavors matched to a supple texture and compact structure. Lively and well-delineated, with excellent balance and a lingering aftertaste of fruit, earth and Tuscan scrub.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Rocca delle Macìe 2018 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Sergio Zingarelli (a 100% expression of Sangiovese) offers pretty brightness and intensity with layers of dark currant, cherry and crushed mineral with lingering smoke and spice. This is the estate's top-end wine to pair with a hearty Tuscan cut of T-bone steak.
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.