Montalcino Previews 2024: Brunello 2020, Brunello Riserva 2019 and older vintages

Montalcino, November 2024

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020, Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019, changes to Rosso di Montalcino DOC, 14 estate visits and 250 tasting notes from Montalcino, November 2024

The most recent edition of Montalcino’s Benvenuto Brunello took place from November 14th-16th, 2024 in the Chiostro del Museo di Sant’Agostino. Home to Il Tempio du Brunello, the “Temple of Brunello,” offices of Il Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, Civic and Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art of Montalcino, all within the cloisters and edifices of the former 15th century convent of Sant’Agostino.

The focus of Benvenuto Brunello is of course, sangiovese and the questions have been asked so many times. “How do you taste more than 200 wines from one region, all made with the same grape and differentiate between them? How does your palate not suffer from fatigue and how are you able to write a unique tasting note for each wine?” The answers have never been simpler or more obvious – with the Montalcino producers to thank. Montalcino is ever evolving and from year to year the identity of its sangiovese diversify in ways to extrapolate from and improve on the last. Annual assessments consider and unearth more wines defined by their freshness. There are journalists who would have consumers believe that climate change was supposed to result in an ever rising trajectory of hotter, higher alcohol Brunello, but the Montalcinese are instead making better, more drinkable wines. The Brunello and the Rosso have increasingly become a pleasure to taste and write about. That is the story and the messenger is pleased.

Val d’Orcia

During the days of Benvenuto Brunello a conference took place at Teatro degli Astrusi with the thematic for 2024 being “what will the future hold for wine Consortia,” hosted by Luciano Ferraro – Editor-in-Chief at Corriere della Sera. The discussion included special guests Giovanni Manetti (President of Il Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico), Albiera Antinori (President of the Consorzio per la Tutela dei Vini DOC Bolgheri e DOC Bolgheri Sassicaia), Francesco Cambria (Consorzio di Tutela dei Vini Etna DOC), Sergio Germano (Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani) and Christian Marchesini (Consorzio per la Tutela dei Vini Valpolicella). In addition to the awarding of the prestigious Premio Leccio d’Oro (Villa Maiella – Guardiagrele; Tre Dita – Chicago; Garofalo Wine – Avellino; WineWatch – Ft. Lauderdale, Enoteca Piti Golla e Cantina – Firenze), annual Tile presentation and Artist speech (Ferzan Özpetek), there was the assessment of the latest viticultural year and “new method” for qualifying vintages, in this case an overview of 2020.

Changes to Rosso di Montalcino DOC

In June of 2021 Godello attended the inaugural Rosso event in Montalcino, the first significant collective step towards establishing an identity independent from Brunello. Fast forward to July of 2022 when talks opened up to consider increasing Rosso di Montalcino’s limited number of 510 hectares in the Montalcino registry (as compared to Brunello’s 2,100), with the idea to raise the self-contained profile of the wines and further distance them from being mired in the concept known as “Baby Brunello.” While Rosso’s production numbers can at times be increased by de-classifying Brunello fruit, the idea of expansion has been a hot topic of discussion and a year later much had changed. The selling of some estate vineyards saw some producers choosing to declare these new blocks as Rosso, case in point a piece of Passo del Lume Spento passed from one set of hands to another in 2023. Rosso has continued to rise, both in quality and despite climate adversity, with new rules in place, also in quantity. In June of 2024 it was announced that the DOC had been authorized to increase by 364 hectares, although the expansion did not make concessions for the planting of new vineyards, only for sangiovese that is thus far free from quota registers. The declaration could eventually see to the potential of an added three million bottles in production.

On the surface the resolution sounds foolproof but the devil always plays the advocate position to wonder if everyone involved is happy, feels heard and included in the decision making. Land rights and the appellative rules of a consortium’s disciplinare will benefit some, but not everyone. Even more changes are afoot with the territory moving on from the official five-star vintage rating system and the creation of a new map to be published by the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino in collaboration with prodigal son Gabriele Gorelli M.W.

With Michaela Morris, Benvenuto Brunello 2024

Meanwhile the Rosso vintage continues to gain importance because of 202o’s joy and also grip. Many estates only produced 20-30 per cent as compared to 2019 but surely that number was partially a factor of average potential. Adversity and low yields aside the purity remains unrivalled for Rosso, the liveliness too. At its best it was and still is like discovering the first ever vintage of something profound. Tasting Rosso di Montalcino over the course of those two days that June proved with unequivocal doubt that quality across the board had never been greater or higher. Revisits and new opportunities to look at more Rosso 2020s this past November only serves to cement the notion.

Related – Simply Red: Rosso di Montalcino

La Fortezza di Montalcino

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vintage 2020 – Much more than a pleasant surprise

Back in June of 2021 when that first Rosso di Montalcino solo event was introduced, the 2020 Rosso di Montalcino vintage was described as a child of a warm and dry season, dangerously low in quantity and one in Rosso terms to envision as lasting for a very long time. Great temperature fluctuations through harvest allowed the development of complex aromatics with increasing intensity. A season that gifted viscosity and the deepest of red cherry fruit. There was considerable mention of sluggish ferments which was especially challenging for malolactic to happen, but producers then, as now, were unconcerned. This is because pH was plenty high enough (nearing 3.4), there was no sinister force at work and this past November it was disclosed that the occurrence was far less of an issue for the Brunello. “Everything can change,” explained Giacomo Bartolommei of Caprili. “Things were going slow but (remember that) Rosso comes out one year after harvest – Brunello is five. We monitored along the way and by the time we needed to bottle all the malolactic was finished.” It helped to be patient and there can be no doubt how much complexity was gained through the unique and diverse aspects of a different vintage. When asked if there was anything truly challenging about 2020 Bartolommei answered “yes…Covid. But not in the vineyard.”

At Il Giglio with La Morris, Giacomo Bartolommei and la famiglia Machetti

And what about the 2020 Brunello? Is it not amazing how a vintage can deliver so much pleasantry and fineness but in so many different ways? Many 2020s are understated and uncomplicated but the best simply take advantage of their sangiovese DNA. Intelligent sangiovese come from honest people making wines from great terroir. Red fruit purity from a transparency of vintage is reserved for those producers who abide by their climate, this to allow soils to transmit sangiovese into Brunello of finesse, which culminates in fineness. Still others come away layered and compact like compressed Galestro, held together by acidity and tannin. Francesco Ripaccioli found the word “pleasantness” as the most suitable, to describe a vintage “in a more immediate and ready, generous and vibrant way without neglecting those aspects of freshness and verticality which characterize the northern side of Montalcino.” Ripaccioli continued by describing the wines as “being more fleshy, of more pronounced roundness, tannic elegance, all found within a framework of minerality and freshness.” For Canalicchio di Sopra no Riserva will be produced, a decision echoed by many other Montalcino producers.

With the AIS Siena Sommelliers in the Chiostro Museo Montalcino

The summer was about as warm at they come but early September rains cooled the vineyards down and so a ripening delay created an allowance to harvest at “normal” times. The warmth of July and August beget proper temperature excursions in September to result in a perfectly direct, fruit cumulate, acid retentive, silky tannic style for Montalcino. On the north side of the Montalcino hill it was a regular season harvested on the early side, beginning on or around the last weekend of September. The vintage was a strong and focused one for northerly Montosoli, not because of hot versus cold or wet versus dry but because the oscillations of temperature, prevailing winds and shifts in the space time continuum put the northern hill ahead of many southerly parts. The “Fregoni Index,” indicator of temperature excursion, was 431.9 for the 30 day period between August 23rd and September 21st, in other words the average day for night fluctuation during the final ripening period was 14.4 degrees. A significant statistic to help explain and define a vintage.

With Carmela Gioia and the AIS Siena Sommeliers

In the south the small berries in this vintage made for concentrated and powerful Brunelli with a saltiness, sweet acidity and a note of blood orange. To the east picking was a week later than the south. The bouquet and tannins are like 2012 “but I believe 2020 is more elegant, with fresher tannins and more vibrant acidity” told Giacomo Neri. The frost zones where losses were common from 2017 through 2021 saw an average 20 percent reduction in 2020. The highest elevation beget the airiest sangiovese set to the highest tones because temperature swings and winds blowing in harder will make these things happen. At these elevations between 500 and 600-plus metres the 2020 Annata are structured and gainfully austere, a compliment for the most part and a return to the kind of Brunello you might have been tasting more than ten years ago.

Many producers chose not to make Riserva from 2020 and so it was chance to really concentrate on the Brunello. Far from an indicator that the vintage was poor but more so a philosophy (and a brand of economics) that speaks to making high quality Brunello Annata. That said it was a vintage of 80 percent production (compared to 2019) and so despite no Riserva this represents an average amount of Brunello.

Tortelli by Chef Anna at Il Giglio Montalcino

Vintage 2019 – A top one for Riserva

Ah yes, the already famous vintage and for many reasons, 99 percent of them good. Comparable to 2016 in the sense that quality and quantity were both high. The oenologist Carlo Ferrini of Giodo described the weather as calda but not caldissima. A statement of the obvious to say that the key to a great wine in Montalcino is the relationship and balance between phenolic maturity and acidity. Achieving this kind of success was challenging in the two previous vintages. The problem with climate extremes is rising pH numbers, loss of acidity and when this happens you can’t make adjustments after harvest to correct deficiencies. This vintage was a literally a breeze. All the correct winds blew through and in 2019 there was 45-plus mm of rain on September 15th. A cleansing rain with no ill effect.

Next generation Montalcino

Yes it was a warm vintage but with no heat spikes upwards of 40 degrees as there had been in 2015 and also 2016. That is why producers were happy with and also relieved by 2019. The oft repeated terms were quality and quantity, but also easy, uncomplicated, fresh and substantial. Even the usage of “The Goldilocks vintage,” not too hard or too soft. Not to dry and not too wet. It was just right. If 2018 was the vertical vintage then 2019 was one of breadth and depth. What a vintage like 2019 allowed a Montalcino winemaker was the choice and the chance to make individual wines, not just good wines. To celebrate the spirit living within each place. To find richness from an uncontaminated place, because climate did not get in the way. To make a style of sangiovese by leaning towards the oxidative and not the reductive because the fruit was so untainted. Brunello that carried the DNA of each farm and levels of acidity to see the prospect of the best examples aging for 30 years or more.

Marino Colleoni – Podere Sante Marie

Higher temperatures but no major spikes and rainfall came at all the right times, first in the winter and then with that spike in mid-summer that cooled the vines but happened after the potential danger of funguses like Peronospera. Vegetative growth was slow and steady and harvest stretched over a few weeks of time. The end result was slow and even ripening which could not be said for either 2017 or 2018. There were a few handfuls of producers that made Riserva for ’17 and ’18 but for the bulk of the territory 2019 was the first since 2016 from which everyone who makes Riserva chose to do so.

Tagliata by Chef Anna at Il Giglio Montalcino

Vigna vs Riserva

These are the sangiovese the agronomist and the oenologist spend their most time with, from vineyard work, by grape ferments and through botti epochs that receive the most nurturing and care. Montalcino’s Vigna and Riserva will change a winemaker, either for better or for worse and they are also the ones that will stand the test of time. The question worth posing to these Montalcinese makers is why? What makes that vineyard block so special and for wines already aged longer than most, why go even longer, sometimes five years further in wood? What is the impetus for it being better to be a thinking monk than a post-modern thinker? How do vintage, elévage and specific vineyard blocks intertwine to create Brunello’s most structured sangiovese?

Vigna or cru wines have increasingly become the most talked about sangiovese within the trilogy comprised of Brunello, Vigna and Riserva. They are the territory’s answer to any question that prods or provokes a discussion regarding sub-zones and menzione geografica, a.k.a. MGAs. Yet Montalcino is one entity and not all that large a zone as a whole. There are villages and hamlets scattered about and within but to say that all the vineyards in and around say Sant’Angelo in Colle produce Brunello with similar characteristics is just not possible. Montalcino is not in need of any new or imagined rankings. What would it offer the community as a whole that it does not already have?

Montalcino

The regulations set the date of Riserva being released onto the market as January 1st of the fifth year after harvesting. The words of Lorenzo Magnelli of Le Chiuse will always resonate. “We release our Riserva 60 months later than our regular Brunello because I believe it helps the wine to get a stronger identity from Brunello, showing a better balance and more complexity. Brunello Riserva, it’s not the wine that you want to drink young and in this way you really can’t.” The opposite comes from Riccardo Campinoti at Le Ragnaie: “I am not a big Riserva guy, I keep all my wines three years in barrel and I think it’s enough. I much rather prefer single vineyard expression, I keep my best sites for single vineyards. Lately I prefer colder vintages. Warm vintages are too extreme and the wines are not that interesting.”

L’Ispettore Ginko or l’Uomo Pipistrello?

Benvenuto Brunello 2024

The Consorzio’s members come together each November for Benvenuto Brunello at The Chiostro Museo Montalcino for a showcase of the most recent vintages of Brunello, Vigna, Etichetta, Riserva, Rosso, Sant’Antimo and Moscadello. At the 2023 edition there were 118 producers present and this time around that number increased to 126. There are always some notable attendees missing for various reasons and this year the absences also included some wineries who were present in 2023. Altesino, Baricci, Collosorbo, Conti Costanti, Corte dei Venti, Fattoria dei Barbi, Frescobaldi, Gaja, Il Marroneto, Le Gode, Pietra, Salicutti, San Filippo, Siro Pacenti and Valdicava were some of the more obvious non-attending producers. My colleague Michaela Morris and I did organize an assessment of some of these wines outside of the Sommelier-serviced Chiostro tasting. As always the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino events are made possible by the team of President Fabrizio Bindocci, Director Andrea Machetti, Vice-Presidents Giacomo Bartolommei, Riccardo Talenti and Carlotta Salvini who is responsible for Marketing & Communication. Her efforts are unequalled and evident in every aspect of Consorzio business. Collectively they and their staff make Benvenuto Brunello one of the most important wine events in the world.

The 2024 edition of Benvenuto Brunello was Godello’s eighth consecutive opportunity to gauge the current state of Montalcino’s sangiovese. He sat and tasted in the Chiostro for three days, assisted as always by the incredible Sommeliers of AIS Siena and Toscana. Visits to estates were also made, at Canalicchio di Sopra, Donatella Cinelli Colombini (at Fattoria del Colle), Il Poggione, Cerbaia, Terre Nere, Val di Suga, Biondi-Santi, San Polo, Corte Pavone, Le Potazzine, Casanova di Neri, Ridolfi, Sasseti-Livio Pertimali and Podere Sante Marie. If you would like to hop over to view the list in its entirety, starting with the highest rated wines, please click on this link. What follows below are all Godello’s tasting notes for 254 wines; Rosso di Montalcino DOC (29), Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020 (73), Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna + Etichetta + Altra Tipologia 2020 (50), Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019 (54), older vintages (29), Toscana IGT + other wines (19).

Rosso di Montalcino

Rosso di Montalcino DOC

Argiano Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Extremely youthful, red candied Rosso with bright berries and simplicity all round. Tart yet naturally sweet, easy as it gets and little structure to discuss. The intention here is bright, loud and clear. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2024

Camigliano Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

The right kind of Rosso is all about generously suggestive ease of early drink-ability and with just enough structure to see three years of no major change or decline. As here with a swirl of red fruit, liquid chalky consistency and good length. Proper Rosso all the way through. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Caprili Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Recognizable Rosso style, open for business while also presenting upright and sturdy, of backbone dictated by acidity. Tells us now is not the best time and with another year the sangiovese housed within this linear Rosso will tend to more essential matters. Fine, composed and for Rosso a severely focused wine. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Le Potazzine Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

The sangiovese on Le Potazzine’s property desires the botti for structure and complexity, especially because the average alcoholic fermentation is 40-50 days, longer than just about any in all of Montalcino. Freshness incarnate with a great focus on and of focused acidity, blessed with all the energy of Gigliola, Viola and Sofia combined. The winemaking team of three, mother and two daughters, makers of sangiovese unlike the rest. Of elevation and revelation for Rosso. No diss to 2022 but ’23 is out of this world. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Talenti Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

No doubt deeper and broader with darker fruit plus structure from a low quantity and high quality Montalcino vintage. A serious Rosso style, welling with dark berries and minerals in a pool of its own juiced accord. Bigger sangiovese, brooding and laid low, a different kind of acidity but twinning with the tannins to see this live on for several years. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Armilla Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Mildly reductive and when the sangiovese emerges it is clearly a case of Rosso freshness and clarity. Simplicity with a little bit of tannin yet to resolve. Aerate and agitate for current best results or wait six months further. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2024

Canalicchio di Sopra Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Francesco Ripaccioli’s first year working with the family estate was 2007, while studying economics. He travelled to the U.S. over 20 days, pouring 15 wines at 17 dinners and Rosso was five vintages behind. Dad was selling off the grapes and when Francesco returned he made it his goal to revive Rosso di Montalcino. Every bit of declassified Brunello is destined to find its way into Rosso and it is essential to know that Francesco Ripaccioli is a huge fan of this vintage. He will surely make (Brunello) Riserva from 2022 (and almost for sure from Vigna Mercatale). This is in fact a great Rosso but more important it marks a return to a Canalicchio Rosso di Montalcino, this coming a year after a 2021 that was just a little bit too much. This according to Ripaccioli but many will beg to differ. No arguing the aromatic volume out of ’22 that stuns and a flavour profile of pure sangiovese seduction. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2024

Casanova di Neri Rosso di Montalcino DOC Giovanni Neri 2022

Then there are the Rosso you might consider as Brunello, of aromatic volume, depth of ideas and a level of seriousness that changes how we think about the scenario. Rosso for Rosso sake sure, for next generation Gian Lorenzo and Giovanni Neri from a single parcel of land owned by a friend of Giacomo Neri’s father. Inclusive of 20 percent whole bunch but here, well here this is not merely a case of existing and servicing, here the matter is something bigger, from soils of lime, rocks and clay, of a sangiovese grander and more intentional. Commanding Rosso, attention grabbing and keeping, then ultimately persisting. As it has been said, not so far from Brunello. But let’s neither talk about that or about Rosso in that way. The concept is this. To make a young, high quality Rosso di Montalcino but more importantly a great sangiovese from a Casanova di Neri vineyard in Montalcino. Full stop. Bottled in November of 2023 after 14 months in vessel. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted twice, November 2024

Cerbaia Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

From the 2002 planted vineyard declassified for Rosso though from the 2024 vintage forward the block will be classified exactly for the appellation. Same maceration period (15 days) as the Brunello and sent to Botti for just a few months. Far from a powerful vintage and yet there is an underlying structure running underneath, laying low, keeping the wine linear for now and likely for several years to come. A really interesting Rosso, of its own accord, moving low and slow. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2024

Col d’Orcia Rosso di Montalcino DOC Vigna Banditella 2022

A rare (labeled) single vineyard Rosso di Montalcino and one to pay close attention to. Not that it is intended to age for a decade or more but the probability runs high that it will. Ripe and made properly, in other words with acidity and just enough tannin intact. The 2022 will likely exceed the last three 2s because it’s just built that way. Quality fruit shines and acidity will be the real driver through time. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2024

Corte Pavone Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Rosso quality will come from a cross-section of the 80 different micro-plots across the 18 hectares of the Corte Pavone estate. Hayo Loacker says approximately 80 percent of these plots will be gathered for the Rosso. There are few Rosso with as much oomph, in the parlance of our times, powerful restraint and trenchant impression and were this tasted blind there would be at least an 80 percent chance this would be pegged as Brunello. That should be enough to convince 80 percent of consumers what a value this surely is. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2024

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2022

The 2022 is a Rosso the team and also their partners truly believe in, this because it is “the business card used to present ourselves,” says Violante Gardini Cinelli Colombini. A Rosso of new identity, completeness, comfortable, elegant and “with many impressions inside,” adds Export Manager Irene Lesti. Short stay in wood, mild tannins, a crunchy example with just a touch of the cellar. Balanced and fulsome with great satisfaction guaranteed for any time, day or occasion. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Rosso di Montalcino

Franco Pacenti Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Bright, fresh and focused Rosso di Montalcino from a less than age-worthy vintage though not all are required to be this way. A Rosso for here and now, enjoyable, delicious and of a varietal meets appellative clarity that tells the 2022 story. Harbinger for Brunello and this from a family dong everything right. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2024

Il Poggione Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Rosso comes from vines at least 15 years of age and rests for a year in 75 percent Botti (52 and 33 hL), the rest in barriques which are never used for the Brunello. Finest of Rosso vintages, not yet released and if Il Poggione’s is any harbinger than the world should wake up and pay attention. If Rosso’s time may not yet have arrived it should happen right here, right now. The ’22 is a suave, silken and structured Rosso, ready and willing but also determined to age slowly, gracefully and incrementally forward. This will surprise seven to 10 years down the road. Take this Rosso to the bank. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted November 2024

Le Chiuse Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Let’s talk about Rosso di Montalcino. Discuss the merits and the reasons for its existence. If you have been in the vineyard where the largest and most succulent berries are chosen then you will know they will give this appellative level of sangiovese its merit and reason. Lorenzo Magnelli seasons the macerated fruit with large casks to lend it definition and length. Elasticizes and extends its life but do not sleep on a decision to enjoy the wine right here, right now. All is necessary and defines this part of Montalcino life. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted twice, in the Chiostro and at Alle Logge di Pizza, Montalcino, November 2024

Le Potazzine Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

The most unusual of vintages with alcoholic fermentation lasting a record 57 days when the usual range is 40-50. A chalky Rosso, traditional and maturing with ripest, somewhat late picked fruit now more than ready for consumption. You can comfortably drink this wine for the next two years while the cracker 2023 is working through its development. Last tasted November 2024

Talk about timing – this Rosso 2022 will be bottled tomorrow! It may be a Campione but this is as close to a finished wine without looking backwards or forwards as there can be. Nose and taste the sangiovese of Le Potazzine and you will know that their perfume is omnipresent, all-pervasive, a factor of place and necessity of style. Stylish sangiovese with a shadowy hint of Balsamico. A Rosso of fineness and finesse, grace and controlled chaos. This from the most sluggish and slow ferment on record – 57 days! How can a winemaker and a family sleep through such a time? How can their hearts survive? Well they do and the end result is beauty incarnate. Acidity and moderate structure, first one and then the other, layered and intertwined. Spot on for Le Potazzine. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Ridolfi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

For Rosso 2022 is a vintage of delectable freshness, succulence and sapidity. The stars have aligned, of vintage and place for fruit that feels and acts like it should. Tart and high acid as a compliment to high-level ripeness and good harmony all-around. Classic Ridolfi red cherry with a roasted pepper and savoury components so consistent with all of the estate’s wines. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2024

San Guglielmo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

Quite a lot of personality and character for a 2022 Rosso, candied florals to begin and summer basilico to follow. Like a Caprese in a glass, fresh tomato at peak and a seasoned grind of salinity. Love the ripeness, the frank and open generosity, the ease with which this drinks and pleases. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

San Polo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

A truly rich, luxurious and expressive Rosso, as chic, silken and stylish as they come. Crazy beautiful texture ad styled flavours, luxe and seductive. Great fruit obviously but also a winemaker with touch, to turn fruit and acid into something so smooth. This considering 20 percent is subjected to some semi-carbonic maceration and time in amphora. Almost hard to believe the experimental methodology has led to this kind of result. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Biondi-Santi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

Solid rains from October 2020 through January 2021 set the vineyards up with high level water reserves and some freezing winter temperatures convinced the team to delay pruning by several weeks. A late frost affected some vines and a fraction of rain fell through the rest of the season, save for a good rain in June and so the reserves meant almost no hydric stress to the vines. Two major rains in the third week of harvest changed everything – for the better, followed by none during the harvest. Harvest began on September 9th and finished on the 25th with only three no-pick days in between. Welcome to a joyful Rosso, a pure sangiovese child of steel, concrete and wood, one year in large cask. A traditional Biondi-Santi in terms of familial story and elévage, a cultural imperative and adherence to heritage. Ideally balanced with the acidity’s temper exactly on side and fruit right on that line between freshness and next stage presence. Feels like a Rosso that is approaching its peak, ready to climb up onto the plateau to linger right there for several years. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Canalicchio di Sopra Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

What is Rosso di Montalcino for Francesco Ripaccioli? “Put the wine in a reduction tank, a.k.a. the bottle,” he says with utmost seriousness. Here is how his Rosso is made, by tasting through barrels and finding wines that will only have the structure to become a “base” Brunello and Ripaccioli does not make that kind of wine. That may sound a bit elitist but it’s not – and also true. Selling less expensive Brunello may be attractive to the market and easier but Francesco will not take these kinds of short cuts. So now you know what a Canalicchio di Sopra Rosso really is. As for 2021 the concentration is at the peak for the DOC and if you slipped this blind into a Brunello tasting not a single taster would pull this as the ringer. But it is a different wine and needs to be treated and respected that way, to think of its potential as that of its character. Still the extract, pH, structure and even acidity are at levels that will see this travel across decades. Oxidation? Not a chance. This could stay in bottle before releasing it until 2025 but it was released in January 2023. For the market. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Gorelli Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

Sweet fruit and availability with an underbelly of sweeter tannin. Chocolate and plums, flavourful and drying at the finish. Good acidity to be sure will help age this a few years. Last tasted November 2024

That rare and favourable combination of rich and drinkable, a Rosso certifiably composed or Rosso sake. Perfectly ripened, fruit and acidity, classic if modern and clean, pure and reputable Rosso style. A mix of spice and sweetness so that all falls into place, especially for the palate. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted November 2023

Le Ragnaie Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

Don’t know about the rest of you Brunello fools but Rosso is the dagger in the heart as there is no escaping from Le Ragnaie 2021’s knife-edge slashes. A Rosso so perfectly staid, levelled, advanced and arrived, now in the meat of the matter, held tight within the sanguine beauty of its carnal embrace. Rosso truly beget because, well right grapes, place and time have conspired for it to happen. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2024

Poggio Di Sotto Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2021

A harbinger for top quality and vintage Brunello di Montalcino in the pipeline, coming next fall to be tasted at Benvenuto Brunello 2025. Tight, fresh, clean and a bit bracing still, with a lovely aromatic swirl and all the sign that speak to longevità. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted at Prowein, March 2024

Terre Nere Rosso di Montalcino DOC Famiglia Vallone 2021

From Vigna Ponte de Falchi which gives the best grapes to the Brunello and the rest to this Rosso. Truly aromatic Rosso of sweet fruit, also acidity while a 25-day maceration lends all that plus a full on glycerol texture. Frost season lessened production by approximately 30 percent and though it usually by-passes this location – not so much luck in 2021. Liquid peppery and silky Rosso, not so structured but still good for three more winters. White chocolate comes in at the finish. Of Terre Nere’s 50,000 bottles average total, the Rosso is normally 3,500. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2024

Val di Suga Rosso di Montalcino DOC Vigna Spuntali 2021

The regular Rosso is amassed from fruit out of all three zones, northeast, southwest and southeast, the youngest vines used. This next level Rosso is from Vigna Spuntali in southwest Montalcino and the sandiest of the soils. Lightning reflexive Rosso yet a sangiovese residing and resting somewhere in between that and a Brunello Annata. Though to be honest this is quite nervy for a Rosso, far from easy and fruity, more edgy than most, like certain Brunello. A conundrum and so curious of style, but also effect. What to make of this? Time. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2024

Canalicchio di Sopra Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2020

“I define this as a vintage of pleasantness,” says Francesco Ripaccioli and an early approach means you can enjoy this wine to its fullest right now. At four years of age it’s right there with just a hint of reduction juxtaposed by secondary character creeping in. The wood really covers this sangiovese in a warm blanket but through all this you need only give the wine 15 minutes and it will begin to open. Open it does and the aromatics are full of baking spice cupboard and then the chocolate filling in at the finish. Last tasted November 2024

Call this Rosso balanced, even if what emits is not quite the same the equanimity of 2019. Still there is nurturing from out of the blanketing warmth of 2020, a linear progression from grippy fruit through acid succulence. The construct of structural motion is more than just a notion and the wine is in constant flux, unsettled, not having arrived anywhere near its final, or intended destination. Will move with the times, be transferable, able to reinvent itself time and time again. As a Canalicchio di Sopra it most certainly will. Bottled only three months ago so understand why there is so much speculation. Francesco Ripaccioli believes the evolution will be like 2016. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted June 2022

Terre Nere Rosso di Montalcino DOC Campigli Vallone 2020

The most unusual of the last six Rosso vintages because of sluggish malolactic fermentation which resulted in many layered, if oft misunderstood Rosso. Not necessary the case here and to be honest the long maceration here has resulted in a very high quality Rosso with no candied notes and really elastic texture. Acids and tannin as well with less wood noted and less notes of chocolate at the finish. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Il Poggione Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2010

Now twenty-eight months later the 2010 Rosso holds strong, not yet tiring, still in an exotic umami state, poetic and joyous to taste once again. A rare opportunity and one that more producers should take advantage of opportunities for sharing. Last tasted November 2024

Truth straight and inherent from a Rosso nearly 12 years of age, fresh and immovable. Speaks the structure of a vintage, even for Rosso, were it crafted in this way and equipped to speak on behalf of sangiovese’s age-ability, no matter the what, where and why of the fruit. Camphor oil, anchovy and a melange of salato umami to speak of Sant’Angelo in Colle and then, all of Montalcino. Beautiful wine with a long, liquid chalky finish. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted June 2022

Brunello 2020

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Argiano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Argiano expectation submits to Argiano conviction for Argiano realization. The red fruit purity comes from a transparency of vintage reserved for those producers who abide by their climate. This to allow soils to transmit sangiovese into Brunello of finesse which culminates in fineness. This is the epitome of exacting texture, a sweetness of supporting parts and in the end a matter of ethereal qualities for larger production Brunello di Montalcino. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Armilla Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Armilla has clearly unearthed and pinpointed the sweet spot, at least aromatically speaking for their 2020 Brunello of iridescence and what might be transposed as toothsome on the nose. The palate confirms these initial considerations and yet the mellow, soft and billowy flavours are the most concentrated aspects of this sangiovese’s calm demeanour. Accessible as 2020 is likely to get from a high quality vintage and the restraint is fully appreciated. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2024

Banfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Castello Banfi 2020

Banfi delivers a red rose aromatic and correctly dusty sangiovese for 2020, somewhere in the middle zone between transparent and thickly textured. A wide breadth of local balsamico infiltrates and spreads widely through the wine, into aromatics and outwards across the far reaching palate. About as correct and understood as there can be for 2020 Brunello di Montalcino. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2024

Baricci Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

They are not the only one, but this northerly estate finds the most magical way of aging their sangiovese to a place where upon release the wine already feels organized and ready, residing upon a comfortable plateau to allow a poured glass to make sense almost right away. A crested situation that initiates early generosity and also promises a long stay within these same parameters. Frankly it could be ten years before any new or significant changes occur. The ability to make a Brunello di Montalcino this way is special and so please feel comfortable to open bottles anytime the urge comes along. Keep doing so for 10 years because the precision, expertly judged cask usage and potential are all at the top of the Brunello game. Tannins so fine prove the point and rest the case. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted November 2024

Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Masterfully aromatic 2020 Brunello, new age sangiovese with an old school heart, aromatically shy and waiting for time to reveal the blessed intricacies of its potential. A fresh and crispy 2020, tight yet neither grippy nor austere. Will show its true colours after two, possibly even three years time. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2024

Campogiovanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Enticing aromatic fishing, drawing us in without pause, gloriously perfumed if surely bigger and broader a Brunello from variable 2020. Fluctuating in so many positive ways and respects, in this case southerly and concentrated, crunchy, fresh as need be, tannic to the edges of the palate and the earth. High quality functionality from Campogiovanni’s warm and inviting 2020. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2020

No Riserva was made for 2020 because Francesco Ripaccioli was not sure it was the right thing to do and so it was chance to really concentrate on the Brunello. This means all of Vigna (Vecchia) Mercatale’s fruit was used for the Brunello 2020. Far from an indicator that the vintage was poor but more so a philosophy (and a brand of economics) that speaks to making high quality Brunello Annata. That said it was a vintage of 80 percent production (compared to 2019) and so despite no Riserva this represents an average amount of Brunello. The result is more than the sum of parts, including a bit more Vigna Casascia and also Montosoli. It is a time to sit back, stay cool and recognize the philanthropy of a wine that is unequivocally Canalicchio di Sopra. “An educational vintage,” says Ripaccioli, “to explain what Canalicchio di Sopra is, of elegance, opulence and roundness.” More so than 2018, not quite the fullness and everything of 2019 and again, a vintage that represents the place. Might it be compared to 2015 – Yes, but actually no. It’s just 2020. The acids are better, as is the energy, even while the sweetness is not. Salty too and with more potential. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Capanna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Top level perfume, not shy to express wishes and desires, openly fragrant to announce its sangiovese arrival. A rose garden of many varieties and also fresh cut oak, not yet spicy and no infiltrate tastes to speak of. Freshness and crunch, tart with red citrus and tannins that command attention, direct the flavours, textures and finishing touches. Needs two years before the flavours will begin to explode. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Tenimenti Capanne Ricci Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A wood inflected 2020 Brunello, spices run amok around the fullness of aromas, of cinnamon and clove, accented further with the estate’s parochial balsamico. Crusty and brittle tannins play the game of austerity for a sangiovese that will improve with time though fruit won’t likely last beyond the five year mark. Older-schooled in many respects. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2024

Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Deeper now, into the 2020 well of fruit that feels layered and compact like compressed Galestro, held together by acidity and tannin. Truth for the interim but with time, say two, three or even four years that schist and clay will rise to the surface and begin to flake, to manifest as a Brunello that speaks in a clear vernacular for the vintage. Of the vintage, open and getable, willing to please with ultra correct style and proper generosity, though always on its own terms. Submit to its will, accept and appreciate the sentiment, await the reward. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2024

Caprili Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Unique and inviting perfume from 2020 Caprili, floral in an exotic way, like bougainvillea with red fruit so pure and local, of say corbezzolo imagined. You can feel the unction even before a sip and the textural silkiness is confirmed. A memory of Rosso tasted three and a half years ago is revived, clear as an azure blue Montalcino morning, clock tower chiming nine. The connection is felt with palpable meaning, to confirm that Caprili’s are sangiovese of vineyard. Wines of place. What more should there be? Drink 2025-2035. Tasted November 2024

Carpineto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Immediacy of aromas bursting out with fruit at the fore and then more. This tells us how well the team abided by vintage and place, where elevation is clearly the impetus to inflate and aerate sangiovese destined to express itself as that place would want it to. A fine 2020 in so many ways, perhaps less dusty and savoury but what might be lost is twice gained. Some austerity from the tartness and tight tannins, not unexpected and even welcomed. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2024

With Giacomo Neri

Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

“For me the White Label is the benchmark,” insists Giacomo Neri, from vineyards 350-480m all around the estate. A mix of expositions, “and they are all in front of Monte Amiata“ jokes Neri, but not completely. Like the Rosso a relatively short maceration, 18-19 days and aging in 20hL Slavonian casks. In many ways a normal harvest, late September to early October, though the yields were lower. Really traditional winemaking, virtually unchanged for the encouragement of no dry tannins. Perfumes are notable which says this 2020 is a sangiovese of aromatic volume and therefore depth. Have felt this before and so not surprised to once again experience this level of treble and bass through sounds, waves and sensations gone round and round. A swirl, persistent and intense, moving through the fullest and most substantial expressive moments experienced through mouthfeel. Oh sweet volatility and humanity, so ideally constructed, driven and acclimatized. Seduction through sangiovese and keep in mind for 2020 no Ceretalto was produced, that fruit coming here instead and so benchmark indeed. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted twice, November 2024

Casisano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Spicy perfumes initiate the tasting process for Casisano 2020, consistent with many of this Tommasi estate’s Brunello di Montalcino. The fruit is not shy, nor are the chalky-grainy tannins and the wine finds its balance between these prominent parts. Still oscillating and swaying a bit which says that structure is currently winning. Could use two full winters to integrate and come away at par. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Expect everything and sangiovese might just abide, as it does from the start with a 2020 Brunello so complete there may not be anything else that needs to be said. But there is and it begins with freshness, sublime frescezza, expansive and rising. What follows is the consideration of volume, aromatic then tidal, curling and incremental, drawing and then sculpting texture. Stepping back there is an admiring but then a hole that needs to be filled. The wine continues to etch and carve, to make whole what was once just a sketch. The big picture is the thing and a certain kind of personal opus, for maker and taster, will be the end result. Not for a while though – so play the patient game. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Here sangiovese takes on a unique aromatic profile as the first to exhibit this note of fresh fennel or liquorice root, along with its cool, salt-licked black cherry profile. The vintage is not necessarily one of fruit but rather in so many cases more about mineral stone. And yet Tricerchi’s delivers the fruit in waves, with fresh cut herbs that muddle into an Amaro finish. Once again place is the driver and these abiders make sure to have transmitted it into bottle. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Castiglion del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Cool, sweetly perfumed and ultra modern Brunello di Montalcino. Wood present and judiciously used to add sweet spice and a flavoured sap spread over the palate. Full and expressive, nothing hidden, tannins tight and acids running high. Mid-term ager to serve many purposes. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Cerbaia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A regular season though harvested early, beginning on the 24th of September, done in a few days with a large crew for just five hectares to pick. Elevation between 250 and 300m, facing northwest on the northwest slope of the Montalcino hill. The oldest Brunello vineyard was planted in 1988 and the youngest in 2019. All wines are fermented in steel then sent to medium toast Slavonian Botte. Elena Pellegrini feels this is the best wood for north slope sangiovese, to run and smooth out tannins without adding power or too much spice. Aging is usually three years but “there is no rule, we don’t want to force the characteristics of the wines.” As for 2020 the warmth of summer and proper temperature excursions of fall have resulted in a perfectly direct, fruit cumulate, acid retentive, silken tannin style of Montalcino. Neither rustic nor modern but somewhere perfectly comfortable in between. Exactly what intention and expression are meant to execute. Because the wood is felt at this young age you should wait another year to open the first bottles. Seventh heaven for Elena in her seventh vintage at Cerbaia. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Amazing how a vintage can deliver so much pleasantry and fineness but in so many different ways. Here the first to express of squeeze of juice and a scrape of zest, not quite blood orange but maybe the Pianrosso will do just that. Effusive sangiovese is often also succulent sangiovese and Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona generously doles out those facts. Wood felt on the palate with a silky texture yet elastic and extended with a Macchia Mediterranea olive branch. Really good Brunello indeed. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Celestino Pecci Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

The classic label from Celestino Pecci is so bloody correct you might say it is the poster child and definitive representation of what it means to be a Brunello di Montalcino for the 2020 vintage. Delectable red fruit perfume and flavour, mildly incumbent sweet spice and a wisp of mineral smoulder. Transparent and pure, honest and finessed. The last part of the wine shows a mild wood sappy quality but one and another half year of time will resolve and result in the estate’s best Brunello to date. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Col di Lamo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Poised, striking, quiet and composed, hard to figure but my goodness curiosity is piqued. Tall drink of sangiovese water, elixir of Brunello, confident, beautiful and sure. Strikes a varietal pose, statuesque yet fluid, malleable as it needs to be, equipped to transform and age with grace. Wood is known, applied with expertise, for more than just appearance but to explain this to be a Brunello 2020 of and for to enjoy a great experience. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Conte Francesco Marone Cinzano and Salntiago Marone Cinzano

Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Many 2020s are of an understated and uncomplicated kind but this, this is something other. A sangiovese of DNA and consistency, a Brunello like so many of itself that came before this vintage, a recognizable level of substance, concentration and expertise. Why should this change the course of its history to be any different, follow any line but the one it has spent decades creating? The fruit is expressed through floral perfume and expansive breadth by way of ultra-specific toothsome flavours. The spice is spot on, the length an indication of the wine’s potential. Longevity is a guarantee. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Collemattoni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Should it be a surprise to find this 2020 to be as full, concentrated and appetizing as it quickly announces to be? Certainly not because fruit breadth is measurable and acidity marches along stride for stride. These are the effects of Botti aging in the most correct and commendable way, of spice and with a fine-grained tannic gait to add weight by way of freight. Solid conditioning which means longevity with very few pauses, certainly no dumb phases to await, not now, nor tomorrow and any stops along the way. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Conti Costanti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Colli al Matrichese 2020

Some sangiovese need the bottle and still others need many years in the bottle. The great the few require the latter to get somewhere profound. Such is this case, a Brunello in reserve, fully restrained, compact, tightened and showing little sign of relent. Dense layers of fruit and acidity intertwined, wound like a wire on a winch and aligned. That said the VA, oxidative notes and flat palate presence say things are not correct. Not a good bottle. Needs to be re-tasted. Tasted November 2024

With Hayo Loacker – Corte Pavone

Corte Pavone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

As with the Rosso there is a selection from across the entirety of the estate with a small amount of cru fruit, although there are some vineyards to the east of the cantina and facing the Montalcino hill not classified as cru and so are only used in the Annata. No lack of structure from this label, the one that “when everything goes right,” tells Hayo Loacker, “it should make up 50 percent of the Brunello production which includes the five crus.” He then adds, “everything must be high quality and there is no picking formula, but the grapes for this wine are separated based on identified parts of each parcel.” The acidity is dramatic, the tannic backbone perfectly solid and aging potential highly probable. All that to say if you are interested in a Brunello di Montalcino with ripe fruit on the dark side, full package of flavour and more concentration than more than 80 percent of the territory – well then be prepared to crush a few bottles of Corte Pavone. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2024

Cupano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Intelligent sangiovese comes from honest people making wines from great terroir. Case in point Cupano with a 2020 built upon top level perfume, volumetric in its aromatic design. So full and substantial it fills you up before a sip. The palate is more of a wonder because the tannins are sandy, fine-grained and not yet interpreted, or rather integrated into the fabric of the overall wine. That could turn out to be a blessing should they find their mettle and melt with the times. Remains to be seen – not entirely surprising for a sangiovese from this estate. Roots run deep for structured wines. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2024

With Le Donne at Fattoria del Colle

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

From the first aroma you will note how the 2020 Brunello’s message is likely the clearest it has ever been capable of transmitting. So many layers to unfold and though some might think 2020 is a “lighter” vintage than think again after you taste this from Donatella Cinelli Colombini. Richly extracted in such a natural way with restraint and an allowance for fruit to express itself, without being led in any particular direction and it has figured out the way. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Fanti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Curious to taste the Brunello after the Vallochio and in a way this was the right thing to do. That is because the level of concentration and up front aromatic volume exceeds that of the Vigna label, if not the grace and complexity. But that is to be expected because the Brunello is every person’s sangiovese, built upon yeoman experience for all-purpose expectation. And results which are so perfectly proper from the vintage. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Fattoi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A mix of poise, strength and grace, a sangiovese so correct to speak of its place and a wine to savour slowly as soon as you choose to partake. That could mean now but it could also be five years later because acidity will keep this fruit very much alive. There is some cask weight to shed and so probably better to give this two years but there is some pleasure put forth in the present. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2024

Fossacolle Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Seriously rich and heady perfumes emit from a 2020 Brunello that got its fermentative temperatures, timing, infusions and finally macerations so bloody right. No let down as far as flavours and palate texture are concerned which indicates judicious, restrained and properly executed cask aging too. Bravo to this team for these exacting measures to enact a really fine Brunello for 2020. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

As exotically charged as they come and so when aromas are this pronounced you intuit the great success of not only the growing season but also the fermentative and macerative processes. Fruit would have come off the vine so ripe and ready before dissolving into vats of itself with the greatest of ease. Results in sangiovese of glissade, of Brunello rollng aromatically in waves, sliding and gliding over the palate. Leaves a wake and covers every nerve, fills in pockets, smooths over corners, leaving off and trailing away as rounded as it began. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Giodo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

There are profound examples of Brunello di Montalcino unique to place and more important vintage. This would be such a sangiovese because its aromas seem to be specific to the land from whence it came and flavours do the same. Or different, perhaps in deference to other wines yet apropos and consistent to itself. Dried herbs and brush, a Macchia Mediterranea ultra specific and in the end what we like to call evergreen biome. This is fascinating when you consider the oenological style of the maker but kudos to a winemaker who lets the land be the ultimate judge. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Giuseppe Gorelli Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Welcome to one of the first and only reductive Brunelli and this from a wine 50 in during Benvenuto’s annual Montalcino affair. Closed fist of sangiovese strength with a savoury masala of lentisk, myrtle, heath, broom and rockrose in ever living-loving greens that currently pique the red fruit. That and Botti Grandi with a mind to make a point as well but my goodness this Brunello is equipped with fruit and acidity to guarantee the prize will last long, fond the road well travelled and the destination far away. How can you not be seriously impressed by the content and structure of this wine? Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2024

Il Palazzone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Classic Il Palazzone, truthfully, ever so slightly reductive and sapid to the nth degree. Spices from wood all over the entirety of this sangiovese existence, with fruit on the dark cherry side and sap running down the sides of the palate. Qualities here are this wine and this wine’s alone. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2024

With the Bindocci Family and Michaela Morris at Il Poggione

Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

The summer was about as warm at they come but early September rains cooled the vineyards down and so a delay created an allowance to harvest at “normal” times. The Brunello comes from vines aged to a minimum of 25 years and up to 60 from across 140 hectares of estate vineyards around the hill and village of Sant’Angelo in Colle. The vineyards range in elevation from 140 to 400-plus meters and it is this mix that allows for what is arguably Montalcino’s most consistent Annata Brunello to be made, vintage in and vintage out. A season that gifts purity of red fruit with a decided pomegranate-citrus zesty character, a brightness that is a mix of estate style and the year’s input, an aromatic wave that oscillates upon a line created and always connected to the base. Finely chalky and expressive, open and a mid-term ager available to a wide range of palates. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

La Fiorita Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A wine familiar to the senses and and mind’s eye, of a settled red crayon in the pool’s centre and plasmic fade to the rim. Of fruit circa the 1980s, lightning reflexes and bright as a rising November Montalcino moon. Clean and promising, more riches and noblesse on the palate to effect a creative and sensorial mouthfeel to linger with cat like stalking, lion or tiger, maybe liger. Stealth iteration that represents 2020 with profound Annata nature. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

La Gerla Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Perfectly mid-weight and textured Brunello, full advantages taken in terms of fruity aromas, flavours and pulpy texture. Good acids here, tannins chalky but not truly grippy and the intention seems knowable to effect Brunello for a pinpointed time. The vintage is and the sangiovese does, together as partners in crime. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

La Lecciaia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Some are lithe and others are heady, in perfumes that is and here the latter in invoked. Liquidity of that perfume translates to a palate of sweet texture and beauty. While there may be aromatic volume and that surely invites us in, there is not much formidable or grippy structure to see extended longevity. No issue for some. Brunello this way is best meant to please now and for just a few years forward. The epitome of a cellar defender right here. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

La Magia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Another Brunello that draws from the memory bank to recall a 2020 Rosso of similar ilk to say that DNA is everything if you can draw that connecting line. This is done for a vintage by a maker with the uncanny ability to thread the concepts and parts of his wines. Vintage and place are called upon and they combine for what matters, for sangiovese that speaks clearly, carefully, philosophically and all the while pragmatically. In other words properly and with purpose. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Sometimes there arrives a sangiovese that is the right Brunello for its time and place. Sometimes there is a Brunello that represents its vintage in the way only it can. Sometimes the wine in your glass tells you everything you need to know about more than just what it is. That would be this 2020, understated, fluid, linear and direct. Ripe, justifiable and necessary. Textures of a full story told, crunchy and crisp mainly yet also chewy when it should be. Finessed, focused, pure and unadulterated. Exacting and in motion without wavering, spoken like a true Brunello di Montalcino. From its place and with all the right grapes. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2024

Le Macioche Famiglia Coratella Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Firm, grippy, reductive and begun with heady vintage force. A wine of its own accord, sangiovese of strength, intention and ambition. Solid fruit core, cask in charge, spice all over the back end. Needs time to accept you and then maybe you will abide. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Even though the style and character of Brunello di Montalcino is not officially discussed in terms of frazione, in this part of the territory there is just something about the sangiovese way. Northwest that is, looking east to the village, at high elevation and with an ultra specific acidity. Potazzinese acidity and a balsamico noted nowhere else but only on this narrow ridge shared five producers or less. This 2020 in particolare matched by purple fruit, not dark but shaded above its contemporaries, described as say cherry red and it’s just so intoxicating of a sangovese. As crunchy as they come. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Le Ragnaie Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Quite stoic this 2020 Brunello, not caused by reduction but simply youth with freshness unparalleled to beget something special at another date and time. Few Brunello 2020 Annata are as structured and gainfully austere as here, a compliment for the most part and a return to the kind of Brunello this label was at perhaps ten years ago. The restraint and quiet complexity is noted, accepted and lauded, as it rightfully should be. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Lisini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

At the height of vintage richness and ripeness, the first 2020 to exhibit fruit threefold, of berries, plum and citrus. High acid and while tannic it’s not the sort to keep its firm grip for many years. More of a mid-term ager and a wine to experience best in its fresh and youthful days. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2024

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Some spiciness on the perfume of the Brunello, wood yes but also the fruit speaking in piques and valleys. Peppery, a bit of heat which also talks a fermentative talk. Walks a vintage walk in terms of ripeness and reeks of Montalcino sangiovese. Not necessarily in a current climate way but reminiscent of that 2007-2013 period of regional transition. Curious in its glycerol way and warming again at the finish. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2024

Máté Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Exotic aromas initiate with candied spice and zesty red fruit in a citrus vein. This sangiovese is buzzing with energy, pulsating with possibilities, in no shape or form yet ready for consumption. Working through its actions, zig-zagging across the palate, piquing and scraping, testing the waters and we wonder where it is heading. Into a slumber soon it appears, later to emerge as a changed wine. Crisp Brunello with structure and fine austerity in the tannins. You need to give up five full minutes to assess this wine or you will miss its point. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

If at first you are gifted with aromatic sweetness then followed by sangiovese swimming over the palate, well then you know everything is right in the Tuscan world. Fruit is one thing, ultra transparent, ripe and receptive, but tannins like these are what make the magic happen. Well-rounded Brunello must be both linear and open to suggestion, of present tense beauty and the innuendo for finer times ahead. Another stunner from this family and to no surprise. Their ethic is impeccable. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Florally effusive as sangiovese that takes such matters to heart and here Brunello acts in exactly this way. The lithe and effortless is not always the best yet sometimes it’s just what the vintage ordered. Fineness and grace come from away with a Brunello that flies effortlessly and sweetly natural – indeed that is what this is. Bravissima. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2024

Antinori Pian delle Vigne Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Highly aromatic Pian delle Vigne with a wild cherry swirl swimming in the juices of its own liqueur. Silky fruit unlike 99 percent of the wines made from this vintage, in fact Antinori’s may be the most glycerin of all the ‘20s. Glissade or scorrevole do not begin to describe the slippery texture of this chic elixir. If you like the style and agree to receive the effect then this will fulfill a ‘20 of your dreams. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2024

Pietra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Darker fruit than most for 2020 that may shade upscale from say 2018 with a greater number that are bright, red cherry heighteners. Not here and also in reserve of its perfumes but also intensities. Exceedingly open and raucous off the palate, then tart, chalky, bent by liquorice and a fanciful smoulder. Flinty in only the sangiovese way, increasing with interest as you move forward with what it’s got on its mind. Needs the proverbial time. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Pietroso Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

As the adage goes the three most important things that influence a wine are location, location, location. Such is the case for Pietroso on the west slope direction south of Montalcino village, set in a micro-climate that almost inevitably leads to high level ripeness and wines of healthy alcohol. Such is the case once again thoughon this plateau these are some of the most balanced wines in all of Montalcino. Crunchy exterior and chewy interior, no wall between nor any break down but rather this organza veil between the two. Ideal accents in spice and wild forest edibles, at this stage berries and nuts but fungi will not be to far behind. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Podere Brizio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Aromatic depth for sure and some peppery warmth to that petroleum nose. Built as Brunello, that is to say with full on wood aging, backbone of structure and ample acidity necessary to see time do the right thing. Well-pressed and dressed for success with another two years needed to begin exacting the desired effect. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Smooth, rose perfumed, gossamer textured sangiovese, the florals candied and flavours as ripe as 2020 will ever be. Fruit from vineyards raised to the highest standard, seamless and with more than ample cask directive, to keep the wine secure and from going astray. A bit syrupy at this stage but there is more then enough elasticity to see this stretch its legs and find a comfortable state of equilibrium. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Fulsome and experienced sangiovese, elastic extrapolate, curated with and for a real sense of purpose. Fruit as only it can be, abiding by a vintage that asks its makers to stay calm, let things develop as everything should be allowed to happen. Traditional and classic winemaking though never too much and so 2020 in these hands makes for top quality Brunello di Montalcino. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Optimum ripeness found in a sangiovese of and for the vintage, just a bit to the right of the macerated and textural centre, yet reigned in at just about the right point. What stands out most for this Brunello is its length which indicates many things were done right. Will age somewhere between mid and long term. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2024

Ridolfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A more compact and stoic type of Brunello from a vintage different than at least the previous seven and one to deliver a solid core of fruit that can handle the generous French wood style at Ridolfi. Still the consistency is uncanny and the style unmistakable, a mix of Burgundian, Bordeaux and Slavonian wood that fully determines the course and outcome of these sangiovese. There is more wood felt here but the balance and especially the acidity is tops. This will live longer than the ’19, well at least in terms of how pleasant it will drink. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2024

Roberto Cipresso Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Heady perfume at the celling for the vintage and it would seem the team has taken a few risks but also liberties to craft this seriously aromatic one. A full on and in 2020 with spikes and piques before flavours enact much of the same. A full and expressive wine with some sappy volatility hanging just below the acceptable line. Risk reward to be clear and not all will understand. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Salvioni La Cerbaiola Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

All in, long maceration time, fruit extraction piquing with excitement and a buzz that runs through the cortex of this wine. Aye there’s the crux of the sangiovese situation, the vintage possibilities and because tannins outrun acidity, well you will need to stop aside and allow this ’20 to take its sweet time. It’s just the necessity and requiem of the situation. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

San Filippo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Dei Comunali 2020

Villages approach to Brunello di Montalcino, of the communes, not one but around and about, fruit come together for a most layered and symbiosis squared approach. And reset because a well-rounded sangiovese marked by intensity and tension is the thing, the factor and raison d’être. Reserve, resolve and retro-advancer, tradition kept and forward-thinking guaranteed. Clean, crunchy and planing, liquid chalky in the mouth, of bite and glide. A textural weave of fabrics and savoury bits mingling with real fruit under the eaves. No real reason to place a timeline or expectation of impending declension because the sangiovese rests in comfortable suspension. No movement imminent now or anytime soon, in other words a Brunello holding back the years. Simply red. Will “get to me the sooner or later.” Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Ilaria Martini and Michael Peter Motiu – San Guglielmo

San Guglielmo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A wine you can start your day with, at any tasting, any get together. Fresh, open, inviting and generous. A consummate sangiovese host, fragrant fruit from the word go, al fresco and delectable. Expertly judged through all of its courses and stages, from the vineyard through to the glass. There may be this feeling of tranquility in the end, but along the way there is energy and life-affirming Brunello di Montalcino 2020 reality. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

San Polino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A deeper set of fruit and mineral circumstances arrives layered and compact though not pressed as to the point of challenging malleability. The strong and grippy sensation gained from the mid-palate forward makes this feel somewhat cumbersome and so time must be granted. That said a feeling of early maturity by way of later harvested sangiovese will send this forward with some haste. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2024

San Polo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A blend of the estate’s vineyards and without a doubt one of the first Brunello ‘20s you should consider getting to know. As with Rubio, Rosso and Vignamasso this is another imminently drinkable wine, an ideal sangiovese for the table without a worry that austere tannins are going to get in the way. Full and substantial with great acids and that iron meets Galestro mineral swath that runs through most of San Polo’s wines. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2024

Sasseti-Livio Pertimali Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Pertimali is a frost zone where losses were common from 2017 through 2021, including 20 percent in 2020. The team tries fires but the vines are too high off the ground and so they moved the pruning from early January to late February which is finally making a great difference. In any case ’20 was a good and promising vintage for Sassetti-Livio with this grey clay and mineral sangiovese, dark of fruit, phenolic, very sapid and sleek. Clean and fresh, metallic, logical for this northeast part of Montalcino looking back up at the hill. A 12 hectare vineyard in basically one large block, certainly one of the largest single blocks in this zone. Requires 15-20 minutes to open and reveal its charms. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2024

Sesti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Quiet, demure and always the sepia toned style of sangiovese of a soft, retro-nostalgic aesthetic, yet blessed with controlled and restrained energy. Flowing, graceful, always mindful and yet youthful and so a bit troubled. Fruit at elevation with wind blowing through its canopies, expressed in this Brunello di Montalcino walking with a purposed gait, always just a few centimetres off the ground. Weightless in this sense but at the end of a glass the flavours, sliding while caressing textures and then feelings pout forth before settling back down to the ground. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Talenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Reserved and rather quiet for a Talenti Annata to speak of a timely and exacting harvest pick, fruit caught right at the moment the grapes might have chosen to part from their spurs, were you to ask them when that should be. The restraint and also ideally captured acidity put this 2020 Brunello in the zone where tannic freight can rumble comfortably through and the sangiovese is therefore carried forward with a great fission of energy yet to be released. Not sure many will understand this wine in its first three years but there should be little doubt that it will age with the best of the vintage. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2024

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A fine and structured Brunello from 2020, bones solid, skeletally upright and with some flesh hanging taut for longevity to exceed some previous vintages. Tart and edgy at times, dusty and fresh, sweetly volatile, a cracker sangiovese that so properly represents the southerly reaches from a less than compact, dense and concentrated vintage. A proper wine made with care, ultra correct and one to pour, teach and explain what 2020 Montalcino truly is. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Francesca Vallone – Terre Nere

Terre Nere Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Warm vintage, truly warm and so the maturity is at peak for a Brunello from two vineyards, Vigna Capanna and Vigna del Sasso. Mature and welling with full glycerin helped out being cut through by the vineyards’ (Galestro) schist-clay mineral abilities to infiltrate and complicate the layers of fruit. Ages in large Botti (2500 and 3000L) to do what 20-25 year-old vines ask the winemaking to do. No doubting the silky texture and beauty of this Brunello with red fruit and so much finishing chocolate on a 15 percent frame. Polished with some tonic botany as well and a sangiovese that surely expresses Castelnuovo dell’Abate’s southern clime. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2024

Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

It’s all in the farming and you will all be hard-pressed to find fruit riper yet with an edge, fulsome while pulsing with energy and rolling in texture – though still always elastic. The subtleties may be fine but the difference is unequivocal and here Annata for Brunello is akin to Riserva. This is because the brings 2020 fruit so forward while also extending the high probability of its longevity looking well ahead. Minimum 10 years because the backbone is not only strong but malleable and amenable to change. That’s how you do it my friends. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2024

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

The Brunello Annata is a blend of the three zones, northeast, southwest and southeast, from all their combined soil types stacked and layered, on average from 20 year-old vines. Double that of the three-part Rosso and so the expectation would be twice the concentration and also structure, or perhaps nearly squared because the fruit sees 24 months in 50 hL Botti. Thinking beyond the fruit and the structure there is the fundamental fact of three-part acidity that manifests in this Brunello as harmony and this dear friends is the distinct Val di Suga advantage. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Ventolaio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A sangiovese that feels quite youthful with an eye to the future. Well established and experienced agriculture lends a hand of maturity but the pulse beats fast and the wine is far from settled. Ample if not high level concentration is tempered by some subtle restraint and the fruit continues to try and keep up with the structural parts of the wine. Fine enough in its particular way if surely fresh, alive and in motion. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Villa al Cortile Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

High-toned 2020, par for the vintage, medium concentration, bursts of energy and spirit. As it can happen with sangiovese there are some sweet volatile compounds housed within, that and an austerity in the tannic thrush. Nothing drying or tough mind you but this is a Brunello with some potpourri and tightened leather straps. Give it two years to loosen. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Villa Poggio Salvi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Imminently proper and serviceable Brunello for a vintage that many estates were willing to make a deal, the kind of accord that says I will promise not to seek great ambition in return for a correct, proper and mid-term ageable wine. This is that, middle road taken, no risk involved, simple red fruit, leathery tannins and high acidity. Now with air and better in two years. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2024

Voliero Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A sister sangiovese and a younger one that tries to do everything its older sibling does. That means be a child of most experienced agriculture, even if vines are younger and their acumen has not fully developed. No matter because less concentration is belied by more subtlety and fruit coming around a bend will gleefully join and climb the constructive elements of the wine. Quite fine in its own right, if perhaps crispy, crunchy and excitable. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020 – Vigna + Etichetta + Altra Tipologia

Banfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggio alle Mura 2020

Picking up where the largest scaled Brunello leaves off and into the Etichetta label to carry the brightest burning torch for the Castello Banfi world. Here the dusty and balsamico savour is more subtle if still unmistakably there, but now a sangiovese more about texture with a full and substantial liquid chalkiness running low below the brushy aromas and herbal flavours. Some dry Amaro as well and impressive length. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Banfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Marrucheto 2020

From Annata through Poggio alle Mura and now to Vigna Marrucheto the thread is consistent and frankly obvious for the trilogy of 2020s for Banfi. Local balsamico now, the least dusty and most sweetly herbal pronouncement for the triad and surely the finest interpretation of vintage for the company. The freshest and crunchiest of these sangiovese, most persistent and also stretched elastic yet also taut for best length noted. Very much a Brunello of place. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Paesaggio Inatteso 2020

Full, substantial and concentrated with an increase of wood spice and also tannin noted. The structure is taut and the tannins doubled are running grippy through the dusty, red rose aromatic and red citrus zest of fruit. This etichetta sangiovese needs more time than many, to settle, integrate and function as it was intended to. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Montosoli 2020

Montosoli the northerly Montalcino mound, the hill of freshness, the knoll where sangiovese gains grip, savour and elegance, where Canalicchio di Sopra’s Vigna designate Brunello from six hectares delivers approximately five into this wine. The precision and fluidity of this ’20 is just about as fine and graceful as the Ripaccioli have ever produced. Literally the juice or blood of Montosoli’s Galestro, a clay-schist flaking at the surface bleeding back down into the earth, acquired by the roots, vacuumed back up into the vines and gifted to the bunches. Sapidity is similar to 2018 and that year was cold(er) which explains how soil is such the driver, especially for Montosoli. This tastes as you might expect, concentrated, texturally full and without pause. Incredible Brunello. Poised, seemingly ready but not, looking ahead two decades, maybe more. With thanks to perfectly restrained cellar work, timing and decision making. In this moment, at least in terms of clarity, 2020 is a Montosoli vintage. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted November 2024

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna La Casaccia 2020

There is always something shared in common between the two single vineyards that is mitigated by the vintage from year to year – but Montosoli and Casaccia are very different wines. Here for the estate located block the extraction was lower, as was the maceration, to avoid any bitters or green possibilities. “Something was not perfectly mature” figures Francesco Ripaccioli. All that said there is more opulence, concentration and seduction from Casaccia but it plays a bit hard to get and to figure out. Take the time and stay with this Vigna because you need to be sure what kind of wine you are dealing with. A long relationship is necessary and time will tell what will be. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2024

Capanna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Nicco 2020

A clear connection to the Capanna which speaks to fruit sharing but Nicco keeps the lion’s share and shows how grand it can be. This is the king of the Capanna jungle, strutting and striding with purpose, stalking yet in no hurry to increase its gait because the hunting game is a long term one. You could place high wagers on this 2020 Etichetta Brunello not moving, changing, morphing or transposing for even a moment before the clock strikes 2029. Seamless construction, impressive on all fronts. Best Nicco to date. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2020

Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna La Casa 2020

Pure mineral perfume, schist and clay directed, held compact and tight by structure, immovable for now. Seamless transition for more of the same, of earth, rocks and stones making fruit taste like a mouthful of land, all the while sweet, succulent and without wander. Such a focused 2020 for Vigna Brunello that can’t help but be considered as one of the vintage’s top expressions. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Casanuova delle Cerbaie Brunello di Montalcino DOCG CdC 2020

CdC is a sign of Casanuova delle Cerbaie times, a way to simplify and codify sangiovese for a modern world. That is what this 2020 is, shiny and new, a glistening elixir of fine liquid chalky sangiovese, spiced like a chai latte and quite inviting. Not soft but yes wholly accessible, warming in the present and needing just a year of rest to change clothes. CdC might well be an acronym for cooler days coming because when the barrel melts the fruit will shine. That said 2020 is less serious of a vintage for this Brunello. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Tenuta Nuova 2020

Wow. Just wow. Whatever the Casanova di Neri Brunello brings to the table it is this Tenuta Nuova that not only confirms the estate’s current peak performance, the sangiovese here within takes Montalcino to another level. A plateau to describe and descry the modernity of design and effect. The cause is just, it is noble and it is right. Intoxicating perfume, that sweetness of subtle volatility, in other words spot on acidity here met and succeeded by chalky liquidity that can only come from place. The south of Montalcino. Magical vineyards to the southeast of Sant’Angelo in Colle. Smallest berries in this vintage made for a concentrated and powerful Brunello with a saltiness, sweet acidity and a note of blood orange. Ages 30 months in (20 per cent new) tonneaux and another two years in bottle. Complimenti alla famiglia Neri, Giacomo e Figli. Oh mio dio, man. Drink 2026-2039. Tasted twice, November 2024

Michaela Morris and Gurvinder Bhatia at Casanova di Neri

Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Giovanni Neri 2020

Picked 10 days after Tenuta Nuova, here in the east of Montalcino and the newer vineyard for Casanova di Neri owned by a friend of Giacomo Neri. Now named for his son, the block and the wine, 30 months in tonneaux and a vintage of 20 percent lower yields because of small but concentrated berries. The thread that runs through the three sangiovese is unmistakeable, from the Brunello and its large proportion of Ceretalto fruit, the (south Montalcino) Tenuta Nuova and this Giovanni Neri. Levels of quality and personality, all three setting the bar so high and each distinguished for their style and sense of place. Also pace because the Giovanni Neri does not hurry, act like a rebel of youth or try to do too much, too fast. Like the other two it solicits a love to drink now but also speaks to potential. Once again subtle yet sweet volatility, silkiest of texture and tannin, suave structural simulation and early integration are the hallmarks of a Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino. The bouquet and tannins are like 2012 “but I believe 2020 is more elegant, with fresher tannins and more vibrant acidity” says Giacomo Neri. That is correct, if namely because the experience in recognizing and knowing how to deal with heat, drought, hydric stress, vines shutting down and re-starting is far greater than it was ten years before. Not to mention advances in the cellar. Drink 2026-2037. Tasted November 2024

Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Filo di Seta 2020

Next level sangiovese, of concentration, layering and silk threaded texture realized. Filo di Seta is the sort to make demands on its fruit, to expect the best and make it clear how that not all Etichetta selection Brunello are not created equal. FdS is the sangiovese that mere mortals do not fully understand how it comes to be. Its expressed realities are much too complex to simply say this is a sangiovese that speaks in a vernacular so easily understood. Aromas are less effusive than Romitorio Brunello 2020 but they are more effective because of the profound message they will eventually convey. Eventually because what good reason could there be for the information to be available right now? Same goes for how this sangiovese feels, for how it travels to every corner of the palate, rolls across and over as barely perceived waves, how it lingers for minutes long after the liquid is gone. Filo di Seta is intoxicating and will persist for 20 years. Minimum. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2024

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG AD 1441 2020

Like son, like father, so goes Etichetta as goes Brunello, of aromas fresh and succulent with liquorice up front. Rich elixir of sangiovese through all the waves of exotically charged località aromas and flavours. A balsamico though not a savoury one, no it’s more herbal and sweetly appetizing. Stimulates the palate to prepare for more sips and were luck be on side, a plate of carne alla griglia. No necessity to specify which protein because AD 1441 will work with all and measurably so. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Castiglion del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Campo del Drago 2020

Plays much harder to get than the Annata Brunello, here with a headier perfume directing a sangiovese wound taut and tight. Similar palate if more concentrated and substantial, the mouthfeel fuller and the finishing spice quite pronounced. Don’t feel the acidity as intense and there is a looseness about the finish. Fruit depth is what separates Campo del Drago from the classic label. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2024

Celestino Pecci Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggio al Carro 2020

From strength to strength, classic to vigna, 2020s both of them, tethered to hard work, improved agriculture and an arrival at the estate’s next level of excellence. Poggio al Carro is sangiovese deserving to be called carissima because this next level of aromatic volume, concentration and mouthfeel makes the grade. The new ceiling is set for sangiovese that will need to live up to this billing, towards the next goal set, to expectation much higher than before. It is believed that another level is possible within these coming five years. PaC confirms the direction. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Pianrosso 2020

Arrive expecting a deeply aromatic sangiovese and that wish may be your command with another compact layering of Brunello by way of Pianrosso. Always seemingly about face or doubling down as compared to the Brunello, as if that wine is a tithe as compared to the full treasure found here. Cask and time the factors that enact this kind of wealth, that amass texture, flavour and spice to sheath, blanket and bury fruit away. Plenty of cappuccino here, so foamy and creamy in the present for a persistently barrel-effected Brunello. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2024

Vineyards at Corte Pavone

Corte Pavone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Fior del Vento 2020

Fior del Vento, the Anemone or Windflower, one of five cru Brunello made at Corte Pavone, planted in 1999. Latest to harvest from rocky soils, viz. chalk or limestone and the highest tonality of all the cru sangiovese. Namely acidity and this would never be confused for anything else, but with a notable lime-lightning streak running directly through so very citrus red, akin to pomegranate fruit. Tart and wound expressly tight, tannins flowing as the same suit and length keeping all of these intensive feelings alive. The acids are always high, fruit easiest to pinpoint for harvest and alcohol develops at 0.5 percent higher than the other crus. This may never flesh out like some of the other wines, but it will age very well. A fascinating study in cru mentality. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Corte Pavone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Fior di Meliloto 2020

Fior di Meliloto, Sweet Yellow Clover and as per the Corte Pavone cru (planted in 1998) considered to be the most floral and fruit forward of the five Brunello. Then again the Galestro (of schist and clay with some calcareous content) brings a structural element, a backbone to support and offer a proper harmonic juxtaposition through an aromatic and juicy sangiovese. Might be called out as fruity but sleeping on these focused and tension-filled tannins would be akin to taking a siesta. Early harvested because of its freshness, northerly orientation and humidity that other crus plots don’t have. Usually lower in alcohol, easy to access and in the end less dramatic, but also seamless as compared to 2019. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2024

Corte Pavone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Poggio Molino al Vento 2020

Largest cru, named for a windmill, most diverse soil composition, of sand, silt, clay and Galestro. Being the largest plot there is more variability and therefore requires the most harvest passes to separate the parcels within the greater cru. Essentially the size of three American Football fields and no surprise that this is the sangiovese of the most breadth, broadest character, expressive of the most fruit mixed with wood, wide swath of prominent but furthest thing from austere tannins. Likely the cru Brunello closest in style to the Brunello Annata, yet everything is magnified and hyperbolized, including substantial fruit, length and longevity. Were a Chianti Classico comparison to be made it would be Castello di Ama’s Gran Selezione San Lorenzo that first comes to mind. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Corte Pavone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Campo Marzio 2020

The name Campo Marzio is Roman, a war field where preparations were made for battle. “The little warrior,” foo fighter home to the oldest vines (dating to 1958), “the powerful aristocrat,” only remaining plants from when Loacker purchased the land in 1996. Loam soil with clay and Galestro, soccer field in size. There is a presence to this wine, a power but also an energy that pulses through that can’t help but get your attention. The tannins are not from Mars, or the God himself but they are out of this world, tight, focused, commanding and truly Marzioso. The colour and the shape leave an indelible stamp on the palate and the flavours linger ever long. “Hello, I’ve waited here for you…You’ve got to promise not to stop when I say when.” Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2024

Cortonesi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG La Mannella 2020

Headiest of 2020 perfumes, bright and high-toned for excitable feelings incited. Then at once the aromas concentrate, circulate and release once again. Classic Cortonesi style, as textural as it is aromatic, as flavourful as it is broad in mouthfeel. All parts being equal this sangiovese will age slowly, purposefully, with all of its faculties in check. There will be no major peaks, nor valleys neither, but simply a linear trajectory, with wood integrating and fruit slowly morphing until it becomes secondary, to acidity as well, further on down the road. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Dinner with the Brunello Boys

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Progetto Prime Donne 2020

A careful selection by a select team of four women that understand the differences, of fruit resting in barrels and their meaning, especially from 2020 with a collective if smaller sample size. This includes Sommelier Daniella Scrobogna, wine shop owner Astrid Schwarz and two MWs, Madeleine Stenwreth and Rosemary George. Their decisions are blind, they love French wood and so this is a very different wine as a result. More tannins doubling down because of the wood, spices and the specs always seem to work because the collective expertise. Makes for a new wine every year and 2020 is truly structured with piques of interest on either side of the palate. Should age really well, slowly and with grace. In the end it feels like a more traditional Brunello. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Fanti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vallocchio 2020

Balance and composure adding up to poise is deserving of high praise and while Vallocchio may not attract an over-arching amount of attention it does speak volumes about its purpose and position in the pantheon of Etichetta Brunello. A sangiovese that speaks of place is a sangiovese you should get to know because it may just transport you there. Up to a mid-slope where vines succeed in the best and most challenging of times. Mid is the operative word because this transposes earth and sky, fruit of the vine and human touch. Vallocchio 2020 is super creative and restrained if also subtly striking. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Gianni Brunelli – Le Chiuse di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Ah hah, ah so, hello Brunello. Wake up and live, learn to love a vintage, take note of what 2020 can and is destined to be. Minerals and elements swirling in a centrifuge of local perfumes, flavours piquing and popping all around. A sangiovese of exceptional textures and capabilities, complex yet accessible, exacting though never obtuse. You can be friends with Brunello but you need to pay attention, re-visit time and time again, spend quality time. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

La Lecciaia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Manapetra 2020

Two steps forward and one step back from the Brunello, now with twice the aromatic weight and a holding pattern that sees structure cause a singular retreat. The best fruit is clearly saved for Vigna Manapetra because this sangiovese sings, hold its notes and shines. The entirelt of skins at optimum ripeness and phenolic compound developig capabilities are found in the VM for a strong and capable longevity arrived at by design. This will drink with utmost 2020 strength and grace 10 years down the line. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

La Magia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Ciliegio 2020

Take a little trip, another step and into what really matters for 2020 Brunello di Montalcino. For sangiovese of trenchant selection, information and distinction. The construction of this Ciliegio is a Tuscan build, a structure of thought, prominence and esteem. The fruit may seem secondary because it submits to ideas and intention, but without its arrival into purity held grippy by a phenolic presence there would be no standing edifice. All is in fact vertical and in place. My goodness what a very good Brunello this is. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Le Ragnaie Brunello di Montalcino DOCG V.V. 2020

Old vines do what they do and must, that is to supply an increase of compactionm layering and of course concentration into a Brunello that takes it’s position, established and entrenched in full control. Sure the fruit swells and the aromas duplicate but structure is really the imperative and impetus for taking sangiovese to another level. That said the transparency remains and so do not come here looking for dark and rich Brunello di Montalcino. This you will not find. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2024

Le Ragnaie Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Casanovina Montosoli 2020

The vintage is a strong and focused one for Montosoli, not because of hot versus cold or wet versus dry but because the oscillations of temperature, prevailing winds and shifts in the space time continuum put the northern hill ahead of many southerly parts. Just in terms of assessments mind you because 2020 overall is quite good, but for Montosoli the results are palpable, the mineral quotient distinguishable and the constructive elements formidable. In a very acceptable way mind you and so you might consider opening your first bottle in just two years time. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted November 2024

Le Ragnaie Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Fornace 2020

A whole other matter with Fornace, furnace indeed, or rather emergency blanket that protects and keeps fruit safe, secure and free from danger. A different structural construct all together, less of a demand and more of a couverture but one not soon to unwrap and set the fruit free. Higher acid though that’s not readily apparent because of the warmth. Distilled liquid and ground spices working together for a sangiovese’s life yet long to live. Over 15 years to be sure. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2024

Le Ragnaie Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Passo del Lume Spento 2020

The highest elevation begets the airiest sangiovese set to the highest tones because temperature swings and winds blowing in harder will make these things happen. An occurrence once a year when a Brunello like this startles us, catches our immediate attention and tells us something different is in our glass. And so the sweetness of volatility also blows through, a style is noted in a situation furthest away from many tasters’ idea of Brunello di Montalcino, but change is inevitable and this is in fact all about that idea. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2024

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Loreto 2020

As with the Brunello there is heat on the nose of the single vineyard sangiovese. Peppery warmth, spiced and spicy, like Rotundone in a way. Structure is there though laid low and supportive if far from grippy or overtly demanding. Brooding Brunello and one it seems will find its porcino and tartufo stage before too long. Just a bit mature too soon. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2024

Máté Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Veltha 2020

Quite a similar prospect with Veltha though the fruit concentration is much deeper and so it can stand up to all the happenings in both acidity and structural movements. Veltha exhibits more strength, grip and breadth but again with fruit so full the intensity is seemingly diminished. More of everything will not always allow for sangiovese as Brunello to arrive in harmony but Veltha will do just fine. Live and love longer, offering up more complexities though at the expense of some innocence lost. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Podere Le Ripi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Cielo di Ulisse 2020

Come and explore the natural world of Brunello di Montalcino, for many a challenging proposition but here befitting the people and the place. The taming of unavoidable volatility is necessary and sweetness ensues because the work put in has done well to keep microbial activty in check. The chalky liquidity is a by-product of the methodology to result in a sangiovese of singular style. Of heroes, mythology and epic skies. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Podere Le Ripi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Amore e Magia 2020

Love and magic, tenderness and mystery, these are the elements of a most natural sangiovese with absolutely perfect vintage fruit. Fruit of a texture you can sink your teeth into, effortlessly sweet and generous for Brunello di Montalcino you need to know. Brunello that has taken some time to arrive at this stage of a measured tenure so sure of its intricacies and ideas, equipped to please even the most cynical lover of Montalcino. Stop chasing labels and drink this. You may never go back. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna I Poggi 2020

The single vineyard is unquestionably the finest fruit available from the wide range of estate blocks and so the elegance of this sangiovese is readily understood. Fruit treated with utmost respect, more restraint than the Brunello of stretched breadth and so here the depth is developed with far less effort. Also the way it is tasted and experienced which is seamless and effortless. Fine Vigna for 2020, up there with other fine peers. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2024

Ridolfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Donna Rebecca 2020

An etichetta label housing a bigger Brunello with a half percent more alcohol (here at 15) and a part of the blend aged in barriques to mix in with the other components raised in (French, Burgundy and Bordeaux) casks. Heady aromas and grander sangiovese all-around, herbal with an Amaro effect, roasted and toasted elements with more sweet herbaceous moments than the Annata and also Riserva. Paint can, red pepper, rosemary peperoncino. It’s all in, all there and strong upon your palate. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2024

Ruffino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Greppone Mazzi 2020

Sweet fruit and also acidity, combined, layered and working as one. Spot on correct and simplified Brunello di Montalcino that celebrates exactly what the vintage and the region need. The acidity is really the best of this sangiovese’s game, its calling card and the thing that will see longevity be added to its name. Drink 2025-20329. Tasted November 2024

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Sorgente 2020

No mistaking the increased natural presence and let it be allowed to act out an uninhibited free will performance, certainy as compared to the more amalgamated, open to be imitated and broadly sensible Annata. Here play out moments of volatility, unencumbered raciness and minor key of Brettanomyces, reminding of Salicutti vintages that have come before and also some other famous Euro wine regions where practice and effect produce wines that come away like this. That is to say passionate and within reason, comfortably beneath acceptable thresholds, for Sorgente especially because the palate is potent, consistent and carrying forward. The 2020 is a sangiovese of knife’s edge walked and with the potential to get to the other side. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Piaggione 2020

San Filippo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Le Lucére 2020

Clearly takes the Villages approach to another level in its presentation of fruit and vintage, gregariously as opposed to in reserve. Makes a case for putting the most generously appropriate fruit into this “other” Brunello, an Etichetta conceptualization as opposed to looking at one terroir or place within place. Fineness and focus are second to none yet without absconding from the other or saying there are firsts and seconds in the relationship. Simply different and so merit here is merit there, a shared space as meritocratic democracy with both wines having equal and proportionate say. More rich palate presence here but also intensity and tension. Hard not to fall under the spell and wish for more to be revealed. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2024

Winemaker Riccardo Fratton – San Polo

San Polo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vignavecchia 2020

The two hectare Vignavecchia vineyard was planted in 1989 and faces southwest on a steep slope. The sangiovese is aged in 600L tonneaux for approximately 30 months and from 2020 this comes away with great delicasse for a Brunello that can sometimes be quite edgy. The intensity and tension are of course part of the package but the silky and luxe quality of the tannins really express the vineyard. The grey clay-Galestro is what determines this particular mineral streak while freshness and acidity are wholly maintained. Yes there have been more intense Brunello coming from this small and exceptional vineyard but that is the magic of vintage variation. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2024

San Polo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Podernovi 2020

Single vineyard, a.k.a Vigna Brunello, a cru sangiovese from the 1991 planted Podernovi of three hectares facing southeast looking across the Orcia where on a clear November morning you can see the fog layer settling across the Valley. As with every wine made at San Polo the invitation is hospitable and real, the fabric so silken organza and the flavours packed to fill every millimetre of the bottle. More delicate than Vignavecchia replayed once again in this fine and felty 2020. Great vineyard translated through a very fine Brunello of controlled energy. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

San Polino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Helichrysum 2020

A brighter and less weightier expression as compared to the Annata and so the fruit purity is more readily apparent and visible. Gives the sangiovese its much needed crunch which means more freshness and airy quality. Still the chalky underbelly and compression from the mid-palate forward. Finishes steady and in the end the feeling gained is of a rock solid Etichetta 2020. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

With Lorenzo and Sabina Sassetti

Sassetti-Livio Pertimali Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Il Mulino 2020

The first cru defined by Sassetti-Livio, literally the “windmill.” Il Mulino di Diavoli (of the devil), a scary place for kids at the edge of the forest, but actually the name of the family. Now it lends its name to this wine by the new piece of land purchased from the municipality. The lower vineyard is littered with large fossil shells to speak of the ancient ocean once covering this lower plateau. Fermentation and what follows sees the wine spends its first year in stainless steel to allow the sediments to settle and clean the wine. Ages in 30 hL Slavonian Botti for another after that and then returns to tank before bottling. A unique approach but Lorenzo Sassetti has always worked this way. Consistent with the non single-vineyard Brunello, metallic, phenolic and savoury, sleek on the palate and long. Ultra specific style that only this northerly part of Montalcino will see. With Il Mulino the über clean style is exaggerated, perhaps as an act against Brettanomyces and volatility. The devil wears sangiovese. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Sassetti-Livio Pertimali Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Pertimali 2020

The highest vineyard at 350m and the newest cru slash single vineyard Brunello from Lorenzo and Sassetti-Livio. Just a little bit more than one hectare and as different a fruit profile as you will find between two blocks so close to one another on the same estate. A return to pure red fruit with preserved citrus though the mineral component is in fact consistent with Il Mulino and the Brunello (Annata). More personality here, crunchy sangiovese, sweeter acidity and less phenolic presence from a darker clay vineyard with a good presence of stones though, not the fossils of Il Mulino. Younger vines as well which make for more fruit, refinement, finesse, less power and so (for now) at the expense of longevity. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2024

Siro Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Pelagrilli 2020

Hi quotient of potent sangiovese, as they say – potente ma non trasparente, in other words a Brunello di Montalcino of heft, density and alcohol, here labeled at 15.5 percent. Come expecting heat and flavour intensity, walk away with the gratitude that both are fulfilled. A combination of place dictating the octane and power but also a style persistently followed with estate tradition. If you feel like you are drinking 1997, 2003 or 2007 you are not alone and you may just find yourself as happy as can be. The edging up to oxidative will come sooner rather than later which tells us to drink within that timeline. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2024

Siro Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vecchie Vigne 2020

Vecchie Vigne, or old vines provide a wealth of knowledge, experience and acumen to effect a balanced V.V. Brunello because they have seen and done it all. A full degree less alcohol for this 2020 and so harmony between ripest fruit and the dark secrets of sangiovese are in a controlled, if not quite restrained effect. A serious ’20, powerful within reason and of bigger, more prominent and edgy acidity. Volatile to a degree yet no more than 1000s of IGT or Brunello reds that have come to market in the last 55 years. These are traditional wines within that epoch and they are consistent. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Talenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Piero 2020

From vintage to vintage the Annata and the Etichetta Piero can be eerily similar or wide apart and 2020 expresses as more of the latter. The fruit content, weight and concentration is clearly upgraded and the sangiovese spirit intensified for a Piero of superlative fortitude. This is the exemption to the Talenti rule and Brunello di Montalcino because few wines celebrate or rather revere the appellation as much as this ode to a pioneer and patriarch. Every time this wine is tasted that image from Barbi’s Museo is conjured, of a grandson in Montalcinese garb carrying a flag with crest and arms past the Fortezza. This wine is simply a solid construct of fruit, acidity and tannin, linear, vertical and built to age. That it will. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2024

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Oliveto P.56 2020

Etichetta Oliveto P.56, cerimoniale indeed, sweetly natural and fluid elixir of sangiovese, exquisite of tannins and exceedingly appropriate as an extant step forward from Annata. Crunchy and fresh, dusty trails left far behind, now like walking a strada bianca with no wake or cloud from gravel kicked up behind. Good bones, exacting fine lines and celebratory. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Poggio al Granchio 2020

From the southeastern Montalcino sector where the sangiovese is want to deliver sanguine character from higher elevation (at 450m) off an 18.5 hectare set of blocks. Granchio feels like the mid-way point between Vigna del Lago and Spuntali, part lightning and part candied florals, a best of both worlds, fulsome and concentrated Vigna Brunello. Shows a bit of reduction and less bitterness but my goodness it’s a stony sangiovese with a schisty-Galestro heart. Who needs fruit when you have rocks? First vintage was 2009 as a single cru Brunello. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Lago 2020

From the archetype of the crus, first established in 1983 at 280m on 18 hectares in northeast Montalcino. Took a break for some time and has returned, average age of the wines now 17 years post replanting. A skeletal clay soil by the Asso River and the lake that gives the vineyard its name. More silky texture and less lightning than the others from 2020 and surely the one with the most caressing mouthfeel. Also a mild cherry stone bitterness and white chocolate mint to speak of wood churning a very particular local balsamico. Fascinating, because this is the notion of Vigna del Lago. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Brunello Riserva 2019

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Riserva 2019

Banfi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio alle Mura 2019

Nothing immediate about the style of this Riserva screams Riserva but sometimes restraint and subtlety do well to open the game. The aromatics are effusive and in effect pretty but they are not what fully draw us in. Red roses and fresh squeezed pomegranate, in other words red citrus then translated onto the palate in similar fashion. A crisp Riserva, understated yet energetic and set up for future promise. A good Riserva in fact though not one that struts or flashes its feathers. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Baricci Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Nello e Sello 2019

True blue to life Riserva with all the aspects of its existence set composed of layers, complexities, intricacies and numbers. Fruit here, there and everywhere, acidity omnipresent and structure provided for the slow unwind. Big vintage at 15 percent, not unusual and at that level an effect of harmony because all parts reside at the same heightened awareness. No letdown, holes or omissions from an understood if always traditional Brunello, unblemished, untarnished and capable of ample forward thinking. Drink 2027-2037. Tasted November 2024

Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Gualto 2019

Strong perfumes, maximum. floral inhalant properly aggressive and engaging. You might expect a peppery kick to the aromas but you can take the longest breath in and the sangiovese nurtures, while opening you up for what’s to come. My goodness what a finessed and seamless experience this delivers, never too high or too low, always incisive and inviting. This house got both of its Brunello so right in 2019 and also 2020. They are not to be missed. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Campogiovanni Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Il Quercione 2019

The barrel, big blessed barrel off the top with fully captured and macerated fruit, together like two pigs in the proverbial earth. A rich, sappy and savoury confiture capture of sangiovese as any in the entirety of Montalcino. A Brunello that must be given almost as much time as it would have spent in cask. Patience is the requiem for eventual pleasure. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2024

An animated Francesco Ripaccioli

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

“The idea of Riserva for us is the Vigna that best represents the vintage,” which for Francesco Ripaccioli means micro-climate is the greatest influence and going forward Riserva will only be made when “there is a chance to celebrate.” Recalibrate your conceptual aptitude and ability to quantify aromatic volume because a vintage like 2019 will only come around once in a long period of time. That might mean a decade, perhaps longer or just every few years but 2019 is that vintage, that individual, that friend, that mentor. “I’m still thinking it’s one of the greatest vintages ever, at least since I’ve been making wines. The harvest was the best ever.” It was as if the grapes were falling off the vines into waiting hands. Perfectly ripe for super open sangiovese speaking early truths, exited like a child so excited it can’t wait to get the story out. The words come fast, like the aromas and flavours and we are not equipped to take them all in. Please slow down, go easy on me, allow me to nose, taste and assess these explosions and infinite readings of poly-phenolic data in a measured way. So much happening from Riserva 2019, not experienced before and maybe never again. This is Francesco Ripaccioli’s current opus, fundamental to the message of Canalicchio di Sopra. Last tasted November 2024

Actually from a single vineyard called Vignavecchia Mercatale and the oldest vines planted in 1987 at the border with Ridolfi. Riserva 2019 will not be released for another year plus a few months so this bottled Canalicchio poetry has yet to write its next stanzas after just a few that have been put to memory. And yet the story has a beginning, is moving through its first few maneuvers, schemes and intrigues towards the delivery of much, much more before any final lines are read aloud. Does this Riserva traverse at least the same chasm as between Rosso and Brunello? The answer is emphatically yes and in fact the gap is equally doubled because the sangiovese in cask must have been a monster while it was transferring from post alcoholic fermentation through malolactic fermentation and finally into the final wine it has become. Or not because what is now will not be in a few more years and that refrain will be repeated several times before it is nosed and tasted with any real developed maturity. What we do know is that Riserva 2019 is powerful while elegant, which is the ultimate goal. Drink 2028-2042. Tasted November 2023

Capanna Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Strong and accessible perfumes for this 2019 Riserva with a multitude of fruits and minerals swirling in centrifuge. Some dried fruit elements, frutta di bosco and more fruit like fragola secco before the seriousness of the tannins take charge. They are ferocious and they mean business. Pay attention to their warning and wait some years before opening. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2024

Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

How can you not love and appreciate the salty entry of this Riserva, a sangiovese so clearly expressive of the minerals and elements in its vineyard soils it can’t help but release them through the pores of sangiovese. Two parts are present however and the mouthfeel tells another story, of silky texture and commanding tannins that gather it all up in a rounded and bonded package. Riserva should be a slow release of Brunello and this surely fits the style. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted November 2024

Caprili Ad Alberto

Caprili Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Ad Alberto 2019

There are Riserva that simply act and feel like Riserva. This is exactly that, of an aromatic and also palate richness, mille-feuille patterning needing years to come away one layer at a time. A true to form, style and appellation example that uses the best of its produce, technologies and methodologies to create something representative, respectful and impactful. A born leader to bring people together. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2024

Carpineto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Enticing and inviting aromas from a typically dusty Riserva with spices throughout. Candied sort, baking and savoury, all the while in and from an arid environment at elevation. This screams 500-plus meters and bright red fruit remains fresh because acidity sets it up this way. Wood needs to melt an settle in because at present it dominates the second half of this sangiovese. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Riserva should of course be a Brunello of concentration, attitude and confidence but who would not be seduced by such an energetic and excitable example? This is something extra and other for 2019, fruit finding its shine in the face of an eminence front of acidity drawn from a place matched stride for stride by the estate’s indelibly stamped style. Nary a waver of focus for a moment, nor could wondering about this Riserva as something precious ever be called into question. The construct and effects create a movie filed into the classics, epic in design, to watch over and over because there is always something new to learn. “The sun shines and people forget.” It’s hard to make great Brunello, but who else finds the way if not Romitorio? Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2024

Castiglion del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Millecento 2019

Good aromatic swirl and also volume, pretty and sweetly scented with red berries unlike most areas of Montalcino. Also herbal but again sweetly so, basil namely with tomato water and a waxy note as well. Quite tannic and forceful to say wait but perhaps not long so that the fruit might begin to wane. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2024

Cerbaia Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

In 2022 Elena Pellegrini decided to enlist Giuseppe Gorelli to help make her wines. She loved the wines of Le Potazzine and her Cerbaia farm’s proximity on the northwest side of Montalcino seemed like a good fit. Riserva has changed because people want wines to drink now but let’s face it this is Brunello so there must be some age-ability. Last (previous) Riserva vintages were made in 2015 and 2016 from the sangiovese chosen out of the oldest cru (Vigna) closest to the cellar. That was ripped out and re-planted in 2019 and so this ’19 was made from the best rows out of the biggest vineyard that were deemed worthy because of the pinpointed intricacies. A superior fine chalkiness and tightest tannic wind, aggressive though not austere, anything but immediately approachable, gangly even, like a young giraffe, but when it hits its stride it will run like the wind. A warmth runs through the veins from just a trickle down without swallowing a sip, like feeling your entire physiology change, warming and pleasing. And this with top quality acidity that will see the wine through to rise upon the high peak of a plateau from 2026 and 10 years onward. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted November 2024

Col di Lamo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Richness and maturity, concentration and experience. Soft and demure, chic and fashionable. Seductive and classic. What more needs to be said? No need to wait – this sangiovese is ready and willing to please. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2024

Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Vigna Nastagio 2019

Riserva in every way, facet and exemplary aspect of expression. Full fruit captured with compliments from all the sangiovese parts that lift, buoy and raise the bar. Single vineyard focus, grand and important, large cask so very necessary to create a symbiotic relationship with the fruit. A wine structured for the purpose of longevity, absolutely crucial to what happens with this estate and so try to imagine how this Vigna Brunello will be, 10, 15 and 20 years forward. Always changing and for the most part also impressing. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Collemattoni Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Fontelontano 2019

High-level qualities for Riserva designate sangiovese so simpatico with one another to represent the appellative style. Rich and even luxurious, perfumed of musky red fruits and sparked by generous acidity. Plenty of wood, chocolatey and smooth though tannins do ache and dry at the finish. Time will bring it all together and then a smooth sangiovese will result. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

Hayo Loacker – Corte Pavone

Corte Pavone Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Anemone al Sole 2019

Anemone del Sole, wind and (of) sun, the chalkiest soil and therefore should rightly be a sangiovese of highest tones, lightning reflexes and zesty citrus intensity. Like Fior del Vento this is a late harvested cru and more often than not the latest. Long hung grapes means slow-developed phenolics and 2019 is the vintage you can be assured of a great layered maturity and an elastic grip that winds around the palate. The experience of this vineyard, the organics, and biodynamics, acumen of Hayo Loacker’s two decades of developing craft and understanding, this position in northwest Montalcino, infrared calculations of vigour in the vineyard – All this adds up to making a wine of controlled drama and restrained dynamism that creates sangiovese as Brunello di Montalcino in Riserva form. Salty finish like few other Brunello. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted November 2024

Corte Pavone Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Vigna Poggio Molino al Vento 2019

Hayo Loacker stopped making Riserva in 2006 and in 2007 moved towards the direction of crus, eventually identifying five of them on the estate. The first released vintage was 2013 and then Riserva returned in 2015. Vigna Poggio Molino al Vento is Corte Pavone’s largest cru, “the windmill,” three American Football fields in size, multifarious soil composition with sand, silt, clay and the flakey above ground manifestation called Galestro. This largest plot is variable in its ripening with the requiem to separate parts of the whole out of selections and into fermentations. Darkest hue, ripest sangiovese, richest composition, variability and diversity of fruit pulpy, zesty and musky, all in with high and mighty, sweet meeting sour acidity. Intensity, magnification, juxtaposition, justification and celebration. Of a place. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2024

Costanti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Colli al Matrichese 2019

Bloody intensity for Riserva 2019, high spirited, relentless and aching intensity. Fast-flowing sanguine intensity, feeling hurried with nervous energy and tension but consistent, unstoppable and unwavering. Trenchant purpose with fruit carried along in the river of piquing acidity and tannic truth, the weight and freight at peak with no end in sight, nor slower pace or levelling neither. A Brunello Riserva with an unlimited ceiling, a journey begun to travel somewhere far away, from a plan to execute with conscious movement and extreme prejudice. A sangiovese timeless and ageless, all-knowing and ambitious. Still somehow there is a child within and the adult that waits on the other side. Drink 2028-2039. Tasted November 2024

Cupano Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

A Riserva of extreme ripeness, fully arrived without a single berry having failed to mature under the harvest’s threshold. Full extraction grabs grip and tannic thrush with thankful acidity keeping the energy and faith alive. Big wine with a penchant for a stylistic that might be found outside of this tiny territory where lower elevations and high solar radiation predominate. A large band of consumer taste will find great relish in this high-powered, classed and priced Brunello. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

On paper, in most minds and fully speaking this is a top vintage for Brunello di Montalcino and therefore anticipation for Riserva runs extremely high. Crunchy exterior and seriously leathery interior for sangiovese with layers upon layers of tannin needing to unfold. Great aromatic volume and tannic freight, a rush of intensity and finally composure. Oh baby, at the finish Riserva delivers a punch, so youthful and like the final drum crash at the end of a song that simply rocks. Indelible stamp of Donatella and a Riserva built for the ages. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted November 2024

Fattoi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

A bit shy this ’19 Riserva, quiet and understated, in no hurry to reveal what it has in store. Which would come to be a settled, calm and easy sangiovese that drinks with generosity. There is a some tannin yet of the non-demanding kind. No anxiety induced here and with just another year in bottle all systems shoud be ready top go. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2024

Fossacolle Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Solid Riserva construct, emboldened by strong acidity and forceful tannins yet fruit with a stiff resolve to handle the realities of the wine. Really well made, large cask aging certainly a factor and while there is some late austerity is feels wholly acceptable and appropriate for this wine. Seems just and right to be set up for a good long run. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted November 2024

Gianni Brunelli Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Le Chiuse di Sotto 2019

To no surprise this sangiovese delivers the goods with trenchant intention, confidence and also style. There is a richness of floral and minerals in the air, aromatic volume and a depth of quality that speaks in the most succinct but also sincere ways. Aye this is seriously good Riserva. Many parts to unravel, unfurl and unload over 10-15 years time. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Giuseppe Gorelli Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Not your Nonno’s Riserva, nor a clean and modern iteration, but something other. A deep well filled with serious, concentrated and even severe aromas hard to decipher. Deepest inhalant, fullest volume, as vigorously distilled and undiluted as they come. No let down on the palate and while there is a modicum of volatility its actually met, challenged and suppressed by this proper realization of reduction and never dissipating spice. Casks have much to do with all of this and the wine is far from finished, but three years should bring everything into view. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2024

Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Vigna Paganelli 2019

Indelible stamp of Il Poggione yet a sangiovese of more breadth and purity of varietal fruit to speak of the highest ceiling possible for what this large estate can create. It’s almost as if Francesco Bindocci, winemaker Alessandro Bindocci and their team had been waiting a good long time to be able to make such a wine. Riserva (and Vigna) truth spoken, ranging far and wide with a fruit-acid-tannin relationship so in synch it seems no mistakes could have possibly been made. This is the first since 2016 and each time the team checked on its progress there was a feeling of something exceptional taking place. Also a maturity, a plateau climbed up to and reached for a Riserva that will remain in such a state for many years. The structure is frankly impeccable. A selection from a single vineyard of 12 hectares that makes 40,000 bottles. Incidentally a green harvest is performed and in non-Riserva vintages the fruit selected knees up in the Brunello. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted November 2024

La Fiorita Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Exactly what Riserva must be, wound tight, concentrated and well, reserved. A reflection of its makers but you must know that reflection includes the past, present and most importantly the future. The look of experience and how that translates to looking forward, something this sangiovese solicits and we in turn find ourselves dong just that. We see the light with assistance from sweetest and at times intensely wound tight (but also tart) acidity. The 2019 Riserva is a mix of that tension and finest grained tannins. The future is later, as it must be. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2024

La Gerla Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Gli Angeli 2019

Fine and proper Riserva of knowable and fashionable styling, never precious nor gratuitous with a goal to gift pleasure. First with pleasant perfumes and a celebration of vintage fruit, followed by a richesse of more ropiness, ripeness and textural generosity. Well made, clean and exemplary for time, appellation and place. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

La Magia Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Far from an old-school sort of Riserva but neither is this the kind to view as ultra modern and accessible. More of a Riserva decided by an own accord and one from which every part, moment and step feels defined to arrive at a pre-determined place. The planning meets the execution and results automatically follow. Truth be told (and you need to know this part), it is the agriculture that really drives this wine. It is truly made in the vineyard. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2024

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

The first Riserva produced at Le Potazzine since 2015 and one of the only estates not to make one in 2016. Not the first time Gigliola Gianetti and her daughters chose to do something different than the rest. A dichotomous Riserva because the fruit is so ripe and well developed juxtaposed against that classic Potazzinese acidity raging high. This local balsamico is uncanny, Only the third Riserva made, including ’11 and ’15. The singular Riserva, of gentle extraction, a wet submerged cap and the elegance you need to know. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2024

Lisini Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Maturity in the fruit yet also energy to keep the faith for a Riserva that holding nothing back. Late picked but also acidity maintained which is the thing that will help this age forward. You can certainly imagine the porcino and tartufo in the not too distant future but that acidity and brushy balsamico will always be expressed. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Máté Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Yes! Lovely Riserva perfumes, oh my, of fresh cut flowers in a bloody gorgeous bouquet and what follows delivers absolutely no letdown. A finest Riserva sangiovese from head to tail, top to bottom, inside and out. Subtle when need be, gregarious as should be and generous to no fault of anyone but me. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2024

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Rich Riserva with plenty of cask aging imparted into the aromas and especially the texture of the silky, glistening and chocolatey sangiovese. Terrific acids are the impetus for its structural significance and also the reason it will drink well for many years to come. The style is contemporary if not immediate and should appeal to a great many lovers of Brunello di Montalcino. Especially those who choose Riserva. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2024

Antinori Pian delle Vigne Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Vignaferrovia 2019

A Riserva of good bones from a zone that can’t help but push its greenery into the aromatics of the wine. Sangiovese and Macchia Medditeranea, a match made in southwestern Montalcino heaven, specific and especially when a wine like this doubles down with single vineyard slash cru designation. The richness is only exceeded by that balsamico and yes this qualifies uninterruptedly as a Brunello Riserva of place. Wood has been expertly used, never overdone and while this may not age forever it will do well at tables for several years to come. Top quality PdV from 2019. Last tasted November 2024

As for the single Vignaferrovia the exaggeration and hyperbole for modern terms in Pian Delle Vigne is wrought times two with density, thick texture and also thankfully a wild side. No estate vineyard sangiovese from Antinori has ever reached this pinnacle of luxe, not Tignanello, not Badia a Passignano, not Pian delle Vigne. It just has to be a triumph for the team and Piero Antinori’s vision. Once again those who seek the modern style and can afford such a sangiovese will be very pleased with this top 2019 result. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

Pietra Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Aromatically gregarious with effusively floral perfumes, stabs of scents meeting musky red fruits for a party up front. A Riserva style no doubt, rich and luxe with mature fruit and also acidity more developed than some ‘19s. Still that acidity keeps the energy and faith alive even while the fruit will soon express some leathery notes. Pliable and elastic heifer and so this sangiovese will be one to chew. Gets down to business on the back end with grippy tannins and a hold on the palate. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted November 2024

Pietroso Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Ah the satisfaction of high quality Brunello di Montalcino Riserva from small, dedicated and focused production. Higher levels of all related parts together as one; fruit, acid, wood, texture and tannin, each in accord with one another, not linear but adjacently juxtaposed as a decipherable puzzle to make a whole. Ample freshness, chewy and quite settled considering the youth of the wine. Fine for 2019, representative and close to ready. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Podere Le Ripi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Lupi Sirene 2019

Exceedingly ample fruit sourced from the estate’s best and treated to risk-reward winemaking. This means less handling and almost surely a highest percentage of whole bunches used because the quality of the vintage encouraged the practice. A bit stewed following a certain level of overripeness but it all seems to come together in the end. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Aye here’s the Riserva rub in glorious aromatic form, a bouquet that fills a room, draws others in to find out what smells so nice. Ripe at the right point, moment captured and that simply means a vintage got right. Freshness as well, tart at the edge of tense, intensity and energy at peak. Not hard to see the excellence in such a sangiovese to represent Montalcino in the most appropriate and impressive of ways. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Now to the bar set high, vintage after vintage for a Riserva that finds the promise of fruit raised at a 500m clime directly across the valley apposite Monte Amiata’s imposing force. Fruit never taken for granted, always treated with respect and c’mon how special is this sangiovese? The epitome of what it means, how it works and comes to be. It being Brunello di Montalcino from historical vineyards in the hands of the top of top professional teams. This is the result, seamless and long, without peer for where it comes from. There is no argument. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted November 2024

Renieri Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

High quality Riserva for many reasons, fruit ripeness and glissade obviously but my goodness the best of acidity is captured, retained and persists. This is often the crux of great Riserva because when you pick fruit late and (oft) last you may just need a pick me up to keep the energy alive. This does that so well. Drink 2026-2034. T asted November 2024

Ridolfi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Mercatale 2019

In a mini vertical that includes ’17, ’16 and ’15 only the oldest of the four is showing any perceivable secondary character. They are all Mercatale in origin, 21 hectares in total at Ridolfi from a zonazione shared with other producers. This makes it a real menzione or cru, not a monopole and there are more than one that have defined it as being appropriate for Riserva, including Canalicchio di Sopra. The 2019 is influenced by the Botti, part Burgundian, part Bordealais, all French but there is some good freshness. Spices run amok, fruit is severely within the cherry idiom and though the wood is not toasted, there is a nightshade (tomato and eggplant) char to this sangiovese. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

San Filippo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Le Lucére 2019

From one Etichetta to another, Brunello to Riserva, same name and therefore a connectivity as the tie that binds the two. When you approach this wine you can almost feel Le Lucére turn the handle of a door, slowly open it without a sound and enter the room. It knows you are confounded by the angular intensity, wood spice and char, intensity and austerity of the tannin. Less of a friendly spirit as compared to the Brunello and it stands there, insisting you must pause, reflect, wait some more and allow for time. Maybe 10 years time before he walks back out of the room. Drink 2028-2038. Tasted November 2024

San Guglielmo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

First Riserva for the resurrected house. There feels to be so many turning points in the estate’s young tenure and then again it’s really a matter of improvement year after year. The perfumes on Riserva 2019 tell the story of another goal reached because whatever deficiencies or awkward transitions may or may have net been present before are clearly absent now. The roses and scraped red citrus skins give way to sweet acidity, sways and waves of decomposed stony infiltrates and a dreamy, almost warming quality into the latter stages of the experience. Fine sangiovese, very good Riserva, on the transparent side but nothing that need be taken away from its quality. Subsequent vintages of Riserva are more likely to see greater separation between the two appellative Brunello. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

San Polino Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Thick aromatics, a full elixir by volume and yet a sangiovese with matters more concerned with mouthfeel. The perfumes are evidently spiced, the transitions relatively seamless and the end result is a fine fabric of a wine. Clear comport of Brunello Riserva with best fruit, ideas and plan conceived. Wood is also a big factor and the late stages get dry, with cocoa especially at the finish. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2024

Sasseti-Livio Pertimali Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Riserva is aged in 500L Slavonian tonneaux and the net level of refinement is there from the start. Riserva is not produced in every vintage, the previous one being 2016, another of which defined and labeled as a five-star vintage, a municipal categorization that will be discontinued in 2021. Riserva at Sassetti-Livio is a bunch by bunch selection in the two vineyards, same aging time as the Brunello and Vigna labels, three years in Botti and a year in bottle. Smooth and sleek once again, sweetly phenolic, seriously croccante and closer in style to the Mulino than the Pertimali, which means more structure in Riserva. There is a subtle amount of volatility, consistent with the 2019 Brunello, a character trait that disappears in the 2020s. Usually makes a maximum 5,000-6,000 bottles. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Sesti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Phenomena 2019

There are normal, standard Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, there are proper and representative examples, also exceptional versions and then there are the ones of ephemeral beauty. Fleeting in part because of their natural perfumes, scents that come from the fruiting bodies alone, mostly from the skins and yet like people there are some whose scents you never forget. Such is the case with Phenomena, a silent and measured creature of sangiovese but one that comes back to your thoughts and senses long after you are no longer in contact with the wine. Phenomena is also a Brunello of feeling, which means something ethereal, tactile and conclusive. Not seductive mind you, but suggestive and this 2019 will carry on, for some impossibly calculated infinite amount of time, as close to forever as could justifiably be imagined. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted November 2024

Talenti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Pian di Conte 2019

Important vintage for the Vigna-Cru-Riserva sangiovese, important for everyone but these things become magnified when the history, heritage and vine age of a place are well documented. Some wines are conceived and executed with such excellence so to guarantee excellence vintage in and vintage out – this would qualify as such a wine. Purity and experience of sangiovese, matter of fact reality and execution by the makers, the end result being a seamless and superlative sangiovese. Optimum ripeness and retained freshness receive their cues from acidity and tannin in complete control. Nothing ambitious, gratuitous or overarching, simply the right way to make an appetitive meets appellative wine that many consider to exist at the top of the pyramid. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Oliveto P.56 2019

High praise immediately afforded to the sentimental aromas on this Riserva, of candied flowers, other dabs and pretty smells. What can rightly be called effusive for perfume yet not shy, nor does this hide from its opening salvoes. From the ripeness comes warmth and a certain kind of Brunello, the sort that rolls through in waves, never crashing but in a way infinite and certainly always there. A substantial and even slick Riserva on the road to accomplishment, still working towards bettering itself and the next peak is but a vintage away. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2024

Tenuta San Giorgio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Ugolforte 2019

Proper and it can be said again, a proper Riserva for the always on an upward trajectory label for this estate. Not quite the higher elevation excellence that comes from the OG property but this is a sangiovese that out punches many in its weight class. Crisp exterior and chewy interior, wood a factor and just a bit outside the arena with proper tannins lending a typical drying sensation ay the finish. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Quite a ripe expression for Brunello Riserva, of deeply rendered sangiovese fruit. Leads to the idea that this should be consumed on the earlier side, well ahead of some higher-toned and frantically energetic peers. The tannins are present, as is the feeling of wood and so one year forward should exact the right time for this wine. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Terre Nere Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Campigli Vallone 2019

Pasquale Vallone was from close to Palermo in Sicily and became a banker at Monte dei Paschi in Siena. His father and Francesca Vallone’s grandfather moved the family to Tuscany in 1950. They had relatives in Siena and the families (many of them together) bought the other farm outside of Montalcino. The first vintage of Brunello was 2002, Francesca started working at the winery in 2010, full time in 2012. The wines are in her hands and the sangiovese for Riserva comes from Vigna (Piccolo) del Sasso, treated to a long 30-day maceration and as with many Montalcinese estates this 2019 is the first Riserva made since 2016. Double the structure and also the fun which says these were easily the best grapes destined for the top wine from this vintage. This Riserva is a very strong wine and it is also beautiful, big but elegant and likely the finest Brunello made at Terre Nere to date. Three B’s, beauty, brains and brawn. This is proper Riserva, gorgeous now, smart as sangiovese and with power, which means it will surely age. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2024

Terre Nere Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Capriolo 2019

Single vineyard Brunello from the Vigna Capriolo, a reference to the deer that roam the adjacent forest and this being a Riserva like label. Not made in 2017 and yet it was out of 2018, though not Riserva from that season. This ’19 is so very different to both Annata and Campigli Vallone Riserva but yes the DNA is in the same family. A stoic, less gregarious and more serious sangiovese in this case, wood a great factor and texture thickened, mille-feuille layered with alternating cream, chocolate and alcohol-soaked biscuits. Not to say like Tiramisu but there is a feeling in the mouth coming through that way. Terrific aromatics, a lot to digest, integrate and wait to see how this comes together. Many will find the seduction while it seems as though Riserva will age longer. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Maturity and just a step away to over maturity from Riserva 2019 taking this into a sappy and braised place. Lacking some focus and also structure as a result. This is a bottle that suggests the wine that got away from its maker but would certainly look forward to tasting another bottle. Tasted November 2024

Ventolaio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Some problematic aromas that stem from high acetic qualities. Paint can and tomato leaf, crayon and baked potato. Something wrong here – not a sound bottle. Needs to re-tasted. Tasted November 2024

Villa Poggio Salvi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

High tonality, energy, intensity and aromas running amok. White peppery and brushy balsamico, wood spice everywhere in a Riserva running hither and thither. Crunchy red fruit, very tart and austere at the end. Needs time to come together. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

Amantis

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019 and older

Amantis Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Produced just southeast of the village with Biondi-Santi as the nearest neighbour. A five week maceration under submerged cap, 24-30 months in 15 hL Botti. Deeper fruit profile (as compared to Amantis’ Montecucco sangiovese), from clay more specific to Montalcino and a spice cupboard omnipresent through the details of the sangiovese. Orange peel and highest quality chocolate but what’s so much more essential to understand is the profile of texture and quality of character. A Brunello nearly arriving at its ideal maturity and upon that plateau it will remain, rest and relax for five years, quite likely many more. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted November 2024

Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Tenuta “Greppo” 2019

The viticultural dream is a sum total 450mm of rainfall from April through August and 2019 delivered much of that desired amount. A season with a fresh summer when only two days reached 34 degrees, some lower temps in mid-July and good rains. In September humidity dropped between September 11th and 16th which performed wonders on developing the complexity of ’19’s aromas. Harvest between Sept. 14th and October 1st with just a three day pause when 50mm of rain fell between Sept. 22nd and 24th. Welcome to a “classic” vintage, more than 2021 because of the equality in a push-pull posit tug between acidity and tannin. Still so young, needing the winter plus a few extra months to open to at least a point where you can get a sneak preview of what’s to come from a balanced wine in all respects. Dry extract of 27.5, alcohol of 13.6 and acidity in a beautiful state. A mineral Biondi-Santi Brunello, not exactly salty so let’s say mezzo-mezzo salty and sapid. We really don’t know what 2019 is going to be, not now, not yet and that is the magic. Who could not wait to taste this again in a year, after three and then 25 after that? Drink 2026-2038. Tasted November 2024

Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Cerretalto 2019

The Cerretalto canyon is this singular Brunello’s origin, the place defined by Giacomo Neri as a plintite, of quartz, iron and magnesium elements residing next to and bleeding into the four hectare vineyard, which is incidentally a cooler località for Montalcino and very special place. Rare in the world, of an elemental-geological symbiosis found in parts of Australia, Brazil, China and here, in Montalcino. “It’s another planet” insists Giacomo Neri. You will smell blood and flint (a.k.a. gunpowder) because of the mineral personality. This is Brunello di Montalcino from sangiovese something altogether incomparable. A sangiovese wearing the terroir of a Tuscan trough on its sleeve, having spent two and a half years in tonneaux (more or less 20 percent new) and the same amount of time in bottle ahead of its much anticipated release. Yes the aromatics are concerned with trace metals and ingredients of the canalone of Torrenieri, but do not sleep on the purity and modernity of red to black fruit, or at least the perception brought forth because of the minerals involved. Sweetness of acidity is classic Casanova di Neri for 2020 but in Cerretalto they are near perfect and the tannins move from those noted out of Tenuta Nuova multiplied by the Giovanni Nero fineness to now enter into the arena of higher love. For the first time this estate’s Brunello di Montalcino should be given an absurd amount of time. Observing it change in the glass over 30 minutes explains much of what is needed to be known. Drink 2028-2043. Tasted November 2024

Vineyard at Cerbaia

Cerbaia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Would be hard to argue over the fortuitous ripeness, formidable level of concentration and how the vintage has clearly been celebrated across the board. Yes that is all true and Cerbaia’s takes full advantage of the good fortune. Aromatic volume is sound turned up and flavours reach every corner of the palate. The harmony between all parts is conclusive and the sangiovese-ness cannot be missed. It’s like a perfect vintage in many ways, though 2020 will take things to a more structured level and could very well outlive this vintage. Not many will agree but the subtleties in 2020 and the beauty in its tannins tell this story. The ’19 is both approachable and aggressive. This wine is appealing and doing what needs right now. Last tasted November 2024

Cerbaia is so very curious and aromatically candid though we really do have to think for a few minutes before we figure out what we have in the glass. The estate is present and accounted for, as Cerbaia, grippy and firm in the aromatics, if consciously and accurately so. Not exactly wide open as far as a 2019 goes, nor one whose graces hidden in the structure are quick to emerge. Yet another one of those structured sangiovese for the vintage, here from mid-slope Montalcino elevation within a short climb up the north facing rise up to the village. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2023

Col di Lamo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG A Diletta 2019

A special label for the estate and so very different as a sangiovese than either the Annata or Riserva of 2019. There is no missing the vineyard and climate because a special kind of Machia Medditerranea exudes from out of the evergreen perfume. No confusion whatsoever and a quality but also demand of tannins that Riserva will here show. This Etichetta is a special wine and clearly represents a singular expression that could only be of itself. Last tasted November 2024

“A Diletta,” dedicated to Giovanna Neri’s daughter and a Brunello of one vineyard only two hectares in size. The fruit is indeed richer, deeper and in a way more vibrant than the Annata but it’s also equipped with finer tannins that stand up to the fleshiness of the sangiovese. There is also more wood involved and that aspect will need a few years to melt, settle and resolve. Could be five or more before that work is finished. This carries a feeling that is usually one from Riserva conceived Brunello so that should give you an idea of where it is and where it will go. Milk chocolate on the finish. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2023

Cortonesi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggiarelli 2019

Vigna, not Riserva, an extra year in bottle, off the main eastern north-south Montalcino road svolta to Poggiarelli surrounded by bosco with the Orcia Valley laid further southeast below. A micro-climate like no other in Montalcino, warm yet always breathing because of the forest, elevation, orientation and angles it holds. Or bends which does well to describe single vineyard sangiovese, a wine so well composed, fortified and structured it will take decades to unwind. Drinking after five years and for 10 more after that is recommended but this could very well be a two decade Brunello di Montalcino. Drink 2027-2037. Tasted November 2024

Fanti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Vallocchio 2019

High level perfumes and the interior chew of sangiovese make for a mix of unique expressiveness, giddy curiosity and friendly fun from this single vineyard Brunello. So much flavour, texture and integration of parts made exclusively for each other. A 2019 of feeling, generosity and yet seemingly readier than many. Take full advantage of its charms in the next three years. Last tasted November 2024

Vallocchio the vineyard is a prized hillside block and expectation calls for excitement ahead of a taste, if also because the vintage should likely deliver top quality fruit. That it does, but also supplies a structural set more dubitable and serious from Valocchio for ’19. A verticality imagined as statuesque and so curious because many Brunelli of the vintage are ones of deep fruit impression, yet this is clearly not. There is austerity and trenchant intendment from Fanti, not entirely out of character but it shows that the family really wanted to make a serious sangiovese of longevity from and for the vintage. In this regard the classicism and heritage are followed so be aware, stay alert and exercise some patience. Drink 2027-2039. Tasted November 2023

Gaia Pieve Santa Restituta Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Rennina 2019

Serious, stoic and tightly compact Brunello for 2019 and one to spend plenty of time getting to know. Feels like a wine of agriculture from experts that measure, calculate and develop the master plan for using plots and blocks towards top probability. A measured response in this sangiovese, of one with its parts aligned and ducks in a row for the most linear and vertical of the ‘19s. Has moved but an iota since last year. Tasted November 2024

For Angelo Gaja Rennina is akin to Barbaresco while Sugarille is like Barolo but this is Tuscany, the grape are sangiovese and so the wines are each their own entity. This Rennina is from a classic vintage when such a thing is rare these days, which means true località savour, cool herbal notes and wood that does not obfuscate Rennina’s reality. A pied de cuve alcoholic fermentation, followed by a week or two (as in 2019) of malolactic fermentation, “to fix the poly-phenolics” explains winemaker Nicola Vaglini. This happens half and half in wood and steel but the former is preferred to fix colour and stabilize the wine. Tonneaux is very much involved and bâtonnage has created an emulsified, filled in mid palate but overall the expression is from a mix that works empirically out of a sense of place. A richness and an impeccably dressed quality about this Brunello but it’s the more grounded and accessible of the two. You really do have to appreciate the freshness of the sangiovese. Feels warm on the finish which is the tannin speaking so allow two to three years for Rennina to find its calm. After that it should linger for 10 more without really changing much at all, with thanks to its terrific tension. Should also outlast Sugarille because it’s more elastic. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted November 2023

With Sofia Gorelli and Gigliola Giannetti – Le Potazzine

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Top vintage, a year later with a small amount of settling, still nervy and of an energy that will take many more years to relent. Crispy for the vintage and characterized by the same Potazzinese acidity and local balsamico that can’t be described like any other sangiovese. When acidity resides in the 6.5 g/L TA on average and you consider position, soil, exposition and elevation – it all adds up to one essential answer. Sapidity. These are some of the most sapid wines in Montalcino. This is the ultimate truth of Le Potazzine. Last tasted November 2024

A vintage Gigliola Giannetti says was simply “regolare.” Thank goodness because in these days that sort of respite is increasingly rarer and rarer. Which means that fruit and phenolic ripeness are just about as good as it gets, never a 10 out of ten because what is that, but this gets close. Also a sangiovese of concentration, full and substantial amplitude, while clearly built with some stuffing that certifies its appellative, cultural and heritage status. What you won’t quite find in ’17 and ’18 but surely will out of this ’19 is succulence as a by-product of varied fruits and acidities. This precocious Brunello will not quit, comes at the palate in waves and yet the Potazzine perfume pervades and outlasts all else. As fine as there has ever been bottled from this estate. Seems a shame to open and consume a bottle this young but how to stay away? There is no fault in wanting just a sip today. The sangiovese epitome of forbidden fruit. Drink 2025-2036. Tasted November 2023

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Schiena d’Asino 2019

There are notes off the top not necessarily typical of the vintage, like blood orange and fresh roses but they are not unusual for this estate’s Vigna wine. Pure sangiovese to be sure and high acid as well. These are aspects of honesty and credibility to allow the wine to speak in clear, unequivocal and essential Brunello terms. Last tasted November 2024

Top parcel for Mastrojanni on two adjacent slopes in declension from a shared ridge between with 360-390m of elevation. One faces southeast and the other southwest, planted together in 1975. Just about 45 years of age and in 2019 picking was on October the 2nd. Sees 42 months in 16hL Allier barrels though you’d never know it because the French wood is so beautifully integrated. Surely herbal, brushy and balsamic on the nose but that is just a fraction of the generosity and the complexity this Vigna (or in a sense Vigne) Brunello is wanting to give. Crunchy sangiovese is just this type and if it’s not yours then you may not be paying attention. A serious glass of Brunello here, layered with variegate stony terroir feels and fruit captured in its veritable essence. Vigna Schiena d’Asino is one of the wines that define the vintage, especially for the southern reaches of Montalcino. Those who choose to afford a bottle should purchase at least two because the temptation is real and one may just have to be sacrificed early to see what all this fuss is about. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted January 2024

Ridolfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Notably higher in concentration and yet you just can’t shake that Ridolfi style, here exaggerated as compared to other Brunello tasted, including ’15, ’16, ’17 and ’20. More volume, both in aromas and mouthfeel, increased sapidity and tang, elevated volatility and that can’t miss roasted vegetable twang. More serious as a wine, a sangiovese so specific to the estate and a can’t miss prospect for Brunello di Montalcino that will not be confused with any other. Last tasted November 2024

Brunello from a cooler Montalcino sector and always a savoury one, with more verdancy in brush and evergreen than many. A bit of stem sensation as well, some variegation in the fruit but also the tannin. Crunchy sangiovese, plenty of buzz and energy, then real length. That is a traditional Brunello’s strength. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2023

Terre Nere Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Terre Nere Campigli Vallone farms 10 hectares of vineyards in the southeast part of Montalcino near Castelnuovo dell’Abate, on the hill past Castello di Vallone, purchased in 1995 by Pasquale Vallone, along with the owner of Altesino. The Brunello comes from a warm vintage, not unlike the following 2020, yet more structured and also closed by comparison. This is something that more than a handful of 2019 Brunello are want to show because the vintage should rightly make it so and Terre Nere really finds the season’s winning formula. A spiced, tightly wound, chalky and layered sangovese, big to be sure (at 15 percent alcohol) and a wine that really attracts your attention. Plenty of wood as well and it will integrate with some more time so that the spicy chocolate dissipates and all the parts come together. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Spuntali 2019

First vintage for the Vigna Spuntali as a single cru Brunello was 2008 and from 2019 there is no mistaking the western Montalcino Macchia Mediterranea character. Evergreen, specifically pine with resins running and spices piquing through the entirety of the wine. That and a scrape of orange for citrus spreading through. It’s all so obvious! Last tasted November 2024

Crunchy Vigna Spuntali from the southwest slope, a place of Mediterranean fauna, especially olive trees and Ginestra. Sols are sandstone and harder Pietraforte that deal in grapes that are spicy, with notes of orange candy and relatively softer tannins. Spuntali exists somewhere on a line between Vigna del Lago and Poggio al Granchio or maybe it is better viewed as a Brunello that combines the best of those other two worlds. Plenty of substantial fruit, more than notable wood, spice and seasoning but also great energy and focus. This Brunello is alive with the season and the fruit it was blessed to provide. There is a bleed of sanguinity but also lift from really high acidity. A cooler collection of sangiovese selected it would seem to result in a 2019 that both rises high and then seeks patience for time. This may just be the pearl in Val di Suga’s oyster and that of its wisdom. Hard not to notice the evergreen on the finish, typical of heavily forested western Montalcino and the always present mint at the finale. Drink 2027-2037. Tasted November 2023

With Winemaker Federico Radi – Biondi-Santi

Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2018

A season of many rains, every day in the early months, pushing so much vegetative growth leading the team to do quite a bit of clipping through the spring and summer. An average of nearly 600mm through the four main vineyards, of Greppo (653), Pievecchia, Pieri and Scarnacuoia. Rain again in September, sometimes heavy, with more humidity than usual and thus a scary prospect. Big berries, thin skins and danger. Required a heavy selection, a reduction of 40 percent, only cleanest bunches used. This is last vintage ahead of the beginning of regenerative agriculture that began in 2019. Started the pick on the 1st, through to the 15th, then off and on through to the 27th. An accumulation of 100mm of rain, no sleep, lots of stress and thankfully the Tramontana wind showed up, lowered the temps, dried out the vines and allowed for the final stages of the harvest to happen. The result? Levity, finesse of tannins and a lower structured wine than most Biondi-Santi, alcohol at 13.26, pulpy and high in acidity. Delicate extraction means a nobility in the tannins and a savoury aromatic quality, tomato and leaves, tarragon and freshness. A throwback going back four decades but far less rustic, very elegant and soft, in part because of high pH. Not the most intense sangiovese, of flowers and fruits, sweetness of brush and commodity crops, already ready to be served. In bottle 18 months, fully settled and the Riserva to open while so many are in need of many years further in bottle. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted November 2024

Terre Nere Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Capriolo 2018

The 2018 Vigna Capriolo is the current market release while ’19 requires further refinement in bottle. “A good and rainy season for us,” tells Francesca Vallone and it is always refreshing to hear a wine producer celebrate these things. A vintage that delivers restrained power, aromatic layers to peel away and a sense of where this wine was born. Serous like 2019 but more focused, less wood influence and a finer texture without that creamy interior. More chew and things to mull over, consider, ruminate and to discover. Fine Vigna-designate and styled Brunello indeed. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2024

Ridolfi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Mercatale 2017

A very different Brunello Riserva as compared to the ’15, ’16 and ’19, toastier and with a real roasted tomato and eggplant flavour. Tomato paste and leaf in aromas, red crayon, black (fennel) and cherry liquorice. Dry as a desert vintage makes for heat and concentration in sangiovese parched and peppery. Not sure Riserva should have been made in 2017 but thanks to a solid late first of September rain the possibility became a reality. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2016

More than obvious as to what kind of special vintage 2016 really is and Francesco Ripaccioli thinks the window is just now beginning to open. Light on this Brunello’s future is being shed just as the reductive elements are falling away. Philanthropy and layers of Canalicchio’s combined vineyard fruit are now expressed, one after the other. The home block stands above with its red citrus and crispy freshness. Last tasted November 2024

A wine with a mind of its own and still in what Francesco Ripaccioli calls “a preserving state” because its anything but an extrovert. Give it enough agitation so that both character and charm are encouraged to emerge from out of this hard-nosed wine’s shell. Just the faintest note of scraped orange zest signals to a place (showing some affinity with Val di Suga’s Vigna del Lago) and yet this is made in a conservative slash reductive way, and so the wine is still so fresh and youthful. A wine with so much integrity and air is the thing to coax out what the wine is willing or rather will eventually be wanting to express. Nice piques and smacks of spice on the finish. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2023

Cortonesi Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG La Mannella 2016

The feeling first considered two years earlier that this ’16 La Mannella would be a 12 year Brunello seems corroborated right here, right now. Settled, speaking in the clearest northerly vernacular and as openly generous as it will ever be. Could reside in this space for two more years. Last tasted November 2024

At La Mannella as you head east up the Montalcino hill the steep steppe of the northeastern slope is embedded with river stones. This makes for more energy in residual effect than the other ‘16s tasted side by each and while those wines may live longer it is this La Mannella that is drinking beautifully right now. Tomasso Cortonesi is a bit critical of it but he’s always like this and as with any passionate winemaker the expectation is higher than that of anyone else. This is a great time and place for La Mannella 2016, spirited, rich and juicy, a real Montalcino succulence and length. Says Tomasso, “our goal is to exult the character of each single vineyard. We are not a modern winery.” Tasted November 2023

La Mannella is Cortonesi’s home estate property on the flat just northeast and below the village of Montalcino where a warm and ideal vintage like 2016 could not help but raise near perfect fruit. Almost certainly an 8.5 out of ten ripeness that comes equipped with some of Montalcino’s finest tannins of well, forever. This 2016 Brunello would have been austere and crusty up until let’s say 12-15 months ago and is just now beginning to express its sangiovese in opening bloom. The triangle is traced with ease today, from fruit through acidity and tannin, now cycling through whereas before the movements would have been up and down, linear and retraceable. There is only forward if circular motion now and in the winter of 2023 this will be absolutely singing, continuing for four to six more after that. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted December 2022

Le Chiuse Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Diecianni 2016

Just beginning to shed its barrel weight, integrate that spice and see the smallest, most concentrated vineyard berries bursting of their fruit. The vintage is primed and near perfect for a Le Chiuse Riserva and who could not have a taste without thinking about the history and genetic transference of the place. Last tasted November 2024

Never overstate the Lorenzo Magnelli way of crafting Riserva, that is by aging in cask longer than not just the average, but indeed all others. His Le Chiuse Diecianni carries, drifts and gifts the most succulence whilst exhibiting a spice force to ignite the most sensation and emotion. A veritable melting pot of a sangiovese, complexities bound and wound, circulating throughout the wine’s coefficient of existential and elementary positions. These are the smallest of berries picked to forge what only Riserva can, to be cool, mineral licked, ethereal. Already exhibiting fruit purity and also density for a look at what two decades forward will come from this finest of Brunello wines. Drink 2024-2037. Tasted November 2021

Ridolfi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Mercatale 2016

Considered a top Riserva vintage and this Mercatale has done well to maintain freshness and sapidity, though secondary character is just around the bend. Crisp, herbal, crunchy and herbaceous. Not balsamico, nor is it soft and easy. There is strength and a grittiness, with wood spice everywhere and finally grippy tannins. Does not dry out, neither does it choose to relent. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Diecianni 2015

In a sea of 2019 Riserva there is only one outlier and it can’t be missed for so many reasons. First and most obvious is its 2015 vintage but the question is why? The answer is simple really. This producer holds Riserva back for 10 years, releasing them four to five years after everyone else and no one copies the practice. It is his and his alone. That is a sign of ultimate respect and this being Brunello the philanthropy of aging for us, to deliver a vintage ready to drink, to be the beneficiaries of such an action – well that says everything. The ’15 is indeed settled and ready, integrated, suave and supple, naturally sweet, measured and calculated. The epitome of pure sangiovese, varietal incarnate, an expression of a single farm and a connection to its maker. An extension of ethic and an opus quietly executed. No fanfare, no banners, no social media campaign. Just a pour of a great wine. A top expression of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. And yet not this winery’s finest ever, but oh so close. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted November 2024

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2015

Incredible life in the Potazzine Riserva 2015, great freshness and there should be no surprise because the acidity of this place is amongst the finest in all of Montalcino. The minimum time to wait to drink a Potazzine Riserva is eight years (from release) and so the peak is has arrived with at least four more years left in this state. Last tasted November 2024

Twice the perfume and all the concentration from Riserva, not a surprise nor should it be unusual to think such a thought because is this not the intention and perchance the goal for this level of Montalcinese appellative wine at Le Potazzine? Feel the glycerin on the palate to mix with über fresh red fruits in swaths, swirls and layers. Yet the aging is not finished, not yet and some unresolved aspects of the how and what that put this wine together need to evolve, mature and settle. Could be a few years before this all comes about but that’s part of the exercise and expectation. There are some wild and exciting flavours in Riserva to the extent that time is the action out of which beauty will become the just result. Drink 2025-2037. Tasted November 2023

Ridolfi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Mercatale 2015

Of the four sangiovese in this ’15-19 (minus ’18) vertical there is only one showing secondary character and this is the one. Consistent with the following three Riserva vintages, wood very much in charge and now paint can with V.A. joining the herbaceous savoury and liquorice notes. A certain style to be sure and one that expects the Botti and barriques to smooth over, silken and elasticize the fruit. It dominates more than that and still needs some to resolve. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Tenuta Nuova 2010

Just 13-14 years ago but truthfully a Tenuta Nuova from another era, though not in every way. Namely in the extraction, the quality of the tannins and the interaction of the acidity with the kind of fruit that came in at that time. Giacomo Neri sees the current 2020 vintage as a having quite a bit in common with 2010 but again, the structural parts were approached, developed and effected in a different way. All is still very much in play, sparked with energy and vitality, though clearly secondary now. Silky smooth, so easy going down and just about as suave and chic as a Brunello of this age is going to be. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2010

Approaching 14 years of age and sharp – really sharp. Not exactly freshness defined but an argument could be made to say this is a wine at full peak performance. A special and spacial plateau achieved with room to roam for another two or three years. After that there will be a low and slow decline. Why wait? Last tasted November 2024

Brunello at 10 years is like the Rosso in advance and then not at all. The fruit aromas are all skin, scraped, studded and seasoned. You can feel how special the vintage phenols were and continue to be, now in their twilight of first stage freshness. It may be remembered as a vintage less than eventful but you can also make note of what must have been great bold bitters and demanding skeletal framing that kept pleasure down. Rising now, flesh in pulse and equitable tacit celebration. Heady and big Brunello from a vintage gone long on stuffing. Drink 2020-2030. Last tasted February 2020

Largesse and a firmess of being as per the house style are rampant in Col D’Orcia’s 2010, a wine that reminds me of 1998 and 2000. A wine that will seem lean, mean and terrifying in its youth but will prove everyone wrong when it hits the 12-15 year stride. This is a monster bringing leather and chocolate to the table. It is nearly unapproachable at the present time but you can imagine and embrace the possibility of potential. Drink 2020-2035. Tasted September 2016

Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2000

A hot vintage and a sangiovese from another time and place, a bygone era but this wine is far from gone. Making Brunello di Montalcino is a four-way street with fruit submitting to acidity on its right, acidity to tannin and tannin to a mix of climate and terroir. The 2000 season may have been a warm one but this acidity has been preserved. You could fast-forward to 2017 and a similar situation would occur but again, acidity could be captured and kept. This may tell us how 2017 might show when tasted in 2041 Well, “it’s been a long time comin’, it’s goin’ to be a long time gone.” Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2024

Biondi-Santi Riserva 1997

Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 1997

One of hottest and driest vintages that seems to be the era launching point for such seasons between then and now. That includes 2003 and most recently 2017 but the question is how has this fared through the course of its aging over 27 years? The answer is incredibly well when so many Tuscan ‘97s have gotten old. The structural integrity is still solid, the acidity very much in place, the alcohol at 14 per cent leaving a warming sensation on the palate. No tannin to speak of, faint caramelization, orange, cinnamon and other spice. The energy is alive though the fruit is no longer what it would have been but other ethereal elements have replaced and offer new meaning. Still very much a true to territory sangiovese and fresher than most 1997s you are ver going to taste. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio Al Vento 1990

In a vertical of 1980 through to 2020 on the 0’s it has to be 1990 that would be the most highly anticipated vintage of the five. How could the great one known for the promise of longevity not steal the show? Or seduce the senses and instigate imagination which this bottle does but to be fair the empirical proof comes clear as fact more than anything to do with fantasy. Truth shows 1990 to be in perfect shape, taut and fine, acidity twitching, style singular and dress sharp. An ideal rendition of the local balsamico is played while doubters are expunged for thinking sangiovese is merely but a rustic grape. As for drinking well 34 years after the vintage, well her is your proof. The conspiracy is one of producer and place for an expression of the grape. Last tasted November 2024

Sometimes a vintage of great repute and universal declaration does live up to its billing. And yet this from a time when the declarers knew a thing or two about soothsaying declarations. Thirty years and no great movement save for a transfer to the ethereal, the zeitgeist and the Italian version of said realm. No sully and all clarity with a marbling of strength, as in petrified balsamico and bitter chocolate made sweet by a powerful tempering. Tannins still shot out of cannons and leaving vapour trails of dried porcini dust. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted February 2020

Col d’Orcia Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 1980

The Count (Francesco Marone Cinzano) is quick to remind his guests that 1980 is truly from another era of Brunello in Montalcino. A time when winemaking techniques were so rustic and light years away from just 10 years later. This includes oenological methods of alcoholic and malolactic fermentations. This 1980 is pure balsamico, that is to say a forest-scented sangiovese with accents of old wood that determine the aromas and flavours, multiplied and extrapolated after 40-plus years in bottle. Sweetness of dried fruit and acidity do persist and prominently so. As far as older Col d’Orcia Brunello are concerned, this can surely hold its own against 1978 (Annata) and 1979 (Riserva). Tasted November 2024

With Violante Gardini and Donatella Cinelli Colombini

Other wines tasted

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Leone Rosso 2021, Orcia DOC

Leone Rosso is deeper, dustier, more structured and layered than the Chianti Superiore, feeling like a wine that draws from the sand and clay with greater intention. Higher toned and also of wider palate depth for a fuller expression of sangiovese, also here with 40 percent merlot for a today blend, a wine of this time. Short stay in wood and while freshness is key, the underlying structure keeps the wine upright, linear and grippy. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Cenerentola Cinderella 2021, Orcia DOC

The Orcia DOC (established in February 2000) resides between the areas of Montalcino and Montepulciano but it’s wines are neither Brunello nor Vino Nobile. In this case the reason is specific to Donatella Cinelli Colombini because her Cenerentola is a varietal foglia tonda. A deeply hued red of floral and peppery spice in the aromatics and no other red Tuscan grape smells this way. In fact all producers of the grape share something in common and if you taste enough examples the connection will become quite obvious. Here is a deeper, more tannic and age-worthy style, more than some, on par with others. An ideal vintage, super youthful, only in bottle since March and still working through its calculations. Wait two years. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2024

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Cenerentola Cinderella 2019, Orcia DOC

The first of three that is actually showing a sliver of open widow readiness to drink, with red foglia tonda fruit, bright yet leathery and high-toned acidity equalized by settling tannins. Without Donatella and team this grape would all but have disappeared and the Orcia DOC established in 2000 is thanks to her. Yes the structure is still in charge and the finish a matter of grip meeting austerity. You can aerate and drink now but best to keep waiting because this grape and this place amount to trenchant seriousness for a wine made from an endemic grape with a verticality unmatched in Tuscany. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted November 2024

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Cenerentola Cinderella 2017, Orcia DOC

Warmest and driest vintage, tannic and still with thriving acidity because the foglia tonda actually keeps higher numbers. Veraison and ripeness came two weeks after sangiovese and so maintaining acidity is not a problem. The thing is the grape likes sun and so 2017 was a very good year, with freshness and acidity still intact. Tannins too and my goodness time is still required. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2024

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Cenerentola Cinderella 2015, Orcia DOC

The 2015 is the first in a vertical of Donatella’s foglia tonda that feels like maturity is taking place and some secondary character now coming into place. Still tannic, liquid chalky, Carlo Ferrini style, rich and caky, full, spicy and peppery finished. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Cenerentola Cinderella 2007, Orcia DOC

Now this – This 17 year-old foglia tonda is incredible! Remarkable freshness while conversely encompassing, owning and fully celebrating secondary character. Acidity keeps the faith and also dream alive while tannins are resolved and still so sweet. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2024

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Cenerentola Cinderella 2001, Orcia DOC

Donatella Cinelli Colombini had tasted a foglia tonda from Gaiole ahead of Y2K and proceeded to take some of that estate’s vines to graft at Fattoria del Colle. Her first vintage of 2021 is still a big (and somewhat untamed) wine but after 22-plus years it has softened and now rounds out with velvet sweetness on the palate. Still rugged and not yet finding the balance that the amazing 2007 shows, but nevertheless the promise was there from the start. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted November 2024

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Cenerentola Riserva Cinderella 2020, Orcia DOC

Completely different Cenerentola, a Riserva for the first time and what follows in 2021 will not be. Why 2020? The answer is depth, concentration and the sweetest acidity to wrap up ripest fruit in a way deserving of the added appellative status. Has to spend one year in wood but truth be told the other vintages do this anyway, or ever so close to that. Richness incarnate and this Riserva will hit he market in 2026. I would suggest waiting until 2027 before opening your first bottles. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2024

Fattoria Del Colle Chianti Superiore DOCG 2022

A sangiovese from Fattoria del Colle vines, very specific to this place in the Orcia Valley, of full ripeness with sweet acidity and a yummy character. That feeling of fruit fresh-picked, fallen into the hand at the moment it’s plucked from the vine. A wine made from grapes chosen at their first important moment and sorted to show the best of the best. Hint of (black) cherry stone bitterness at the finish. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2024

Il Drago E Le 8 Colombe 2019, Toscana IGT

A VINTAGES wine in Ontario, to be released in the winter of 2025. Dedicated to Donatella’s husband and inclusive of sagrantino fruit off of vines given to the farm by Umbria’s Marco Caprai. Sangiovese with 20 percent each sagrantino and merlot. Strong, in balance and while not ready you can imagine that a property growing bamboo trees will see a softening of sangiovese and also sagrantino to effect quicker changes than say Umbria. Look to begin drinking this red blend of whole and full character sometime in late 2025. Last tasted November 2024

Always the dichotomy, from a red blend both light on its feet and also with bite. Acids are really showing their teeth at this middle stage of development and ideal drinking window time. Definitely a “food wine,” especially for salumi arigianale and formaggi. A wine to drink before the big wines but at the higher end of the idiom. Tasted November 2023

Dedicated to Violante Gardini’s father Carlo. A blend of 60 per cent sangiovese with (20 each) merlot and sagrantino, all grown at Fattoria del Colle in Treqaunda. The sagrantino are vines taken from Marco Caprai in Umbria. Brings the spiciness, adding to the verdancy and roundness of merlot, both to compliment the acidity and elegance of the sangiovese. A complete package, affectionately referred to as le ali della colomba, the wings of the dove and then, the teeth of the dragon. Perhaps papa was sometimes tough and sometimes gentle but truth is in a sea of women he’s the only man in the office and on the team. Always a solid and delicious red blend, satiating and satisfying. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted June 2022

Il Poggione Moscadello di Montalcino DOCG Vino Frizzante 2023

A moscadello made in the old-school way, a sweet sparkling wine that had been the dessert choice of the nobles and while 10-15 wineries are still making the still version, none are making the fizz version today. Sweet but not too much so (at 120 g/L), finishing at 6.5 percent alcohol and light on its feet. Works ideally alongside Torta della Nonna, of custard, almonds and pine nuts. Just 8,000-9,000 bottles are made. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Le Potazzine Potazzine 2023, Toscana IGT

A solo sangiovese from one hectare at (420m) higher elevation raised 10-12 moths in only steel. Potazzine, “the chickadees” and while there no longer any young ones in the family, once a chickadee, always a chickadee. A challenging vintage because of Perenospera (downy mildew) with reduced yields but the quality remains high for this unoaked sangiovese. Fresh and crunchy, potential beginning to show how Rosso DOC might just be in this IGT’s future. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2024

Le Potazzine Potazzine 2022, Toscana IGT

Sangiovese 100 precent, one hectare of higher elevation at 420m raised 10-12 moths in only steel and called Potazzine, a.k.a. “the chickadees.” An easy vintage, warm and translated through sangiovese unfazed, unclouded and unencumbered by wood. This is fruit as it is meant to be, ripe and simplified. Already maturing so drink away. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted November 2024

San Polo Rubio, Toscana IGT 2022

Regardless of the comparison between 2021 and 2022, in terms of warmth this comes across as a more developed vintage with the sangiovese, cabernet franc and merlot combining for quite a mouthful. Includes fruit grown at real elevation, upwards of 450m and the ruby-red Rubio delivers a metal-mineral punch. This with thanks to iron and schist-clay Galestro that brings the elements from soil to vine. Less acid than 2021 – but in a way more wine. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

San Polo Vignamasso Anfora 2022, Toscana IGT

A new wine for San Polo, sangiovese raised in amphorae and the results are no less than amazing. Aromatically sound, clean and pure, easy to understand, even easier to like. Silky and smooth like the Rosso di Montalcino if just a bit edgier and with a little bit of attitude. Hard to make any complaints or suggests there may be even the slightest fault. There just isn’t. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2024

Terre Nere Pociano 1863 Vino Biologico 2022, Rosso di Toscana IGT

The number 1863 is the position on the road and Pociano the name of the farm for a 100 percent sangiovese from outside the Montalcino territory, but the game is pretty much the same. Young vines (of five years), a natural ferment and the glou-glouest sangiovese you are ever going to taste. Comes from “sea” soil with lots of clay for juicy-peppery, almost gamay like red wine. Dangerously easy to drink. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2024

Terre Nere Ribelle 2022, Rosso di Toscana IGT

Ribelle è colui che si distingue, translated as, or better yet in reference to “the rebel is the one who recognizes the unjust law and breaks free from it,” from Ernst Jünger’s 1951 “The Rebel’s Treatise” on a democratic future. Free from the constraints of Italian appellative law and a territory where rules are rules, here is sangiovese from inside the Montalcino territory but also young vines. From two blocks, one called Vigna del Sasso, with some red clay in the soil but also the sandy Vigna del Fiume, from the same plots that feed the Rosso di Montalcino. Juicy and easy like the Pociano but here with a carbonic pulse, a slight CO2 on the palate and a pepperiness to boot. A chalky underbelly suggests a modicum of structure but once again the easy drinking style is duly noted. That said the 100 percent whole berry (natural) fermentation would explain the energetic buzz. Sangiovese as cru gamay. You know exactly who this will appeal to. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted November 2024

Corte Pavone Merlot Sant’Antimo DOC Levante 2021

Not from the Loacker’s Corte Pavone estate but from southerly Montalcino in the Sant’Antimo area, where there is increased blanketing warmth and a vintage that made sure to back that up. Formidably this means rich, caky, fine-grained texture and tannin, no lack for acidity and a well made merlot no matter the location. Much higher acidity than expected which can often (and surprisingly) be a factor of vintage like 2017 and 2021, contrary to many beliefs. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Corte Pavone Le Veline di Pavone Extra Brut Metodo Classico Vino Spumante di Qualità Millesimato 2016

First vintage of the traditional method, 100 percent sangiovese sparkling was 2011, this now being the 6th, seven years spent on the lees. Still fresh and sharp though the years have obviously seen it able to accumulate some flesh and biscuits, mild gingered spice and the suggestion of crème brûlée. It’s actually a subtle and elegant bubble, balanced and even a little bit tannic. Hard to find anything better in Montalcino. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted November 2024

Good to go!

godello

Montalcino, November 2024

Instagram

Facebook

100 Years of Chianti Classico and Collection Previews 2024

Jul1

Cento Anni di Chianti Classico, Palazzo Vecchio, Firenze

The year 2024 marks a historic one for Chianti Classico’s producers, their land and consortium. It was 100 years ago that Italy’s first Consorzio was formed and today it so effectively conducts affairs on behalf of and at the behest of the most important red wine of Italy. The ambasciatore Godello was a guest to the May 14th Gallo Nero celebrations and later in the month returned for another week of interviews. This on the heels of a most recent month-long journey spent in Tuscany, first taking in the Chianti Classico Collection, then followed by two full weeks of meeting with dozens of producers. The current preoccupation is with Chianti Classico’s next generation, whose daughters, sons, nieces and nephews are returning to work their farms alongside parents and grandparents at nearly forty estates. And counting. The region’s progeny and their view to the future ushers in an extant situation of meaning and promise. Feel free to read between the lines and envision what stories will next be revealed.

Chianti Classico gives unconditionally and without seemingly ever needing to try we receive its gifts, all in and forever. There can never be enough days spent transversing its verdant hills, foraging in teeming forests, walking up and down rows through 10,000 hectares of vineyards or breaking bread with its people. It is simply never enough. Four decades of the Gallo Nero have occupied the writer’s mind, heart and eyes from a territory unlike any other and in the last eight years the association has bordered on obsession. Visits in the last six months have seen the author driving to all points taking in its 11 UGAs, talking, tasting and better getting to know acquaintances and friends. All in the name of “love for the territory, passion for quality, social cohesion, vision and foresight.”

Godello at Villa Calcinaia

The promise of 2024 comes on the heels of a most challenging 2023 vintage which saw more spikes in extreme but also unpredictable climate events, but also 30 days of (May-June) constant rain that encouraged the nasty downy mildew issue called Perenospera. The serious pathogenic foliar disease reveals itself in the form of leaf spots, blights, and distortions, forcing the hands of growers to effect a strong, concerted and persistent attempt at spraying copper and sulphur to combat its deadly activity. This next vintage will fare much better, climate be willing, yet it remains to be seen just how resilient Chianti Classico vines will be.

Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico Cento Anni Gala, Teatro della Pergola di Firenze

In the third week of May the three Capponi siblings, Tessa, Sebastiano and Niccolò hosted a grand celebration of Villa Calcinaia’s 500th anniversary. At Brancaia in Radda it was proprietor Barbara Widmer who poured 20 vintages of her Toscana IGT Ilatraia. A meaningful visit with Martino Manetti at Montevertine helped to recalibrate and reorganize thoughts about sangiovese and Chianti Classico. Back in December of 2023 the writer spent a few days with Isole e Olena’s Paolo de Marchi as he packed up to depart after four decades at Olena and blended his final wines at the San Donato in Poggio estate. Working with him briefly on VinSanto del Chianti Classico 2011 will never be forgotten. De Marchi is a Chianti Classico treasure and history will always regard him as a winemaker, thinker and great man who was integral to the appellations’ transition from the 20th into the 21st century. As will many other women and men of the territory who begin the conversion processes of passing their torches to the next generation. These last five years have seen the first stages of a paradigm shift now in full swing and these next five will see to Italy’s most fascinating transformation. The modern era of a next golden age is upon Chianti Classico and if you are not already paying attention, it’s high time to get on board.

Related – Chianti Classico goes to eleven

Cento Anni

On May 14th, 2024 the Chianti Classico Consortium celebrated its first century together with the city of Florence, one hundred years ago after its founding in Radda in Chianti. The first consortium established its offices in the historic Uguccioni Palace in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria and the 2024 occasion resumed its position in these headquarters located within the historic city centre. Godello was proud, privileged, overjoyed and content to have been invited to participate in such a sincere and consummately orchestrated occasion.

President Giovanni Manetti speaks at the Chianti Classico Consorzio Cento Anni, Palazzo Vecchio, Firenze

The day’s events began with the conference “Back to the Future: Sustainability and regional identity – The future of quality winegrowing,” moderated by Luciano Ferraro – Corriere della Sera in the Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. First introductions by Consorzio President Giovanni Manetti and Director Carlotta Gori. Local speakers were Francesco Lollobrigida – Minister for Agricultural Minister, Food Sovereignty and Forestry; Eugenio Giani – President of the Regione Toscana; Dario Nardella – Mayor of Florence. Esteemed guests from other significant denominations were invited to offer up their congratulations; Matteo Ascheri – President of the Consorzio Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani, Italy; Gilberto lareias – President of Port and Douro Wines Institute, Portugal; Morgen McLaughlin – Executive Director of Willamette Valley Wineries Association and Wine Foundation, Oregon USA; Thiébault Huber – President of Confédération des Appellations et des Vignerons de Bourgogne, France; Maxime Toubart e David Chatillon – Co-presidents of Comité Champagne, France.

Chianti Classico Cento Anni, Teatro della Pergola di Firenze

What followed was a dissertation and then a round-table discussion covering the intrinsic link between wine and land, the cultural landscape and sustainability. Speaking on Chianti Classico’s cultural landscape was Professor Paola Eugenia Falini – Head of science for the UNESCO application and her talk titled “The estate-villa structure in Chianti Classico.” Ferraro led the round-table with Giovanni Manetti, Piero Antinori, Tessa Capponi-Borawska, Giangiacomo Gallarati Scotti Bonaldi, David Gleave MW, Monica Larner, Prof. Andrea Lucchi and Alessandro Masnaghetti.

Chianti Classico Back to the Future

Nine other events took place over the course of three days in May; Five meetings with starred Florentine chefs, their plates paired with Chianti Classico wines, a musical pairing orchestrated by Leonardo Romanelli and conducted by Filippo Bartolotta. Of greater significance to the future of the Black Rooster were gatherings moderated of Falstaff Magazine’s Simon Staffler with the next generation of producers under 40 who are being passed the baton and given the keys to the territory’s future. The most exciting Cento Anni event took place in the evening of May 14th where 500 guests gathered at the Teatro della Pergola di Firenze for a gala dinner to win all gala dinners. Nothing in Italy recently experienced has compared to the night’s mix of spectacular and emotion.

Cento Anni at Prowein 2024

As with previous anteprime collections the vintages poured were varied and so it was the mix of 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019 wines that collectively offered up an indication of what is happening in today’s Chianti Classico. Many of the ’22s were poured from campione, hit or miss tank samples often challenging to assess and so even at the Annata level the ’21s are considered to be the current vintage. Though lower in quantity it is the 2021s that are of truly exceptional quality. The 2022s are stringently stubborn, requiring time and several producers chose to keep their wines behind to give these next releases a few more months in the bottle. In this report the lion’s share of wines tasted happened over the course of one week ahead of, during and across two further weeks following the 2024 Chianti Classico Collection at the Stazione Leopolda in Florence. Some additional notes are from visits made in December 0f 2023 that were not included in Godello’s recap report covering the second half of that calendar year. More tastings from May 2024 are also included in the following 403 reviews.

Last one standing (sitting and tasting) at the Chianti Classico Collection 2024

The breakdown is as follows: Chianti Classico DOCG 2022 (49); Chianti Classico DOCG 2021 (80); Chianti Classico DOCG 2020 (19); Chianti Classico DOCG Older Vintages (14); Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021 (14); Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020 (34); Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019 (12); Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG older vintages (18); Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2021 (7); Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020 (35); Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019 (20); Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG older vintages (12); VinSanto del Chianti Classico DOCG (2); IGTs (87). Thank you to everyone for reading.

Chianti Classico DOCG 2022

Banfi Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Castellina

Dusty and sweetly herbal sangiovese with the warmth of vintage and softness endearing through 10 percent cabernet sauvignon plus (5) merlot. A chewy texture, easy and getable, of no particular pinpointing, yet proper for its broad swath of distinction. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Errico, Marta and Gabriele Buondonno

Buondonno Chianti Classico DOCG Podere Casavecchia Alla Piazza 2022, Castellina

A finished wine already blended though drawn from a sample that will be bottled in December. A bigger production than normal and so a sangiovese of volume in more than one dimension. There was some rain in the summer to make the difference but not much, neither occurring too early or too late to compromise quality. Solo sangiovese in vitro projecting forward towards really important structure noted through some chalky tannins. Spiced and spicy notes, depth of fruit and also lifted acidty, all adding up to a Chianti Classico packed with more stuffing than many. This is as good as anything Gabriele has, but also now in collaboration with son Errico Buondonno have made to date. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted December 2023 and February 2024

Castagnoli Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Castellina

Great example of juiciness and acidity in the face of a dry, concentrated and hydric-stressed vintage. Alternatively crispy but there is some reserve-style, reductively backward actionability and yet conversely also forgiving character. Tart and expressive with two years needed to integrate and complete this picture. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted February 2024

Castellare Di Castellina Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Castellina

True blue 2022 still working through the motions of getting ready for the world and the journey ahead. Ripe fruit from 2022, like 2017 but with more succulence and generosity. Juxtaposed by an underlay of evergreen and a moment of creosote, but also clove. Concentrated from a well-pressed and extracted sangiovese made just that little bit sapid from five percent canaiolo. Wait a year at the very least. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted February 2024

Cecchi Chianti Classico DOCG Storia Di Famiglia 2022, Castellina

Campione: Tight, reductive, a swirl of glycerol syrupy red fruits held in a tight acid embrace. This will be rich and also emulsified sangiovese made doubly thick and ready to impress one or two years from now. Take note and be ready. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted February 2024

Querceto Di Castellina Chianti Classico DOCG L’Aura 2022, Castellina

L’Aura is another 2022 that shows a readiness and immediate appeal much sooner than most, with thick and unctuous fruit made fresh and bright by one of the higher points in Castellina. Great spicy accents, salt and pepper seasoning, thick pulpy red fruit and some of the vintage’s sweetest acidity. A terrific early to mid term sangiovese. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Andrea, Daniela, Sergio and Giulia Zingarelli – Rocca delle Macìe, Castellina

Rocca Delle Macìe Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Castellina

The line of Rocca delle Maciè Chianti Classico is now separated from the single estate wines, but says Andrea Zingarelli “these are the wines that show where we were born.” Another hot vintage but perhaps more equilibrium overall than 2021 and it shows. This separates from Famiglia Zingarelli and yet it’s inextricably linked. There is five percent merlot that rounds it out and the fruit comes from all the (and only) Castellina estates. No noise, just the facts and the sounds, smells and tastes of the territory. This may just be the cleanest, naturally sweetest and perfectly drinkable Rocca delle Maciè Chianti Classico ever produced. It will appeal to any and all. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted December 2023 and February 2024

Tenuta Di Bibbiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Castellina

Arch classic Bibbiano for Annata, fresh, impeccably clean and open, more so than most 2022s. No reduction, oxidation or volatility but a pleat of substance and noble power. The acids of ’22 improve upon ’17 and ’18, tannins follow suit and all is known to be on the right track. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted February 2024

With Sophie Conte – Tregole

Tregole Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Castellina

The latest from Sophie Conte (also tasted from barrel on December 4th, 2023) is her first crowing moment, at least to date and in terms of her young career in making Chianti Classico Annata. De-stemmed and no pressing, fermentation at 24 degrees (celsius), 10-12 days, saturated with nitrogen, taste every day, separated when the skins release no more. Made with three vineyards’ fruit; Vigna del Bosco, Vigna del Strada and Casa, right by the house. “I’m pretty happy (we hit the point) in 2022,” admits Sophie. Brightness and freshness found, the goal achieved and bitterness kept not only at bay, but fully away. An aromatic swirl of pinpointed Castellina intensity that draws from the winds and the slopes to translate soil as best and purposed as any. You can feel the energy waiting and wanting to be released. No lack for structure from Conte’s 2022, young and yet to evolve into the polished solo sangiovese it is destined to become. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Surprisingly forthright and open knit for such a young and impressionable Annata from Fèlsina. Calm and relatively settled so soon after going to bottle. The acidity is both sneaky and essential with tannins so similar in their design and style. A full and complete Berardenga for Castelnuovo in 2022, getable earlier than ever before yet in no rush to mature. As clean and generous as ever from the estate. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Tenuta Di Arceno Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Campione: Sample or not this smells just like Tenuta di Arceno. A southeastern Castelnuovo Berardenga dry, dusty, sharp red fruit and herbal aromatic swell that increases with air to a glorious vanishing point. What follows is another swell of the same fruit and equally sharp acids that carry on wayward along. As for 2022 well this may seem akin to 2017 but as an Annata so much brighter, cleaner, fresher and frankly better. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Tolaini Chianti Classico DOCG Vallenuova 2022, Castelnuovo Berardenga

A finished wine though quite compact and reserved so seemingly caught in that limbo between the idea of campione and set to be ready. Quiet and tight, some leather and cherry but those typical notes don’t say so much. Strong-willed, forcefully tannic and frankly feeling pretty ambitious. Should rightly age long and successfully though the jury is out on where and what the end game will be. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2024

Villa A Sesta Chianti Classico DOCG Il Palei 2022, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Campione: Strong willed, boned and still in a state of reserve for a 2022 that not only needs to find the bottle but also further in bottle aging to open up any cracks in the structure. Rich and caky, wood a serious factor at this stage with a structural comport that will see a ’22 follow the sun towards a good long life ahead. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted February 2024

With Arturo Pallanti – Castello di Ama, Gaiole

Castello Di Ama Ama Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Gaiole

Only Ama could pull and gift this much upfront fruit to draw us in as quickly as we do. Richness accrued and balance incarnate, more than juicy acidity and fully encapsulating tannin. If this is what Annata is all about the ceiling is unlimited for San Lorenzo and the more interlocutory and focused single vineyard Gran Selezione. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Meleto Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Gaiole

Intensity of red fruit, almost searing while this young and immovable but surely a far cry from overly pressed or done. Surely a matter of Gaiole and vintage with Meleto sure to respect and deliver what it’s meant to bring. Another ’22 that must be waited on, again confirming how different these are to 2017. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2024

Fattoria San Giusto A Rentennano Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Gaiole

Campione: Super ripe of fresh blueberry and sappy at this awkward stage. No doubt about the tenets of depth, breadth and major substance, not to mention ripe, layered and sweet acidity followed by crispy tannins. Long life ahead that should begin to unfold in three years time. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February 2024

La Montanina Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Gaiole

Campione: Less of a hard nut to crack as far as 2022 barrel samples are concerned because La Montanina’s has found and first turns to upfront fruit. The middle ground is a bit chaotic but then the finishing parts ate about as powerful as they are capable of brining it all together. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted February 2024

Le Miccine Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Gaiole

Campione: Stewed and pruned. Oxidative barrel sample that gives no indication as to the quality or any sense of what the finished wine will be. Palate tells a better story though it’s challenging to fit the pieces together when the launch point is problematic. An example that speaks to avoiding tasting samples. Tasted February 2024

Ricasoli Chianti Classico DOCG Brolio 2022, Gaiole

Classic lift and high tone of a Ricasoli Annata, more so than those of the recent past. Several layers are here to unfurl, first from classic cherries, followed by Gaiole saveur and notable wood spice. Almost a smoulder but not quite, plenty of freshness and a true sense of 2022. Really well made and appreciated. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Riecine Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Gaiole

By now this unctuousness and thickened emulsification of the palate’s mouthfeel has become the calling card of 2022 Chianti Classico. Richness, sweet acidity and succulence with this by Riecine arrives as sweetly concurrent as they come. This means tannins as well, good for the gander if not for the long-term cellar. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2024

Rocca Di Castagnoli Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Gaiole

You could blind these 2022 Chianti Classico and no matter the UGA they all deliver a thickening of glycerol texture and glide silkily across the palate. There is just a hint of reduction in the Rocca di Castagnoli with moments here and there of Gaiole savour before finishing with a pique of seasoning and spice. Good complexity and fine tannins seal the deal. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2024

Carpineto Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Greve

Campione: Youthful an traditional sample, Greve classicism defined, dry and balsamic inflected, tannic and far from opening forward. Doors are closed and may not open for another year. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Querceto Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Greve

Comfortably reductive and set in its ways but also into skin because the quality of skins in this higher quantity Annata are in delivery of top freshness and potential. A fine example of vintage and one to set eyes on the future with peppery sweetness of fruit and spice. Crunchy and furthering the notion for how Castello di Querceto has truly cemented into the golden age of its Chianti Classico style. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico DOCG Guado Alto 2022, Greve

Campione: Perfectly balanced sample of 2022 sangiovese, Greve and Vicchiomaggio, red fruit captured with as much perfumed ripeness as could be desired while also fulfilling palate needs. This is what should be expected and gifted from a Campione – a window to the drinking window and potential of the wine. No need for wonder or worry – you know you will get the right stuff from Guado Alto ’22. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

Querciabella Chianti Classico DOCG 2021

A blend of all vineyards, Ruffoli (Greve), Lamole and Radda, 100 percent sangiovese since 2010. Frost in April claimed many buds but the soldiering on resulted in high quality fruit from all three sources to create as fine an Annata, variegated as ever they could layer as Querciabella. Fruit, acid, tannin on perpetual repeat, mille foglia, maximizing natural purity and sweetness. Also as aromatically charged of tri-terroir perfume to lead where and for what a Querciabella attempting to express itself must be. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Castellinuzza E Piuca Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Lamole

Campione: Full on expression of the Lamole perfume, from violets and iris to the wet green moisture from calcareous hillsides and humid sandy soil elegance. A lovely swirl of fruit so glycerol in nature and that gentle pique of spiciness upon the palate. This is a 2022 that will be glorious because the team and their most focused of micro commitments have really found the vintage beauty out of the UGA. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted February 2024

Lamole Di Lamole Chianti Classico DOCG Duelame 2021, Lamole

Full and substantial which is pretty much what we have come to expect from a Lamole (di Lamole) sangiovese and to a degree much higher than any other from that UGA. Perfumes yes but fruit and texture are the base ingredients to make this wine swell forth. Lots of love and deep space in L de L’s 2021 with a sleek Macigno feel throughout. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Le Palaie Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Montefioralle

High octane aromatics, petrol and plasticine, raw dough and reduction. A train wreck up front and then beautifully glycerin on the palate. Gives off the feeling of a Campione because of the early heat and oxidative sample. Thinking the finished wine will be a great improvement, Stay tuned for another taste somewhere down the line. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted February 2024

Gagliole Chianti Classico DOCG Rubiolo 2022

Campione: Big, bold and promising Gagliole Annata sample, fortified by Alberese and Pietraforte stony soils, clearly large and impressive. Big tannic freight and profile for the appellation, two years away from settling and five more before the window is fully open. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted February 2024

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Panzano

Though the journey for 2022 was a challenge it was also a vintage combining quantity an quality, then ultimately balance. Tasting from several tanks saw some variability in the samples but technical director Iacopo Morganti’s culm measures and crafty blending helped this sangiovese find its way. The cuvée has finished clean and moderate, certainly lighter than 2020 and 2021 but characterful to a great solo varietal degree. A clarified 2022 that fills the spirit, reminds of the place and provides conspicuous local macchia or balsamico. Treads lightly and delivers that Panzano at Radda’s border to a “T.” Fine wine, nothing big or impressive, but simply IMG sangiovese. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May 2024

Pizza by Michael Schmelzer

Monte Bernardi Chianti Classico DOCG Retromarcia 2022, Panzano

Bottled in March, classically Montebernardi juicy as F and at the peak of Panzano perfume. Spiced chalky aromatics too, carried forward and that’s the segue in combination to accede a structured feeling for unlimited possibility. The appellative level seems not to matter because this is cracker fresh and pure sangiovese from the thinking grower and winemaker that is Michael Schmelzer. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted again, May 2024

Campione: Just pulled from barrel so not yet blended and therefore not a finished wine. A perfumed, classically so vintage with succulence, crunchy and liquid peppery. Not its most refined vintage, neither vivid nor intense but it will surely show better once it settles in bottle. Truly perfumed and that will only increase as well with time. Tasted February 2024

Monte Bernardi Chianti Classico DOCG Sangio’ 2022, Panzano

Fourth vintage of Sangio’, second of two Annata made by Michael Schmelzer, namely from the younger nine hectare parcels grown at the highest elevation. Brighter and yet chalkier than Retromarcia, though increasingly less of an almost “Riserva” style that the Retro M. has become. Delivers that blood orange sensibility in sangiovese. Tannins feel less experienced and stylish but the potential (looking ahead five-plus years) is nevertheless striking. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted again, February 2024

A windy place between 550 and 600m above Panzano a few kms northeast of the estate, a wine with a less serious name but not so in terms of the classicism that defines cool climate sangiovese. Crunchy or as it is said croccante, a beautiful and important use of (10 percent) stems, profoundly Monte Bernardi and the sort of tannins that grab hold of the senses, hold on tight, smiling and we in turn nod knowingly each moment along the way. A cooler yet sunny place, Alberese limestone helping to maintain the acidity and 16 months aging (barrels but skewed more towards concrete) so that in the end the wine you want to drink flows consistently from the bottle. Tasted February 2024

Brancaia Chianti Classico

Brancaia Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Radda

All sangiovese with Radda and Castellina fruit, mostly in concrete (though not quite all) and only steel for the rest. Some fruit is or will be coming from Poggiolo Vineyard in Castellina, a property owned by Candians Rob and Darcy Gillespie. Juicy and simply freshness incarnate. Last tasted April 2024

Sleek, suave and chic Annata for Brancaia out of 2022 with layers of red and blue fruit augmented by quality tannins. Early stages of reserve and reduction but there is no questioning the levels of substance. An extension of a change in style that began in 2019 with the move to bright and honest Classico, yet ’22 is clearly bigger, weightier and with increased structure. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Albola Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Radda

Top Radda terroir, high elevation, rolling terrain, excellent exposure and no lack for biodiversity. Adds up to great potential while 2022 is currently rough and tumble. Chewy sangiovese with wood still noted and yet to melt into the whole. Time will be an ally so that the rustic elements soften and parts integrate better. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted February 2024

At Radda nel Bicchieri with Angela Fronti and Lorenza Rossi

Istine Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Radda

Campione: “Arancia sanguinella,” says Angela Fronti, that note of blood orange she always finds in her wines. A really dry summer and you find a level crunchiness and dried herbs from a vintage where picking continued consistently every morning through late September and early October. Clean the grapes as you go explains Fronto and in the end she was very happy with both quality and quantity. Crisp and crunchy Annata for Angela Fronti, undisclosed in its gratuity and wound up like Angela Fronti on a 100 foot high rock face. In other words focused, determined and competitive. Not sure this should even be tasted and assessed in any shape or form today. Come back soon. Tasted February 2024

L’Erta Di Radda Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Radda

Campione: Now the is a proper sample. Fresh, clean, energetic and persistent – doubly refreshing. Lift and beauty of sangiovese with that perfectly judged pH and sapidity raised by 10 percent canaiolo. The problem is this is the kind of sample that makes producers want to submit more of them and yet great showings like this from L’Erta di Radda are the few and far between. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Monteraponi Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Radda

Might come in thinking that tasting and assessing a 2022 and Monteraponi would not be a great idea in February of 2024 but this Braganti sangiovese shoots favourably straight out of the gate. A fulsome and handsome Radda as a varietal expression of fruit so ripe and unctuous you might consider drinking a bottle today. Surprising candour for a Monteraponi this early in its life but there it is, open and generous, social and genteel. Structured as well for many years to continue acting this way. Someone and something has surely softened. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted February 2024

Cigliano di Sopra, San Casciano

Fattoria Cigliano Di Sopra Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, San Casciano

For Maddalena Fucile and Matteo Vaccari the hope is to increase to a maximum of 12 hectares and 35,000 bottles. “This is our dimension,” tells Matteo. And drinking others’ wines is key because if you don’t know what you like then you don’t know how to get where you want to go. The 2022 Annata was just bottled six-plus weeks ago, on August 31st and so this potential hinderance is kept in mind. The first vintage for which a portion was aged in the used Stockinger cask and some more stem (whole bunch) usage moved from (normally 20ish) up to 50-60 percent. You can sense the energy and increased power but still there is a transparency and a purity of red fruit that will not be denied. Comparisons are futile but those who seek out this style in cru Barbaresco or Côtes de Nuits Premier Cru will latch on here, likely to never let go. Next level for Fucile and Vaccari. Don’t care how young this wine happens to be – the potential can’t be ignored. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

La Vigna Di San Martino Ad Argiano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2022, San Casciano

Campione: The tiniest of properties (one hectare) and smallest of productions (2,000 bottles) in San Casciano from Chiettini. A sample but one nose into this 100 percent sangiovese and you know you’ve found something meaningful. A wisdom in the wine born of great terroir and an agronomist’s acumen. The winemaker seems inconsequential or at least respectful to everything else. There is calm demeanour and a presence of freshness, soulful savour and weight without compression. Hard to know what it’s all about, but knowing more will be a next pursuit. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2024

Luiano Chianti Classico 2022, San Casciano

As youthful as it gets for assessing 2022 Chianti Classico and in fact it’s hard to remember a vintage its equal. 2017? Not even remotely exactly. And yet the ’22 from Alessandro Palombo is a thing of San Casciano beauty, aromatically charged of local perfume with as much depth in red fruit as there can be. Clearly verdant as per the UGA’s way while the fruitiness marries happily and walks equally side by side. Merlot does indeed soften and alter the overall expression but why knock deliciousness? Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Montesecondo Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, San Casciano

Quite a taut and wound Annata for 2022 with the advantage of elevation next to woods for freshness and crispy preservation. Does well to foil the dried herbs, brushy savour and further aridity provided by austere tannins. Should all come together in two years. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted February 2024

Poggio Torselli Il Contadino Cusano Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, San Casciano

Campione: Second vintage with oenologist Carlo Ferrini with a different process and yes the difference is immediately obvious. New tonneaux and 30 hL botti now housing the Annata, old barriques tossed out the window and the new balance is felt in the most palpable way. Rosso di Montalcino comes to mind and while that comparison may seem sanctimonious or anti-Classico, well just taste the style and level of quality. Juicy, blood orange in that regard and pretty much a finished wine. Stands up to be noticed. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Principe Corsini Villa Le Corti Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, San Casciano

Villa Le Corti’s Annata is just about as ready in youth as they come for 2022 and that is not something that can often be said. Duccio Corsini’s work in the river stone strewn fields and modern approach in the winery have been showing recent gains but they keep on coming for sangiovese (and five percent colorino) for immediately gratifying appeal. This will be ready to please in full by the fall of 2024 and with zero reason to doubt. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted February 2024

Casa Emma Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, San Donato In Poggio

Blend is 90 percent sangiovese, (5 each) canaiolo and malvasia nera. A 2022 and so a finished wine recently put to bottle but still reductive, reactive and closed beneath a hard structured shell. Full vintage fruit and acidity captured no doubt if hard to access because of extreme youth. Great potential lays ahead no doubt. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, San Donato In Poggio

One of the prettier 2022s at this earliest of stages because there is nary a moment of reduction, nor drying notes of any sort to distract. Aromatically open and still secure though no impenetrable fortifications hiding the beauty of fruit or potential of the wine. Traditional sangiovese plus two complimentary varieties for a Monsanto take of the estate’s specific corner of San Donato in Poggio so proximate to Poggibonsi. A full and substantial Annata with a high ceiling as an example set for the UGA and also the territory. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted February 2024

Le Filigare Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, San Donato In Poggio

Campione: Stewed and reductive, nearly impossible to assess. Rich an chalky fruit, loads of acidity and tannin. So very sangiovese with a sapid strike by canaiolo and intensity (also for colour) by colorino. Return after two years in bottle. Tasted February 2024

Quercia Al Poggio Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, San Donato In Poggio

No other Annata is field blend relatable as this from Quercia al Poggio with at least four additional varieties filling out the 80 percent minimum of sangiovese. A largest portion of (12 percent) ciliegiolo and bits of canaiolo, malvasia near and colorino add up to quite a fantastical mix that truly compliment, season, spice, elevate and lift this Annata. A truly fine ’22, rich enough but so complex and quite frankly just has to be the top this far for Vittorio Rossi and oenologist Maurizio Castelli. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted February 2024

Cantine Bonacchi Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Vagliagli

Large production from Vagliagli, wood dominant in resinous and medicinal aromas. Lacks some clarity because the winemaking clouds the source and the wine turns toasted and pruned towards the end. Drink 2024. Tasted February 2024

Terra Di Seta Chianti Classico DOCG 2022, Vagliagli

Southern Castelnuovo Berardenga within the western Vagliagli wing savvy and seductive character, big on fruit though more restrained out of 2022 than before. Deep of inflections reddening to black though again there is a level of admirable restraint. Quite tannic however and so consistent with previous vintages there is a need to exercise some patience. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

CCC2024 at Stazione Leopolda

Chianti Classico DOCG 2021

Cecchi Chianti Classico DOCG Storia Di Famiglia 2021, Castellina

The only Cecchi Chianti Classico produced as a négociant with some other Castellina grapes purchased for this Storia di Famiglia. The family wine, most distributed, easy to drink, just sangiovese and one that must be “a mirror to the vision,” inists Andrea Cecchi, which it clearly is in the most professional way. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted May 2024

Cecchi Chianti Classico DOCG Primecolle Villa Cerna 2021, Castellina

Primecolle, the first hill that you see coming in to Villa Cerna with a 360 degree panorama. The expression is not the same as that of Storia di Famiglia but still freshness and Castellina savour that comes from the local argilla soil. More terroir involved, a balsamico and identity that’s even a bit rustic, austere and stringent. Crunchy sangiovese however, with a more trenchant identity and one to really sink your teeth into. Drink 2024-20267. Tasted May 2024

With Enrico, Monica and Cosimo at Villa Pomona

Fattoria Pomona Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Castellina

From Pomona comes beauty and also love, of sangiovese (with just two splashes of colorino because it’s there) and who would not intuit that Monica Raspi has become one of this territory’s great instinctual makers of Chianti Classico wines. Rich and understated, unctuous, restrained and refined. Precisely Raspi, Pomona and this drift of a vineyard space in southern Castellina. Something about this Annata is just perfect. Last tasted February 2024

Monica Raspi’s acumen and comfort level have acceded the exceptional because she is passionate about making top echelon sangiovese as much as any winemaker, self-taught or not in Chianti Classico. The 2021 includes just five percent colorino, took 10 days to ferment and remained on its skins for somewhere between three and four weeks. This is a significant number, more prevalent in the region than it was just a few years ago and when managed right will transform Chianti Classico into sangiovese of the ethereal. A substantial, silken and seductive ’21 here from Pomona with its mix of sweet acidity and Castellina liqueur. The tannins are liquid Alberese chalky from a linear wine moving upwards and forwards in stride. This has the length and the balsamico specific to Pomona. A top body of Annata work from Raspi and just the sort of style to pass on to the next generation; Cosimo and Costanza. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2023

Lornano Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Castellina

More richness and density than what we’re used to from a Lornano Annata, especially from one made with 100 percent sangiovese. Immediate warmth aromatically speaking and without pause to palate, nor as breaks in structure. A sensation of roasted nightshade vegetables and toasted meaty char. Would be a confusing wine poured in a blind tasting with some varietal examples from the southern hemisphere. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Mazzei Chianti Classico DOCG Fonterutoli 2021, Castellina

Always traditional with a dried herbal, dusty and brushy component, but truth is the refinement in concrete really silkens and smooths out Annata for an enticing and getable drink now style. Challenging but conversely successful vintage because fruit stands up vertically with the gift from an outstretched sangiovese arm of immediate gratification. Top quality for the usually healthy production Classico for here, now and all to enjoy. Will show at its best a year from now. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted February 2024

With Giacomo Nardi – Nardi Viticoltori, Castellina

Nardi Viticoltori Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Castellina

For Giacomo the Classico is a “traditional blend and vinification.” Elevated and lifted aromatics from Castellina for Annata, aromatically charged, lifted, phenolic and allied to the palate with well ripened fruit. Sees time in Botti (Tuscan from near Ruffina) and Slavonian wood. Not so much a matter of volatility as about freshness, but a verdant stripe does run thorough the perfume’s middle. Cool, minty savoury, sapid and salty with a feeling of the endemic ethereal. Great curiosity and controlled intensity for Nardi’s 2021. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted twice, February 2024

Nittardi Chianti Classico DOCG Belcanto 2021, Castellina

A beautiful song indeed and so a Chianti Classico appropriately named delivers a thing of vintage beauty. Proficiently perfumed, spices piquing on the palate and strategically structured to create a wholly reasoned and seasoned sangiovese. The “other” varieties, whatever they may be and comprising 10 percent do right and well by this fine 2021. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2024

Nittardi Chianti Classico Casanuova Di Nittardi DOCG “Vigna Doghessa” 2021, Castellina

Campione: Single vineyard or cru example and a sample with the uncanny aromas resembling anise or black liquorice. No missing that as distinct as it gets and this despite the reductive nature of the wine. Needs several years to unwind. Not the finest tank or barrel sample drawn but there is some idea where this is gong. Tasted February 2024

San Fabiano Calcinaia Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Castellina

Sangiovese with 10 percent canaiolo and colorino from the warm vintage down in quantity due to the April frosts, a year-plus spent in tonneaux followed by six months in bottle before release. That quantity was two-thirds of a normal production and concentration is surely above the norm in this 2021. Great acidity, highest level of the stuff and the fruit is ever-bearing ripe on the nose while tannins are overtly grippy and the wine needs another year in bottle to truly show its stuff. That said this will surely be the finest Annata from San Fabiano Calcinaia. Drink 2025-2031. February 2023 and February 2024

Tenute Squarcialupi Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Castellina

From Castellina vineyards primarily west of the village in a gully shaped like a half-pipe amphitheatre, an amazing Chianti Classico microclimate that gives a special purpose to Tenute Squarcialupi’s sangiovese. Add in the next generation ideas of Cosimo Bojola and the torch passing is in transition. This is the classic, clean and traditional Annata that carries the stamp of Tommaso Bojola but in 2021 the connection with son Cosimo’s winemaking wisdom is closer than ever before. Tenute Squarcialupi 2021 Annata stands up linear, vertical and to be counted. It should not be missed. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2024

Tenuta Di Lilliano Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Castellina

Spices mark the aromatics, pique the senses, draw in the olfactory and take the stage. A force upon the palate, more spice circling through mouthfeel and some black cherry bitters clasp the finish. Traditional and serviceable to vintage. Last tasted February 2024

A reminder that the Ruspoli were a high aristocratic family from Rome though originally from Florence. The estate is co-owned by brothers Giulio and Pietro Ruspoli and managed by Giulio Ruspoli since 1989. The 2021 Annata Classico is in fine shape, still chalky of tannins in the midst of its resolution and while it drinks well now (with some air), there are surely two to three years left for ongoing pleasure. Can’t see the fruit dissipating until late in 2026. Tasted January 2024

There are many, not all mind you but a great number of 2021 Chianti Classico in delivery of this silken, glycerol and so very modern character. That and a firm grip with high level acidity captured. A big wine this time from Lilliano, stylish, chic and strutting. Fruit set and connectivity are well aggregated though this won’t be one to age indefinitely. Drink in the near term. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted February 2023

Cosimo and Tomasso Bojola – Tenuta Squarcialupi, Castellina

Tenute Squarcialupi La Castellina Chianti Classico DOCG Cosimo Bojola 2021, Castellina

“L’Alta” Annata for Squarcialupi is this amphora indiction of indication that is simply the brainchild of next generation winemaker Cosimo Bojola. Connected in a most familial way to the other Classico but texture and mouthfeel are altered, transformed and transmogrified in the most religious way. The piety is born of sangiovese passion, to see through an ulterior if respectfully concurrent lens and the result is something emphatically restrained. Brilliance of red fruit purity with an underlying earthiness and brightness that supports the textural movements. The palate is aroused and the senses are piqued. Impossible to look or taste away. Last tasted February 2024

Squarcialupi farms 33 Castellina hectares plus 10 in Maremma. Tommaso Bojola’s is the only cellar in the village of Castellina. His father in law purchased the land, building, enoteca, restaurant and aging cellar in 1980. From 2020 all the wines are organic. Aged in amphora for 11 months, all sangiovese on skins, the label hand drawn by Cosimo himself. The only Chianti Classico DOCG for which 100 percent comes out of amphora and Cosimo’s is anything but light and yes it’s a different style but there is nothing idiosyncratic about this wine whatsoever. Blood orange, tar and roses, just sticky enough to solicit palate attention and really just a pure expression of sangiovese. A melt of sweet clay, very Galestro mineral. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted February 2023

Carpineta Fontalpino Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Indelibly stamped Carpineta style while so very fresh for 2021, truly bright of great breaths of Castelnuovo Berardenga air. Aged in tonneaux after cement fermentation and to say this was judged with fine precision would be paying close attention to Gioia Crest’s acumen and always consistent deft touch. Spot on for 2021 in so many respects. Last tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Wow the energy from 2021 Carpineta Fontalpino is off the charts, ergo there is this wide open sensation from Castelnuovo Berardenga that will not be denied. Fruit swells and impresses with its gingered-crimson beauty and the advances of egress by structural demand. While too youthful and awkward for all parts to hook up they will, in time, for all the right reasons and with zero regret. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2023

Castello Di Bossi C. Berardenga Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Big production of quality across the board, of fruit layered in a thousand ways, all working together for the most solid and qualitative expression of 100 percent sangiovese. Proper, correct and professional. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2024

Famiglia Losi – Losi Querciavalle, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Losi Querciavalle Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Campione: High-toned, lifted, Alberese directed, sauvage of aromatics on display. A nosing of volatile compounds which are often part of the sample experience and one not wholly indicative of what the settled and cleaned-up finished wine will be. Losi’s sangiovese are exceptional for Castelnuovo Berardenga and this gives little insight into what they can be. Tasted February 2024

Nicely settling in 2021 Annata from Arceno, compressing and compacting as it plays upon the palate, though underneath both acids and tannins continue to work their magic. These recent sangiovese (with 15 percent softening merlot) have found their rightful place on the Castelnuovo Beradenga spectrum. They are as clean, modern and generous as they come. Last tasted February 2024

Tenuta Di Arceno Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Castelnuovo Berardenga

A vintage for which merlot at 15 per cent does wonders to install calm and roundness into San Gusmé sangiovese of dusty, drifty and instigative tannin. There is a swirl of red to purple berry liqueur in this high glycerol content of an Annata to take Castelnuovo Berardenga into another stylistic and one not often reached. Modernized, renovated and refurbished. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2023

Badia A Coltibuono Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Gaiole

The traditional estate blend, with canaiolo, colorino and ciliegiolo to compliment sangiovese. Two to three weeks of maceration, at the longer end from 2021 and for Gaiole this is just so Monti relatable with just about a 10 percent accent by Vagliagli within Castelnuovo Berardenga. Fine acidity for this Classico that hints at though stays quite clear of balsamico. Certified organic by Delineat, a private agro-forestry network now recognized by higher powers. The discipline includes solar work, carbon neutral footprint and lower levels of copper usage. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Bertinga Chianti Classico DOCG La Porta Di Vertine 2021, Gaiole

Bertinga’s is expressly Gaiole, verdant of its greens and clearly an expression off of rocky soils. You sense the land in the freshness and clarity of the sangiovese. Truly crispy and crunchy, mineral and tannin streaking simultaneously in parallel lines and length unrelenting for as long as the palate would wish to keep tasting the wine. Will age really well. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2024

Cantalici Chianti Classico DOCG Baruffo 2021, Gaiole

Only sangiovese and about as obvious as a Gaiole UGA produced example as could ever be. The mix of dried herbals and forest brush, über savoury elements and drying tannins all add up to the tight and taut sort of Annata Classico so many know well. This must be cellared for a year our two before flesh and fruit pulpiness can be coaxed out of the structured shell. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted February 2024

Casa Al Vento Aria Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Gaiole

Campione: Closed and tart, tannins very much in the way and an awkwardness at this early stage. A must return no sooner than one year forward. Indicative of the perils of showing cask samples instead of finished wines. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Cacchiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Gaiole

Real Monti in Chianti fixture within the Gaiole UGA with 2021 measuring 95 percent sangiovese, (4%) malvasia nera and (1) colorino. Noticeably reductive, intensity of focus and a Monti verdant quality captured to express terroir and also nature. Sifted softness owning the palate but also piques of spice and endemic character. Clearly a step up in quality and complexity for this truly historical estate. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Fattoria San Giusto A Rentennano Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Gaiole

While the wines are really intense with extreme concentration there is some current difficulty to see them as pleasing. They remain a bit closed, especially on the nose but the potential for aging is great. Though it had been that way for some there were not great frost problems, Not just aromatic intensity but spice and attack on the palate, This strikes as something a bit difficult to drink at this time but the structure is surely impressive. This is Annata that would be Gran Selezione for at the very minimum another 150 estates. Last tasted February 2024

Extreme youth for a Fattoria San Giusto a Rentennano Annata and while this is a barrel sample truth is Luca Martini di Cigala’s offers up more fodder for assessment than many. This will be a most important vintage for two reasons. The first is quality and the second a matter of education, a view to master interpreter taking water (of Gaiole) and transforming it into wine. Not just Gaiole but a little peninsula between the arms of Vagiagli and Castelnuovo Berardenga on a promontory specific to San Giusto. Fine lines, angles and waves continually sweeping make this a most impressive Annata and one to savour for the next 15 years. Drink 2025-2035. Tasted February 2023

La Montanina Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Gaiole

The work of Bruno Mazzoni whose maternal grandfather was producing wine here in Gaiole in the 1970s. Mazzoni started tarted in 2006 wth a rebuilding of the cellar, first produced Chianti Classico in 2012, but waited a few years to begin selling the wines. His 2021 is a new and very youthful vintage made by winemaker Maurizio Longi for a Chianti Classico that shows off the true character and nature of Gaiole sangiovese. Tension and yet a transparency because it’s a bit lighter (than say 2019 or 2016) but the potential for aging here is great. Crunchy and crisp, a wine you can grip between the teeth and bite down, then finishing with piques of energy and spice. This is a fine wine of purpose. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted December 2023 and February 2024

Marchesi Frescobaldi Chianti Classico DOCG Tenuta Perano 2021, Gaiole

Today Tenuta Perano has a distinct advantage and that is elevation. Ten years ago that would not have been said but 550m is no longer considered a cold altitude and so critics and consumers alike should no longer dismiss this place. At Perano the sangiovese matures on both ripeness fronts and does so at a markedly reduced crop per plant. Results are more than simply a matter and meter of concentration. Lamberto Frescobaldi notes how the Chianti Classico from this part of Gaiole are those of “severity and specificity, and it can be tasted in the wines.” It comes from agriculture and can’t be missed. That is if the winemaking is expressed with humility. The verdancy and freshness by elevation are Gaiole and they foil the substantial elements, namely fruit and tannin. All of this is raised to the highest degree in the Annata 2021. “Especially when the plantings are on cooler sites but you really have to be careful, to push the harvest later.” The conclusions are captured acidity and a lovely expression on the nose. “You may not like sangiovese,” concludes Frescobaldi, “but you will always be intrigued by it.” Drink 2023-2028. Tasted December 2023

Rocca Di Montegrossi Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Gaiole

Sangiovese with canaiolo and colorino of a deep Chianti Classico hue that Marco Ricasoli explains “is fixed by the Alberese. It’s the calcium in the limestone that really helps this process.” So different than sangiovese coming from Macigno (as a general rule) yet here the colour is full and opaque. Fresh vintage, substantial fruit, quantity high, all things a winemaker wants from Chianti Classico. Purity of aromas, linear of style, stony moments from start to finish. Just beginning to open up and really quite salty. Will surely see this last through the decade in a nearly primary state. Last tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Surprising grip and structure here from Rocca di Montegrossi’s 2021 Annata, well not exactly shocking but this is a vintage wine quite far from readying towards release. Tannins are fine chained, grained, unbreakable and of a saltiness really connecting the mineral dots of this wine. Some canaiolo and colorino bring added seasoning and so sapidity is a thing. Crunchy for Gaiole and less herbaceous than most. Should begin to open in 18 months or so. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2023

Castellaccio Chianti Classico DOCG Coste Di Felice 2021, Greve

Oxidative and a touch cooked in spite of acidity running high. Ample if decent fruit quality though it will travel quickly to where it needs to go. Drink as soon as possible. Tasted February 2024

Montecalvi Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Greve

Few (if any?) Chianti Classico sangiovese are augmented by the five percent mix of canaiolo and the rare canina nera, the latter of which has not been held with the greatest of reputation. Well, not since its popularity in the Middle Ages. Oft considered “a poor quality black grape that gives a terrible red wine with a dry and light flavour,” nevertheless here finding a way to elicit a positive effect. Winemaker Tim Manning has found the apex of excellence where fruit and acidity with that fineness of reduced sweet balsamic all meet and create a fine Chianti Classico 2021. Fine work no doubt. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2024

Terreno Chianti Classico DOCG Le Tre Vigne 2021, Greve

The three vineyards refer to Terreno’s Homefront Greve, across the ridge’s rift at Solano (also in Greve) and finally Montefioralle. This mix of three soils which includes Monte Morello, Pietraforte and Alberese makes for one of those Chianti Classico so well-rounded and thrice fortified. The palate senses three layers of stone bled sangiovese inter-connected yet here the air breezes through each and lifts it all together. Brava Sofia. You’ve found and created an ideal 2021. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2024

Torraccia Di Presura Chianti Classico DOCG Il Tarocco 2021, Greve

Big fruitful sangiovese from Torraccia di Presura, rich and suave, clean as a wet sponge wiping chalk off a blackboard which feels apropos because this is quite opaque and pitchy Classico. Ever so smouldering and shadowy swarthiness is ideal to break up the textural silkiness and remind us that sangiovese from 2021 and Greve is want to keep us on our tasting toes. This has much to give and give it will for three to five years. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Fontodi Chianti Classico DOCG Filetta Di Lamole 2021, Lamole

The vintage is surely part of the equation but it’s almost impossible to believe that Lamole has come to this exquisite place. Perfumes as always present but tannins so very fine not just because of the sandstone but due to the maturity of the vines and the maker. Last tasted February 2024

Pure macigno (sandstone) terroir on terraces fully surrounded by woods and what is most essential in Filetta is the perfume that just has to come from Lamole. From 2021 a most proficient and promising one, an effortless exhale and a seamless transition to mimicry upon the palate. Well structured, so subtly chalky and a succulence meeting exuberance that is as much vintage as it is place. Freshness meeting concentration at the highest level. A complete vintage, needing not be compared to any other. We’ll think in these kinds of terms seven to 10 years down the road. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted October 2023

Fontodi Chianti Classico DOCG Pastrolo 2021, Lamole

The newest (along with San Leolino) of Fontodi’s Chianti Classico, from Lamole and a vineyard with unique geology, that being Macigno di Marne, a.k.a marine sandstone. Youthful and the oak flavours still act as a flannel blanket over the fruit but insists Giovanni Manetti, “it remains a question of time.” Second vintage of this label and destined to be a Gran Selezione when time, commissioned grants and the realization of a plan all come together in collective fruition. Average planting was back in the late 1970s with newer plantations going in. There were some mixed varieties, including canaiolo, trebbiano, malvasia and colorino. Meanwhile this is sangiovese, grippy, firm, austere and as they say, molto profumato. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

I Fabbri Chianti Classico DOCG Lamole Olinto Grassie E Figlio 2021, Lamole

Aged only in concrete, “The sangiovese just to show the Lamole terroir,” tells Susanna. “The vineyards at the top do this best.” Which means this deserves to be on the label, no matter the appellative level. No appropriation here, just heritage. The perfume is the crux and heart of this matter. Acidity too, running through like a fast moving stream over pebbles, all of which are felt across the palate. Just ideal freshness, “the beauty of the simplicity,” adds Susanna. So pure. Last tasted February 2024

From the highest vineyard between 600 and 630m for a varietal sangiovese that separates itself from Olinto because that label holds 20 percent merlot, though 2021 will be the last vintage. From what Susann Grassi calls the “crispy” vintage” which translates as freshness incarnate and a crunchiness to the seriously spot on pure red fruit. This is so precise and the Lamole perfume exudes out of every pore. Only see concrete and at Annata level for Lamole that is the exact and proper thing to do. Brilliant. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted October 2023

Jurji Fiore e Figlia

Jurji Fiore E Figlia Chianti Classico DOCG Puntodavista 2021, Lamole

All of Jurji Fiore’s cru wines are vinified in the same way, that being 18 months in Burgundian barriques, 30 percent new. Vines are 50-60 years old so surely not 100 percent sangiovese near to Grospoli. A field blend from a vineyard that Jurji has been renting for 30 years. His next gen daughter Sara smells chiodo di garofano which is, but is not clove, either way its a spice from a dried flower seed that scents out from this Annata. The palate is also wild and leaping with a moment of swarthiness yet is quite perfectly clean for top shelf, fresh and exciting sangiovese. As fine an Annata as there can be and so perfectly expressive of modern Lamole’s potential. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted February 2024

Jurji Fiore E Figlia Chianti Classico DOCG Lamole Nonloso 2021, Lamole

The only cru that’s for sure 100 percent sangiovese because it comes from 20 year-old vines and is owned by the same farmer as Puntodavista in the Grospoli area. Lamole range, 18 months in three sizes of Bourgogne barrels, 30 percent new. The darkest and most intense because of recent clones playing a prominent role as compared to the others, also because those are field blends and representative of the traditional ways of the blending past. Same wood and timing but everything is elevated here, strung up inside a casing of acidity and an austerity of tannins. A sangiovese that needs time, to settle, for subsequent vintages to grow up, mature and join the balance that both Porcacciamiseria and Puntodavista already show. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February 2024

Lamole Di Lamole Chianti Classico DOCG Duelame 2021, Lamole

Podere Castellinuzza – Paolo Coccia Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Lamole

Upwards elevation even for Lamole, here between 550 and 600m on two exposures, one to the east and one to the north. In this sense we are looking at the cooler meeting higher sector and so expect a different, more evergreen type of savour to exaggerate the Lamole perfume in a wholly other way. Freshness incarnate, no wood, only cement aging for 20 months and a true authenticity about the expression. Really pure, if you appreciate the way. Classic, naked Lamole Classico. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

With La Famiglia Cappellini – Castello di Verrazzano, Greve

Castello Di Verrazzano Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Montefioralle

For Verrazzano a complicated and in the end balanced vintage but who could have forecasted the restrained power and elegance. A 100 percent sangiovese vintage and one of somewhat shortened vindication to capture the grace and especially acidity of the vintage. A bit of maceration that hints at carbonic but no fizzy pulse. Almost a spicy sensation on the palate but really a matter of total energy. Bravo. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2024

Conti Capponi/Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Montefioralle

Chianti Classico 2021 is an example of that rare occasion when savoury, or what so many like to refer to as balsamico richness defines sangiovese. In this case an Annata of layered red citrus fruit pulled from a plethora of estate Greve-Montefioralle sources, including several vineyards trained to Alberello. A heightened aromatic example for the vintage, balanced and delicate. Low quantity and highest of quality. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted May 2024

Jurji Fiore E Figlia Chianti Classico DOCG Altolà 2021, Montefioralle

Altolà, high elevation but from another UGA over there (that being across the valley in Montefioralle), but also a definition for the phrase “stop right there, at attention.” Another Villages wine but the paradox here is how the vineyard was in Panzano and after the UGA was created it fell under the auspices of Montefioralle. Clay soil with Pietraforte so very typically Panzano, darker of colour, fleshy, but with a fire touch. Closer to Nonloso than any of the other Lamole wines but here you have an old vineyard with other red varieties in the field mix. This is an incredible mix of the two, fleshy and rich yet lifted and elevated of incredibly sweet acids. Wow for a first vintage and so one can only imagine what’s to come. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February 2024

Maurizio Brogioni Winery Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Montefioralle

Just a healthy splash of early ripening merlot softens and sweetens the Montefioralle sangiovese for a clean, technically sound and in its finest moments, also soulful Chianti Classico. Plenty of barrel involved, creating a resinous and soya sauced effect but fruit is bold, strong and able to handle the wood. Works out in the end though caramelization is coming soon. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Montefioralle wines

Montefioralle Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Montefioralle

Some heat in the ’21 perfumes but also a spice cupboard of exotics sifted into a masala as seasoning for seriously ripe sangiovese fruit. The six plus four percent of canaiolo and colorino are not to be forgotten because like the spices they are stirred and integrated so very well for a fully emulsified Annata. There is some lift and then piques of volatility which add to the warmth and the mystique. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

Viticcio Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Montefioralle

Crispy sangiovese with a soft middle provided by five percent merlot and a fine example of suave 2021 Montefioralle Chianti Classico. Rich and the sort you can sink your teeth into for pairing with proteins of equal steading. ‘Tis a healthy and substantial Annata no matter how you slice, braise or roast it. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted February 2024

Cafaggio Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Panzano

Bonafide 2021 and exemplary varietal sangiovese from Panzano’s Cafaggio if one of the fleshier, riper and more glycerol examples. Tart and intense, acidity equal and opposing that fruit to carry forward all the way through. No hole or mid-palate fatigue but all in, all the time. A drink now and soon Annata with swagger and style. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Ca’ Di Pesa Chianti Classico DOCG Burrone 2021, Panzano

Small production of the etichetta label called Burrone, a gulch or a gully and the feel of gravity’s pull compresses to see this 100 percent sangiovese lay low in that depression. Not weighty per se but yet set in the lower reaches of brightness and energy. It’s a style for one that will age for a few years still. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Fontodi Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Panzano

Always tasted second to Filetta and though perhaps 10 years ago that may have been the opposite the change has come. Truly salty veins running through the flesh of Panzano, with thanks to the mix of schist, calcaire and the great power of Pietraforte stone. Hold this 2021 for another year. Last tasted February 2024

Like the Filetta di Lamole, the Panzano Classico was also bottled quite recently and is to be released in the Spring of 2024. A full on expression of the Classico for Fontodi from a vintage of everything; substantial fruit, quality and quantity, acidity at peak, generosity and potential. What more does there need to be? About as full and classic as it gets for this stalwart and even just that wee bit of Panzano swarthiness that give these sangiovese their intrinsic and inherent character. Caught with spot on simplicity and poise. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Fontodi Chianti Classico DOCG Dino 2021, Panzano

A factor of the blue schist makes the call for amphora and if your mind is open and imagination runs loose then believe that the perfumes and flavours are truly connected to the soil. Leathery chew with infiltrate freshness, cake and chalk, tannin and acidity. Spices run amok. Everything captured and preserved, life still laid out long ahead. Just a bit of residual CO2 wards ofd oxidation and allows for lower sulphites usage. Last tasted February 2024

The Chianti Classico that sees amphora, stainless steel and also French wood – but no Slavonian oak. The outlier and if it needs be said, the experimental Annata. That said it has evolved from its IGT (Toscana Centrale) origins and the soils are Pietraforte in this specific micro-climate (a cooler one) from which finer and dustier tannins come away. More about texture in Dino but this is also a bit of a crooner expressive of songs sung from its valley origins. Not a frost zone because it buds later and at harvest time there is the diurnal fluctuation from 30 degrees by day to 10 at night. Great but different acidity from Dino, sweeter but also a balsamic aspect. Unique Classico in every respect. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted October 2023

Gagliole Chianti Classico DOCG Rubiolo 2021

Three terroir collection of Gagliole’s youngest vineyards across their estates, a macro of balancing related to soils built on Alberese, Pietraforte and Galestro. Brings all elements to the table; phenols, dusty savour and a mix of Classico acidities. In this vintage the pick was relatively late (especially in Panzano), as late as October 21 and 22. A management of vineyards leads to a capture of freshness so essential for the Annata level of Chianti Classico. Gagliole gets it in the most croccante way. Last tasted May 2023 and February 2024

Rubiolo is 100 per cent sangiovese and Panzano fruit from 400-plus meters of elevation above and to the west side of the Conca d’Oro. Expressive of the two factions of Panzano character, texture and savour. Silky smooth liquidity and more accessible than what might have been pre-conceived though there is surely no lack of grip emanating through the cool ooze of this wine. Really quite fine. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2023

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Panzano

No, 2021 is not readying for the open window. Not yet. The tannins are still chalky and firm, the fruit bright and clean but they still submit to the tight clasp that grips and holds. No lacking for flesh and weight but yes the crisp character is what we are waiting for. Last tasted February 2024

A low (450 quintale or 45,000 kg) production vintage due to April frosts though the quality was very high. Is 2021 the best I ask Iacopo Morganti.“Every time the last one has to be the best one…though 2021 is like 2001. Similar vintage, weather included but there was more production from 2001.” The style is similar, also colour of fruit, elegance, light and ethereal with purposed acidity. “In 2020 the fruit was darker, you feel more oak,” he adds. These ‘21s are typical wines as and for sangiovese. Pure, light and so elegant, bottled on the 21st of September. Hard to find a more amenably front-ended Chianti Classico but the tannins are still somewhat aggressive. Not Riserva in that sense because there is less flesh and body. Still this is a discreetly charming 2021 and a great wine to drink, whenever you feel ready. Aging will be somewhere between six and nine years, give or take and depending on the situation. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted October 2023

Il Palagio Di Panzano Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Panzano

The crunchiest and most piqued of Panzano vintages is juicy and peppery in the hands of Il Palagio di Panzano. Just ever so slightly reductive and in that space caught inside a hard shell, acids and tannins circulating like protons around the atom. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Le Fonti Di Panzano Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Panzano

This is truly a preview of the Le Fonti Chianti Classico 2021 because this is the vintage that will be poured at the Chianti Classico Collection held in Florence on February 15th and 16th. When frost struck the area on April 6th and 7th, 2021 Vicky Schmitt-Vitali said “Le Fonti is positioned quite open to the winds so most vineyards fared OK with the frost. Only one small patch protected by trees and bamboo at the bottom of the valley got freeze-burned. The other side of the valley got hit worse so we have to be grateful. Lucarelli (the small village in Radda just below Panzano) is always very cold and our tractor driver lives there and said that his house was minus six the past few nights. All fruit trees burned but his vines had not been out yet so he was lucky.” The result here is a top notch, clean, fresh and harmonious Annata that also happens to be a sangiovese of higher quantity than many out of the vintage. The acids here are just about perfect and the flavours are as enticing as they are diverse. Without a doubt one of the finest Chianti Classico ever made by Guido and Vicky at this appellative level. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted January and February 2024

Michael Schmelzer – Monte Bernardi, Panzano

Monte Bernardi Chianti Classico DOCG MB1933 2021, Panzano

From the 90 year-old vigorous vineyard and insists Michael Schmelzer, “it would be insane to make it not the way it was planted.” Ten grapes which add up to a 100 percent field blend that may include sangiovese, colorino rosso, colorino bianco, malvasia nera, canaiolo, malvasia nera and ciliegiolo. Once again the respect to agricultural heritage and long maceration conspire for complexities and flavours that most people don’t associate with Chianti Classico. If this is what the old farmers were producing then quality was actually a thing, at least in 1933. MB is Marcello Bartolini, teacher and mentor who just retired in December 2023. Crunchy, tart, red citrus intensity and a char of herbs. Perhaps not quite a unicorn but surely one of the most singular wines made in the entirety of the Chianti Classico territory. If classic is also a thing than this would be it but what it is not is Riserva, or Gran Selezione. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted February 2024

Cosimo and Sebastiano Gericke – Fattoria Rignana, Panzano

Fattoria Rignana Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Panzano

Just a small amount of April frost damage happened in the lower part of the vineyards near the Pesa River but the rest of the higher reaches were unscathed and so quantity out of ’21 was fine, while quality ran high. Just stainless and concrete (no wood) for a truly fresh and sustainable Annata. The 15 percent canaiolo adds a dimension of sapidity as balance to what sensations high acid and saline sangiovese are want to deliver. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Tenuta Casenuove Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Panzano

Beautifully settled sangiovese with that quick sapid kick urged on by five percent canaiolo. A lovely swirl of fresh and clean red fruit, unmistakable glycerol, late arriving acidity and nearly resolved tannin. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Arillo In Terrabianca Chianti Classico DOCG Sacello 2021, Radda

Taken from the largest parcel up the hill to the right of the church and no wood involved. Soft and suave, the silkiest Annata imaginable and one that coats the palate with its substantial fruit. Perfume and spice are Raddese, as is acidity, of course. Last tasted May 2023 and February 2024

Intense sangiovese while also drying and tannic with potential to travel far and yet this is certainly not the early beauty of what came from 2020. More so a sangiovese of classicism that must have some time in the bottle before we know what will come. Great length here so there will be a future, that much is guaranteed. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2023

Borgo La Stella Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Radda

Quiet entry, reserved and not exceptionally fruity though a feeling of a place lurks in the shadows. Fresh, bright, clean and high acid. Not particularly fleshy, of lightning red fruit and satisfying. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Borgo Salcetino Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Radda

Pure sangiovese, tiny production, tart, concentrated, verging on syrupy. Intensity of acidity and balsamico, a Radda stylistic magnified and hyperbolized for the world to see. Heart and sangiovese worn on sleeve. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Radda Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Radda

Darker fruit adoration for the vintage owning to Castello di Radda’s south-central location within the UGA and the accumulation is duly noted. Levels of richness and yet this singsong quality that creates waves of fruit in and out of mild structure. Not the grippiest of ‘21s but one to enjoy in the near term. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Colle Bereto Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Radda

Classic Colle Bereto Annata, more estate style than Radda which is not a massive shock from the vintage. Clean, crisp and what can be thought upon as crispy, no departure from the UGA in that regard but the precision and clarity is expressly Colle Bereto. Grande, Bernardo Bianchi. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2024

Istine Chianti Classico DOCG Vigna Istine 2021, Radda

There can be little doubt that of the three Istine wines that could be Gran Selezione it is the homefront Vigna Istine that quietly settles upon the palate with the most elegance and grace. That and a private austerity, yet nothing to do with asilita, loosely translated as “skininess.” No, there is flesh and body but in an elastic and layered way. Then a return to the elegance and the grace. This is Istine of elevation and Alberese soils. Not labeled Gran Selezione. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted February 2024

Belvedere Campòli Guicciardini Campoli Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, San Casciano

As far as bottle quantities are concerned this is a tiny production of Classico sangiovese (with five percent) merlot. One that delivers naturally sweet red fruit and true succulence by way of equally delivered acidity yet without tension due ti never demanding tannin. Ever the slightest cherry bitters that dissipate in fade to finish black. What’s left is purity and grace. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Calcamura Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, San Casciano

Campione: Limited production, 100 percent sangiovese of San Casciano bones, saltiness and energy. Notable as always for the herbs and verdancy but this edges up in volatility before descending into its tannic well. Taut finish and in need of two years to settle. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted February 2024

With Federica Capaccioli

Capaccioli – Poggio Niccolini Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, San Casciano

Dramatic and vivid Annata from San Casciano with all the wilds of soil, herbs, brushy plants and florals flying from the glass. The air is filled with orchids, violets, Macchia Mediterraneo, sweet sangiovese, Cassis bled cabernet and sapidity raising canaiolo. Top effort for the UGA with ample vintage personality. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Casa Di Monte Chianti Classico DOCG Le Capitozze 2021, San Casciano

A 2021 and so a well and good finished wine not so long ago put to bottle but still reactive and closed beneath a hard structured shell. Full vintage fruit and acidity captured no doubt if still a challenge to access because of extreme youth. Full disbursement of great potential lays ahead. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

Castelli Del Grevepesa Chianti Classico DOCG Clemente VII 2021, San Casciano

Nicely settled and so a wise decision to pour 2022 for the anteprima. Can’t miss the rye bread toast and verdant streak for a Clemente VII of more substance and rallying cry than many. Professional tannins present in the room are tied by acidity as catalyst and bind. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Cigliano di Sopra Vigneti Branca ready for labelling

Cigliano Di Sopra Chianti Classico DOCG Vigneto Branca 2021, San Casciano

A single vineyard, 100 percent whole bunch, 35 days on skins macerated best parcel (of massal selection planted in 1972) sangiovese that is the first true experiment in the young winemaking lives for Maddalena Fucile and Matteo Vaccari. Reminds of the Annata in that transparency, purity and focus are all there but imagine more energy, vibrancy, power, grip and intensified, implosive tannins. And yet, and yet the push here is just a bit overarching because a minor note of green austerity does arrive, however fleeting it may be. Nevertheless this is the summit of the current pinnacle of the duo’s CdS success. Next is to see how they will go next level, because when the going gets “maniaci,” the “maniaci” turn pro. Bottled on April 14th, 2023. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

La Sala Del Torriano Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, San Casciano

Spicy aromatics lead the way for La Sala’s ’21 Annata, nothing unusual about it, consistent with previous vintages and the estate’s search for aromatics. What separates this vintage is the fulsome and glissade quality gracing the palate that presents more fruit in waves, swells and even this oozing kind of feeling that sangiovese can give. San Casciano gets neither more fruity nor modern in Annata than this. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Azienda Agricola Mori Concetta Chianti Classico Morino DOCG 2021, San Casciano

At this stage the ‘21 has now arrived as the finished wine it was intended to be. Hard to believe how much textural glissade, unction and modernity have accumulated in the wines of San Casciano with this by Mori Concetta right at the top of the list. Aromatically charged and perfumed with viscosity of fruit on the palate and liquid spice. Impressive 2021 from the man. Last tasted February 2024

Quite a compliment of other endemic grapes not only aid and abet but work so properly too create cohesion and define this special Classico from San Casciano. The breakdown of 80 percent sangiovese, (10) canaiolo, (5 each) pugnitello and colorino is essential and creates a balanced 2021, of less tension than some but also pure without greens or greys mired in the void. A very successful and textured wine of silk and chalkiness for seven to ten years ahead. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2023

Castello Della Paneretta Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, San Donato In Poggio

Singular aromatic profile for Castello della Paneretta’s 2021 Annata, superbly perfumed if with a Ribena infiltrate cutting through the florals. More than obvious red fruit, especially citrus from the likes of blood orange and noticeable wood on the palate, Dries out and separates form the whole so be patient with this wine. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, San Donato In Poggio

Youthful to a great degree and a reductive vintage for the Monsanto Annata, still frozen in time with the classic località aromatics lurking in the shadows of this wholly structural wine. Always the small percentages of canaiolo an colorino bringing the sapidity and also the energy to sangiovese that feels like it’s always been this way. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Cinciano Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, San Donato In Poggio

High tonality, glycerin, volatility and perilously up there at the edge of the precipice. There is some Brettanomyces in this 2021, nothing that distracts or detracts with any gravity but it does co-exist with the fruit. Chewy mouthful for varietal sangiovese of warmth and intensity that will improve with age. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2024

Fattoria Le Masse Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, San Donato In Poggio

“So far 2021 is the one that gives me more pleasure, with more complexity and density, even more than 2021.” Now well into his tenure and so Robin Mugnaini has a pretty keen sense of where he’s at with respect to Chianti Classico. Still 20 percent whole bunch and two moths on skins, to be released in a year and a half. Really clean, fruit at the top of this San Donato in Poggio game and purity as verity. These are powdery tannins trying to liquify and integrate but it really is just a kid. Richer than any that have come before and of a structure that will see this travel for a few years. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Il Poggiolino Chianti Classico DOCG Il Classico 2021, San Donato In Poggio

Celebratory vintage fruit swirl arrives first for Il Poggiolino and then to mind comes the character that is intrinsically perceived as San Donato in Poggio. Of red fruit so amplified you’d think citrus was squeezed, calcareous stone was bled and the mixture reduced to a glissade of syrup. Just a quick note of Brett in the 2021, nothing serious or distracting but there it resides on the back palate. Does not mess with the tannins but there is a peppery warmth at the end. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Isole E Olena Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, San Donato In Poggio

The last blended Annata of Paolo de Marchi’s four and a half decade tenure at Isole e Olena is this 2021, lower in sangiovese and conversely higher in canaiolo, because he knew the blend needed to up its sapidity game. The canaiolo raises pH and works with the other splashes (including syrah but also vials of mystery) to elaborate and elevate sangiovese’s salted-elemental game. De Marchi has hit the vintage nail on the head with a 2021 that shows its cards but refuses to lay them on the table. This will always be his wine, in a figurative sense the last and most valuable work of his life as an Olena artist. He is the whooper swan and you pay close attention to the trumpets of fruit and clicks of acidity. Before too long the sounds will cease because there will be no more tannic threats and so both this 2021 and Paolo will move, embrace change and live on. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2024

Podere La Cappella Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, San Donato In Poggio

Another matter for San Donato in Poggio and 2021 is this by Podere La Cappella because there is a sleekness and silken quality to the fruit. This is especially felt in the mouthfeel because the wine simply glides and slides across the palate. You can also feel the merlot in 2021, only 10 percent but so ripe and impressionable. Plenty of sweet and supportive acidity, fineness of tannins and just so much pleasure gifted overall. Not as structured as some recent vintages but seductive for the short to mid term. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Davaz Family – Poggio al Sole, San Donato in Poggio

Poggio Al Sole Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, San Donato In Poggio

Poggio al Sole’s is Chianti Classico Annata aged in large format Stockinger Botti comes from a crossroads where San Donato in Poggio, Panzano plus a distinct profile that also draws from Badia a Passignano add up to one of the territory’s most complex sangiovese. An example with 90 percent sangiovese and (10) canaiolo that exhibits both salty and sapid elements for something that moves through many machinations. This is not to say that the extroverted PaS lacks precision because it is in fact finessed and pure, but there is so much going on that at moments its feels like energy running wild. Never thee mind because just another year and a half in bottle will see to all parts settling in as one. What Valentino Davaz calls “the business card,” accounting for half of the production in 2021. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted twice, February 2024

Bindi Sergardi Tenuta Mocenni Chianti Classico DOCG La Ghirlanda 2021, Vagliagli

Campione: A sample from 2021 and this Ghirlanda is brighter, fresher and airier than its predecessor, but the bones and the verticality remain. The lift and high tone elevate a sangiovese that misses and wants for nothing, in fact it is so perfectly comfortable in its pliable if ageless skin. Annata worthy of a long life and treated with this level of respect which is incidentally incredible considering the other levels of Chianti Classic made at Bindi Sergardi. In any case this will quickly become brilliant Chianti Classico at the Annata level. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted February 2024

Borgo Scopeto Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Vagliagli

Indelibly stamped by Vagliagli and impressively consistent Annata from the Gnudi-Angelini family. May seem like a large bottle output at 170,000 but that is nothing compared to what it could be (without frost vintages) and in relation to other truly large production (a.k.a. commercial) wines. Nothing of the sort here but simply pure Chianti Classico softened and made colourful by five percent each merlot and colorino. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Complicità Chianti Classico DOCG Assolo 2021, Vagliagli

A small and protective amount of reduction which helps in dramatic ways because this Vagliagli Annata comes at the palate in waves. Fruit for the most part with underlying spice but do not sleep on the sneaky structure of this Assolo by upstart Complicità. Complicated in the ways of complexity and variegation, aromatically stunning and then intricately woven with flavours and palate textures. A discovery of the highest order. Terrific work for sangiovese that feels like sangiovese born of a family and their land. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Dievole, Vagliagli

Dievole Chianti Classico Docg 2021, Vagliagli

Classic croccante sangiovese, rich if also herbal and brushy, a liqueur of red fruit that crunches when bitten. “The soul of Dievole,” says Stefano Capurso, representing the 700 hectares and 10-15 percent of that being vineyards predominated by sangiovese. Fermented in conical concrete (75 hL) and aged in botti only, no tonneaux nor barriques neither. A mix of all the terroirs and a philosophy led by agronomist Lorenzo Bertini that places soils microbes for maximum vineyard health to make sure roots dip deep for stones in touch with water. The land is a geological mix of Monte Morello and Macigno del Chianti (Sandstone), of clay, Alberese and Pietraforte. A combination of everything and the result is one of the most well-rounded Annata to be found anywhere in the territory. Do not hesitate because these sweet tannins and refreshing spice make 2021 ready for action. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Fattoria Della Aiola Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Vagliagli

Heady perfume so very Vagliagli but also the extras that five percent each colorino and merlot are want to deliver and infiltrate the sangiovese. Crunchy exterior and conversely chewy inside, like liquorice or al dente spaghetti with moderate structure for a few years of life though the best months have already begun. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Chianti Classico Collection 2024

Chianti Classico DOCG 2020

Casale Dello Sparviero Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Castellina

Noting a change in direction with this juicy and fruit-centric sangiovese with five percent canaiolo that lowers the salty factor that is always a consistent part of Sparviero’s character. Wood not much of a factor to allow the freshness to shine, even out of a warm vintage that in many cases produced very dense wines. Not here and the final clocking is 13.5 percent alcohol. Last tasted May 2024

Canaiolo is used to augment sangiovese and here the five percent matters for the Annata from Casale dello Sparviero. Helps to distract from the barrel but then it seems the overall sentiment is wood and seasoning because the aridity is truly felt at all points on the palate. Needs time and yet the fruit will struggle to survive. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2023

Cecchi Chianti Classico DOCG Baldoni Villa Rosa 2020, Castellina

Ribaldoni is the name of the river and thus the vineyard laid below and around Villa Rosa. A sangiovese expression of its own, combining the scorrevole of SdF and the croccante of Primecolle. An ideal and balanced mix in what is the most layered and combinative of the three, powerful yet restrained and still in a place that feels a few years away from settling in. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted May 2024

Piemaggio Chianti Classico DOCG Le Fioraie 2020, Castellina

Campione: Tight, peppery but only slightly reductive and quite fresh. Breathable and no oxidative moments as with so many samples taken from cask. Still the wine is far from shwoing any semblance of openness or readiness. Tasted February 2024

Borratella Chianti Classico DOCG Insuella 2020, Gaiole

Quite upfront fruit, naturally sweet and teeming with red berries, nary a moment of tart or tang, soft and getable. The five percent cabernet sauvignon so very ripe in 2020 may have played a bigger part than its addendum might have suggested but there is no shortage of ease and playfulness in this ready to go Annata. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted February 2024

Marchesi Frescobaldi Chianti Classico DOCG Tenuta Perano 2020, Gaiole

The 2020 Perano has arrived, showing know what it was once shy to do. Perano is at its juiciest and gifted height, crunchy of fruit still fresh, poised and in control, now into the best the two three years to express its Gaiole character. Last tasted February 2024

You can always feel the white soil of Tenuta Perano and nowhere more so than from Annata level Chianti Classico. More than sangiovese with 10 percent merlot and (5) cabernet sauvignon for a silky smooth 2020 that wants to share its impression as early as it can. Cool and sappy, easy to understand and professional as they come. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted February 2023

Castellinuzza Proprieta Cinuzzi Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Lamole

Notable Brett for Castellinuzza 2020, perhaps a sluggish transition to malolactic being the catalyst to seeing the microbes creep in. Good glycerol in the fruit, rich and calming nature noted for the 95 sangiovese with (3) canaiolo and (2) malvasia nera. Lamole perfume surely captured and so will deliver great appeal to those who can handle a little bit of naturally winking truth in their Chianti Classico. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Susanna Grassi – I Fabbri, Lamole

I Fabbri Chianti Classico DOCG Terra Di Lamole 2020, Lamole

From the lower vineyard which means old vines at 550m, inclusive of a majority that are vines dating back to 1965. A mix of sangiovese (90 percent) and canaiolo, though there are some white grapes growing in the vineyard. Aging 50-50 in concrete and 500L French tonneaux for one year. “A very important vintage for us because it was the 400th anniversary of my family,” says Susanna Grassi, but no celebrations due to Covid, just a special bottling as Gran Selezione instead. Bouquet, acidity and though “lower” elevation for Lamole this is sangiovese that more than easily and credibly maintains the origins of Lamole. The bigger divergence here is vine age and so aromatic concentration is heightened, not necessarily freshness and brightness because this feels like a Lamole of more depth and breadth, but let’s be real. As fas as Chianti Classico are concerned this is about as fresh and crispy as it gets. Last tasted February 2024

The adage must always be repeated. The perfume of Lamole is omnipresent, all-pervasive and impossible to separate from the wines themselves. How and why? The answer is difficult to articulate though it is surely a response to the Macigno soils and the climate circulating in the UGA’s amphitheatre. Stand anywhere on the ring road between Casole and Lamole village and you may just feel as though you are in a rainforest. The sandstones mixed with calcareous rock just has to mean mineral transferral onto fruit that in turn scents floral. Not in the classic bouquet of flowers sense but as an example it is Terra di Lamole by Susanna Grassi that makes all this happen. Behold a sangiovese born in the shadow of the Monti del Chianti that shines in its own special way. Terra di Lamole – the land of the UGA, definite, elegant and full of grace. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted May 2023

Casaloste Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Panzano

Casaloste is Panzano but truth is Casaloste is Casaloste. The oenological and passion project work of Giovanni d’Orsi, self made, self-imposed and critically honest if also loving to work with sangiovese. The 10 percent merlot softens the seriousness and trenchant intention of Chianti Classico that as a wine can’t help but express the extensiveness and also the simple truth that is 2020. Bigger, darker and more intrinsic tannic value but truth is truth and Casaloste’s lets in the light. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

Renzo Marinai Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Panzano

The uncanny note of chocolate mint is there, unequivocally and especially upon the palate. On the nose as well as a reurn to the first addendum to the serious glycerols that thicken and silken the palate. There are many who will see and crave the seduction while others will feel too much wood. In the end and several years forward neither will matter and the wine will deliver a fine sense of harmony. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

Vecchie Terre Di Montefili Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Panzano

Tasted side by each with the 2019 there can be no missing the darker hue, stronger fruit and bolder notes sung by Vecchie Terre di Montefili’s 2020. It’s the vintage and also Panzano that create the unavoidable, each as forceful and imposing as the other. Then agin the trilogy of terroir, weather and place are intrinsic to the sangiovese that arrive each and every season. Big wine, tannins equal to the task and yet evolution will happen faster than 2019. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted February 2024

Caparsa Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Radda

Cement vat spontaneous fermentation (always done this way, manufactured in Val d’Arno, now 53 years old) for 100 percent sangiovese. Warm summer vintage but for Caparsa at 400-450m still very fresh and well, classic. In a perfect window of opportunity at this moment. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted February 2024

Castello Monterinaldi Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Radda

The 2020 Classico is currently on the market while the soon to be bottled ’21 shows as an anteprima though that vintage, as firm and grippy as it may be will entice and delight sooner than most. In fact the 2020 is in nearly the same kind of place and so this tells us that. Monterinaldi’s position in Radda and microclimate produce wines like no other. Their wines move like the turtle, aging low and slow, even if they showed up ready and willing from the start. For Monterinaldi there was no hydric stress and the growing season delivered a consistent and constant five month phenolic development. This was a 35-40 day skin-contract maturation without worrying about extracting green tannins. Only six to seven months of aging in wood and this all adds up to doing things differently than many neighbours and other UGA positioned estates. Last tasted February 2023

No other 2020 seems to scent like this from Monterinaldi and so it is more than worth commenting on the sense of place that is their southwestern Radda location. Herbal and dried flower potpourri but also something unknowable, intangible, even mysterious. Yes there is some early reduction but it can’t suppress the open-air meets underbrush perfume. Equanimity between maceration and fermentation makes this a candidate for top mid-term aging Annata, in other words begin drinking soon and make great use for three to four years thereafter. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted March 2022

Cortedomina Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Radda

Lean, angular and tart, middle palate filled in and softened by 20 percent merlot. Not really tannic per se and easily ready for consumption. Tasted February 2024

Tenuta Di Campomaggio Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Radda

Every year we take the fruit from the three vineyards and say, which one is the most Radda,” says Giacomo Castellani. Not necessarily the best one but the one that is most representative of Radda. The plots are Ginestraia and Olmo marked by stony terroirs of Pietraforte, Macigno and Pietraforte again, highest, mid-slope and in the newest vineyard. Lithe, transparent, ethereal and so floral. A sangiovese in which the sweet natural fruit and also acidity are seamless, together, one in the same. Don’t come here looking for musculature or verticality – that is not this Annata. This is the sangiovese you want to have a second glass and truthfully the bottle will easily disappear. Last tasted May 2024

Raddese from the start, acids singing, zinging and slinging the lightning red fruit to the fore. In youth clearly dusty while a clarity and purity exists in a vacuum where lightness mixed with barrel make for a truly spirited Chianti Classico. Expressly and dutifully Radda sangiovese. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted March 2022

Val Delle Corti Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, Radda

A blend of parcels, many 25-30 years of age. Was a great spring during lockdown, long, sunny, pure through April and then suddenly cool and rainy in May. Then what followed was a variable, unsteady summer. Not the most equilibrium with late September cold and rain. Some difficulty in the selection because of differences in ripening. What does all that adversity, especially as it pertains to Radda add up to? Well, for one thing Roberto Bianchi’s Annata ’21 smells and tastes like Radda, transparent in its openness, cool, herbal and savoury. Truly, expressly, ostensibly and allegedly Radda with sangiovese born and raised in a very specific, high elevation part of Chianti Classico. Definitive, Macigno-stony and age-worthy, if not the fleshiest of them all. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted December 2023 and February 2024

Poggio Torselli Il Contadino Cusano Chianti Classico DOCG 202o, San Casciano

Big fruit year and a sangiovese with 15 percent merlot (which also happened in 2015 and 2016). Chewy and with some stewed if also drying character that old barriques and the merlot conspired to deliver from a hot and bold vintage. This ’20 is already turning the corner into its next phase. Drink up! Tasted February 2024

Cantina Tuscania Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, San Donato In Poggio

Truly low production for varietal San Donato in Poggio sangiovese and the warmth of 2020 juices the full extraction of blood orange for distinctive Chianti Classico. Pressed for success, macerated to gauge interest with all parts fulsome at the intersect of acid and tannin. Wait six months and drink for two more years. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Casa Sola Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, San Donato In Poggio

The blend is 90 percent sangiovese with (4 each) canaiolo and cabernet sauvignon pus (2) merlot. This mélange of grapes augments sangiovese but you simply can’t take the San Donato in Poggio soil and climate from out of this Annata. Warming and blood orange juiced, as sanguine as they come though neither hearty nor gamey. Crispy sangiovese, tart and high acid, classically styled of tradition and sense of place. San Donato as a UGA is the ace up the sleeve and time is needed to integrate the grapes and structural parts. Great strides taken from this estate. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2024

Fattoria Le Fonti Chianti Classico DOCG 2020, San Donato In Poggio

Clearly and in this regard also distinctly San Donato in Poggio if edging towards the wood spiced and herbal side of the UGA. Yet another blood orange vintage and this is more than merely a trend, here a 2020 well macerated seemingly for two plus weeks or more to come away with this grand textural wine. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

The Sommeliers of the Chianti Classico Collection 2024

Chianti Classico DOCG (Older Vintages)

Castell’In Villa Chianti Classico DOCG 2019, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Imagine the baseline and then the ceiling for Chianti Classico. Draw from as much experience as you have and then extrapolate towards the greatest of a vintage’s potential. Then put your nose into Castell’In Villa 2019. Everything rises to the surface and presents itself to be noticed. Note the calm, the precision and finesse, reach out and touch the fruit, recognize the quality and fitness of the acidity and realize potential, compounded in understanding after allowing the purity of the sangiovese to rest upon the palate. As near perfect and essential as it gets for Castell’In Villa without boundaries or limitations. Last tasted February 2024

Leave to Castell’in Villa to do not just the right thing but carry the weight of necessity and hold back Annata to a point where it can be tasted and assessed with the respect it so richly deserves. Though this Castelnuovo Berardenga estate and their historic vineyards are equipped to create magic in the most challenging of vintages, well when a season like 2019 is gifted then the magic turns to the supernatural. Fruit is everything, as it must be and the aspects of climate, fermentation, maturation and all the accruements of seasoning add up to a speciality as no other Chianti Classico will create. This is a very special vintage of Castell’in Villa and one to rival any Riserva or Gran Selezione made in this vintage. Will live in infamy. Drink 2025-2038. Tasted February 2023

I Fabbri Chianti Classico DOCG Terra Di Lamole 2019, Lamole

Surprisingly tannic, still in a state of structural fortification. Though the predominance of crispy sangiovese is what occupies our thoughts the rocks and stones are by far the strongest players. Last tasted February 2024

The top “tier” Annata in Susanna Fabbri’s range is this main terroir sangiovese, the Terre di Lamole. Lamole at heights, in hyperbole, expressive and of course, so very perfumed. A veritable potpourri of Macigno del Chianti and all the florals imagined, tied up in one red petalled, native herb and mineral bouquet. Grace and understated charm, seamlessness and the sort of structure that build and builds but does so without mortar between the stones. Natural and beautiful. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted March 2022

Vecchie Terre Di Montefili Chianti Classico DOCG 2019, Panzano

Can’t miss the terroir, bosco and micro-climate in the 2019 varietal sangiovese by Vecchie Terre di Montefili. In fact the troika comes to one decision, effect and result for a verdant and silken Annata that speaks to the ease and fullness of the vintage. Just that correct amount of swarthiness and verdancy, an evergreen streak and fineness of acidity that are purely and unequivocally Panzano. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Carus Vini Chianti Classico DOCG Baldéro 2019, San Casciano

Showing some maturity or rather this sangiovese has matured to a point where the producer is comfortable with its release. May be 2019 and so not a true 2024 anteprima but instead an Annata that has shed its shackles to now be expressive of its San Casciano origins. Balanced in mid weight, tart blood orange juiciness and no lack for shilling a high level of continuing grip. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Dievole Chianti Classico DOCG Casanova 2019, Vagliagli

The first of three sangiovese under the auspices of the cru project to feature the sensitivity of the variety to different soil conditions. The sensation gained on the nose from Casanova is something very red, part fruit and part mineral from a Macigno soil. Makes for a gentle, restrained and finessed Classico, “reminding me of the sangiovese made in the 1980s” remembers Stefano Capurso. Blood orange bled from clay, linear as a factor of the stones in the small 2.5 hectare sandy vineyard and easy in terms of concentration. A lovely mid-term ager as a pure cru-focused sangiovese. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Dievole Chianti Classico DOCG Catignano 2019, Vagliagli

From a round hill of 20 hectares facing full south, direction Siena. Calcareous Monte Morello soils with the clays and a windy place. A place of slow maturation where warm days and cold nights alternate. A different expression especially as compared to the Casanova, bigger, broader and yet spicy, of dusty and balsamico acidity. Plenty of lift here and it announces itself with a much noisier voice while the palate is richer and the texture thickens upon the palate. Second vintage of this cru, just about ready to go with only six months or so needed to get there. A bit austere, more so than Casanova and Petrignano. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted February 2024

Dievole Chianti Classico DOCG Petrignano 2019, Vagliagli

From a vineyard at 350m, fully on Monte Morello formations, dual hillside site with Alberese more to one side and so there are two sides of this wine. Made in the same way as the other two Classico cru, from oak tanks to botti. Of the three cru wines it is Petrignano that holds the most concentration beautifully offset by high ranking and very sweet acidity. It feels like Petrignano is the one to pour for a consumer who wants these layers of complexity and richness. Holding its form quite well. Last tasted February 2024

Petrignano is what Dievole assigns the lede of “a nuova voce del Chianti Classico,” a new voice, especially at the Annata level. The Gran Selezione is from Vigna Sessina and here 2019 is spoken through the younger vines and more precocious if not fully yet understood vineyard of Petrignano. Certainly a fresh and savoury Annata, sour citrus chalky and very primary. Almost nouveau but without the carbonic yet still this is as light and potentially sumptuous as it gets. Drink 2022-2023. Tasted February 2022

Bucciarelli Antico Podere Casanova Chianti Classico DOCG 2018, Castellina

Reductive and conversely yet also complementary traditional, of mature fruit subjected to early oxidation as a protection against hasty advancement and then retreat. Bucciarelli’s pure sangiovese does in fact exist in a vacuum with elevated volatile acidity and a modicum of Brettnomyces though neither push the limits of danger. No in fact this 2018 is Chianti Classico so well structured to defy age and see aging as a necessary condition for what it shall become. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted February 2024

Sophie Conte – Tregole

Tregole Chianti Classico DOCG 2018, Castellina

Third vintage for Sophie Conte’s Annata from a wet and challenging year because of clement weather and disease pressure. Cement ferment followed by barriques (already quite old) and also tonneaux, for a year. Leaner yet just about as rigid still, as noted in the 2016. Consistent with 2016, wood on top, toasty, of orange skin, citrus and wet stone that sangiovese will show in certain vintages. Still pretty tannic and again, really curious to taste when you consider how much will have been learned and changed by the time Sophie Conte gets to 2022. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted May 2024

Tenuta Carobbio Chianti Classico DOCG 2018, Panzano

Not the greatest of vintages, especially at harvest and Dario Faccin has known this, but his opinion has changed after a few years of aging. Like 1996 (especially compared to 1997) and namely because the tannins are persistently fresh. A slowed down maturation in September and into October is the reason. Yes it was warm every day and yet cold at night and yes there is some maturity to the fruit but the tannins are so refined. Aging in big botti has only helped these beautifully soft tannic sensations gained on the palate. Acidity kept and balance afforded for a great result. Last tasted February 2024

A vintage of pure sapidity for Carobbio and Panzano, namely because of the late warm vintage conditions mediated by cold nights but mainly due to humidity through mineral accumulation in Galestro soils with shards here and there of Calcari and Pietraforte. Length is Cariobbio length, seemingly never-ending, glorious and rising. Grande Dario and team, this 2018 will live as long as any Annata in the territory. Vintages from the 80s, 90s and also those early in this decade have paved the road for an Annata like 2018 to live a very long life. Tasted May 2023

Then comes along Carobbio with a wine older than almost any other Annata in the collection and yet even from 2018 this sangiovese has yet to hit its stride. Dark fruit of baritone voice and depth puts this in unique territory and it would seem the grapes were mainly picked later, after the two day heat spike at September’s culmination. That said low nighttime temps kept the acidity and so 2018 from Carobbio should age as well as any Riserva and many Gran Selezione from the vintage. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted February 2023

La Querce Seconda Chianti Classico DOCG 2018, San Casciano

High level aromatic vintage for La Querce Seconda’s Annata 2018 because of heat accumulated through many days of temperature adding up to this. Major lift and smoulder but also a small percentage of Brettanomyces. A bit distracting to be honest but all is fair in love, war, alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Tregole Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Castellina

First real vintage for Sophie Conte, no temperature control and longer (20 day) fermentation than what’s happening today. Cement, followed by barriques (already quite old). Holding court and hanging well though you can feel the wood. The notes are balsamico, liquorice and chewy leathery fruit and the wine is clearly more interesting now than it would have been in its early years. “Pouring you this wine is like showing you a picture of myself in high school. It’s a little bit weird,” says Sophie. Regardless the DNA of sangiovese grown at Tregole is what the picture shows. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Castellaccio Chianti Classico DOCG Coste Di Felice 2016, Greve

Bruised and oxidized. Tasted February 2024

I Fabbri, Lamole

I Fabbri Chianti Classico DOCG Terra Di Lamole 2012, Lamole

“What I remember is a nice harvest in Lamole,” says Susanna Grassi. “A regular vintage.” Aromas are mature and the palate is über fresh, full of energy, revitalizing for sipping and also expressive of the Lamole perfume. Cool, ethereal, ever so slightly salt-inflected and purposefully proper. An expression of culture and the story of old vines in an old vineyard. With a wedge of aged Parmigiana from a special breed of cow there become this exotic mix of acids and cultures that bring it all together. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Conti Capponi/Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico DOC 1969

DOC World: The annunciation of a document eventually to become the DOC; the Chianti wine famous worldwide. Just 356 years after the height of Niccola Capponi’s life and a time when the “Modo di Fare Il Vino Alla Franzese” was the winemaking order of that day in Firenze. Sixty years after Torquato Guarducci and the announcement that quality mattered little for merchants, so long as the bottle said “Chianti.” Piero Capponi was at the lead of changing this and was one of the 33 producers that created the consortium in 1924. Eight years later in 1932 the “Classico” is added, to distinguish the original Chianti delimited by Cosimo de Medici in 1716. Full on mushroom consomée at this stage 55 years after vintage, a porcini broth with drops of citrus and so fully balsamico-forest floor. Smells like chestnuts and yes the 50,000 bottles produced were fermented in chestnut wood vats. Can’t miss the linger of natural sweetness. As for the grapes involved, well that’s open to interpretation, especially considering some various red and white grapes were surely involved, including those from vines put in that had recently arrived from the Florence nursery without labels (due to flooding). Never mind because the acidity and persistence without absolute death is so bloody impressive for a Chianti Classico from 1969. Tasted May 2024

Dinner at Fizzano, Rocca delle Macíe

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021

Rocca Delle Macìe Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021, Castellina

Though 2022 is such a fine, amenable and drinkable vintage and 2021 more compacted in so many ways – well when you make a cuvée of all your Castellina estates and choose only the finer grapes – you can make a very proper and promising Riserva. Cool, just a kiss of wood and saltiness, violets and a bit of rounding softness from cabernet sauvignon. Sees 12-14 months in barrel and comes away rich, nurturing and silky smooth. For now and a few years but not much longer. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted December 2023 and February 2024

Tregole Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021, Castellina

Bottled in November of 2023 and slated for imminent release. Floral yet reserved aromas and unequivocally sangiovese. La Riserva ages in (old) tonneaux of 700L and barriques. More brightness and freshness than the lion’s share of this appellative level in Chianti Classico, crisp and crunchy for Riserva but ultimately a matter of a specific vineyard, planted in 1985, as in the lower part beneath the younger vines. The warmest location where Ginestra blooms earlier and the fruit is saucy, a salsa of sangiovese, “sucoso,” the juices running from rare roast beef. But also blood orange and so a pulpy sensation. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted May 2024

Fattoria San Giusto A Rentennano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Le Baròncole 2021, Gaiole

Campione: Sample from Fattoria San Giusto a Rentennano but my goodness what freshness, spirit and energy from Riserva 2021. Flies from the glass and grabs the senses by the tips and will not let go. Substantial does not begin to describe the feeling or do justice to assessment from what will surely become one of Luca Martini di Cigala’s long-lived and essential Le Baròncole to pour and revel in for a decade or two forward. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted February 2024

Le Miccine Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021, Gaiole

Campione: Also oxidative, lustre lost and energy waning. Hard to taste and assess late on day two of an Anteprima. Tasted February 2024

Gagliole Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021, Panzano

Truly youthful Riserva from Gagliole and a representation of 2021 that we as tasters simply want to drink. The nose delivers sweet mineral sensations drawn through Pietraforte stone and simply rendered juiciness with negligible to almost no noticeable barrel. Spicy and tart, tannic and linear, vertical and built for the perfect space between Annata, Gran Selezione and big boy IGT. This is what we call the sweet spot. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021, Panzano

A bit closed, not locked in or shut tight but quiet, in waiting, always the hardest part. Not the palate however, expressive, shot through with acidity, quite intense and with a few minutes passing the aromatics begin to come around. What is that scent? What perfume is that? A Panzano savour, balsamico, Pietraforte as active rock in transference to sangiovese. Sneaky tannins and conspicuous if clear-cut structure, elegant wine, not ready, a true Riserva. Would that it were a blast from the past but manifested clean, crisp and modern. Tops for Molino di Grace at this appellative level. Last tasted February 2024

Campione (Sample): Riserva is high quality in 2021 though lessened in quantity thanks to an angry April frost around Easter time. Nothing much has changed in that Riserva takes the best fruit from special vineyards including that of Al Bosco. Very youthful so bottling in November or December may by necessary but there is tension, a twitchiness and an aggressive personality that speaks to top level structure. This will age very well. Smaller production of 18,000 bottles. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted October 2023

Vineyard at Monte Bernardi, Panzano

Monte Bernardi Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021, Panzano

Purely from Galestro soil planted in 1968, lower down than the Pietraforte soil with five percent canaiolo field blended in the vineyard. Ages in large cask (only Stockinger) for 16 months followed by three in bottle. Almost seems better to compare this to 2021 Retromarcia (committed to memory) than the other ’22 wines because the vintages at Monte Bernardi are so very different. Though this may have shown like a closed stone (a Schmelzer quote) it still would have been more open then the 2020’s and is surely now come further as a result of this vintage’s progression. Generosity and energy, subtle “sfumatore” aromas and flavours here, there, in nooks and crannies, a Macerazione Piedmontese, 45-50 days post fermentation (60 total) on skins. The epitome of scorrevole. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Monte Bernardi Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Sa’Etta 2021, Panzano

Purely from Pietraforte (sandstone) soil, higher up than the Galestro and while the vineyard houses five percent canaiolo it is not included in the Sa’etta Riserva. Ages another year in bottle, nine months longer than the (Galestro) Riserva. Is this similar to the sister Riserva? The short answer is yes because the long maceration creates the texture and the palate succulence but the tannins are longer chained, shadowy in their aggression and attention but also so, so refined. Bigger and broader sangiovese as Riserva for 2021 though purity begets fineness and then bequeaths potential. Tasted again, February 2024

Sa’Etta the block, planted in 1968. Sa’Etta ’21, well it would be hard not to be seduced and hypnotized by the beauty of this wine. Precision, clarity, focus, purity, style, grace, elegance – all of the above. Sees two years in 3000L Stockinger (Austrian Botti Grande) and comes away in the most vertical way. A mix of substantiality and weightlessness for sangiovese (with five percent canaiolo) so well adjusted to life as the varietal pillars they are, in this historic vineyard, as they are known. Vines as the Stonehenge of Panzano, in appearance and for the timeless Riserva they deliver. Drink 2025–2035. Tasted February 2024

Brancaia Riserva Chianti Classico DOCG 2021, Radda

The opposite of light and juicy but looking for elegance through aging 16 months in tonneaux for the sangiovese and barriques for the merlot, on average 50 percent new. Outstanding vintage says Barbara Widmer, as opposed to ’20 merely being “good.“ But they are one in the same in many ways, acidity still thriving, fruit full and substantial, tannins very much in charge. True Riserva style, always and seemingly forever. Last tasted April 2024

Brancaia Riserva takes off where Annata leaves off and seems a bit agitated at this early stage. Even with 20 percent merlot there is an uneasiness about the sangiovese and this may not be the best time to seek the truth. Nevertheless the 2021’s lift, heft and breadth indicate a swirl of substance in fruit that precedes structure, while power knows how much it’s in control. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Albola Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021, Radda

Riserva 2021 does by Albola what ’22 Annata could not but we know that the comparison is simply unfair. Nothing against the next vintage and a sample or just bottled wine is a tough nut to crack but this, this 2021 is a lovely wine. A Radda speciality from a top vineyard of impressive elevation, slope and exposure. The sangiovese it breathes from the high quality, low quantity vintage is equal parts fruit freshness and sweet savour. Acidity follows suit and then softness remains. Drink soon! Drink 2024-2026. Last tasted February 2024

Quite a pure red cherry fruit and simply structured Albola with early accessibility from a vintage much restricted in such matters. This is clearly designed to be purchased and cracked with haste to seek immediate gratification. Simple and proud. Well made. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted February 2023

Castello Di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021, Radda

Fine swirl of sangiovese with the highest quality 2021 fruit that must and will show the fineness of Volpaia’s high elevation Radda no matter the quantity gained or lost. And the vintage was not easy though the estate’s position was a plus for making cool and fresh Riserva from the vaults of a hot vintage. For Volpaia this is darker fruit, not full-on 2020 dark but thankfully the location is there to keep deep breathes alive with the freshest of Raddese air. Still this is bigger for Riserva and bones are truly strong. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Istine Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Levigne 2021

After experimenting for a few years this is Angela Front’s first use of whole bunches intero, approximately 20 percent in the mix, to wildly aromatic acclaim. Seriously, for better, worse or best, of a floral intensity now announced, with immediacy and the flavours burst, pop and finally explode upon the palate. Wholly complex notions and diversions that take you, here, there and everywhere. Dios mio Batman! Fronti has mixed in different percentages of whole bunch, 10 at first, 50 in the fermentative middle and 40 at another to arrive at the average of 20 and the final result is something extraordinary. You simply can’t look or turn away. The energy is palpable and infectious. Drama! Emozione. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

L’Erta Di Radda Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2021, Radda

Campione: Perfectly intact place, tact and effect as Riserva from Diego Finnochi at L’Erta di Radda. There is no doubt this sangiovese (and note no canaiolo in the Riserva) has many more acts and scenes to play out, but even at this earliest of early stages it is expressive of the concepts, ideals and plans that nature, the maker and life have in store. Amazing fruit quality, purity and succulence with acidity so Radda and ripe for these vineyards. Preferably speaking the time to drink 2021 would be three years forward but those who find bottles will have a hard time waiting that long. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted February 2024

Monteraponi Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Campitello 2021, Radda

Campione: Oxidative, soured and overtly tang-inflected example which means the end of a bottle on day two is no way to taste and assess a wine as important as this. Tasted February 2024

With Consorzio President Giovanni Manetti and Director Carlotta Gori

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020

Famiglia Cecchi Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Villa Cerna 2020, Castellina

From the “Primocolle,” the first Villa Rosa hill comprising two vineyards, Solatino and Solare, for Riserva. A mix of luxe and savoury for what is ostensibly terroir relatable Riserva. Much more specific to its two part sense of place then say five years ago and so more focus at this stage of its tenure. Chewy fruit, somewhat leathery, indicative of Primocolle and exaggerated by the warm vintage. Also an herbaceous quality which is also a matter of how the hill translates sangiovese. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted May 2024

Pomona’s Cosimo Selvi, Monica Raspi and Enrico Selvi

Fattoria Pomona Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Vigna Pomona L’Uomino 2020, Castellina

The artist formerly known as Bandini is not a Riserva of selection but one made from all the grapes picked out of the single Vigna Pomona. The fantasy name “L’Uomini” neither denotes uomo della strada nor uomo d’affari but definitely uomo d’onore and uomo alla mano because this Riserva cares. The vines would have been 23 years of age for this vintage and the resulting wine is spicier than the Annata, but also exhibits an exaggeration of the local balsamico. A kind of resin in there, a natural cure, savoury and like incense some might say. It is the strident and taut character that defines what’s really going on though this shall pass. Yet another example of just how well 2020s communicate and explain their potential. Slow development ahead and in the end will be a vintage held in great esteem. L’Uomini is not a man of the street or just about business. He is friendly and wears a badge of honour. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Mazzei Ser Lapo Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Ser Lapo 2020, Castellina

Ten percent merlot rounds out the sangiovese but also lends a bolder character, darker of fruit and quicker to the conflagration of alcohol, body and depth. The result is a Riserva that comes at you straight away in delivery of a warmer and more direct to palate vintage-relatable sangiovese. Riserva of a replicate kind, from nose to nose, sip to sip and middle ground structure so very easy to assess. Drink this now or hold for two to three years. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Nardi Viticoltori Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Castellina

“The Riserva is our diamond, in general,” says Giacomo Nardi, a reference truly applicable to his new vintage that is 2020. Same postcard of Castellina and the best selection of 100 percent sangiovese chosen from four parcels within the 10 hectares of the planted vineyard. Picked in and around the 10th of October, refined in Tuscan wood. A matter of elegant tannin following a local balsamico nose, a particularity of Tuscan wood and Riserva in the Nardi style. Riserva that captures sangiovese at peak no matter how late the harvest might be and that is truly important. Impressive acumen, protective fruit under a shaded canopy and gut instincts at harvest time to be followed for successful results. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted February 2024

Tregole Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Castellina

A good example of a sample, rich and my goodness the fruit and tannins are exceptional, full, established and intertwined. The potential here is positive and one could imagine that the next one for Sophie Conte’s 2021 Riserva will be unlimited. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

San Felice Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Il Grigio 2020, Castelnuovo Berardenga

There is some peppery character especially on the aromatics and all the while the spices plus balsamic elements are consistent with the Annata, both from 2020 and 2021. Fruit is the same sourcing as the Annata but here the substantial quality by selection and extra aging in wood (mainly Botti Grandi, none of it new) means more weight and texture. Glycerol now, a silky-smooth elixir with chic style and more variegate tones. Ambient and plenty of succulence. Good structure from 2020. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Arturo Pallanti, Lorenza Sebaste and Marco Pallanti – Castello di Ama, Gaiole

Castello Di Ama Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Montebuoni 2020, Gaiole

Not atypical for the vintage and as Riserva the Montebuoni 2020 is so representative of all that is suave, stylish, ripe, fresh and free. The selection of fruit, warmth of weather, extra six-plus months of aging and finally appellative conditioning all add up to soft, mature and sweet endowment,. Not many reasons to wait or stack these away on the racks or in diamonds of the cellar. This is a vintage to drink, now, soon and with gratifying expectation. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Fattoria San Giusto A Rentennano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Le Baròncole 2020, Gaiole

A beautiful harvest balanced by the last part of the summer with good morning temperatures and a reminder that the winter provided more snow than any season in the last 20-30 years. This is Riserva with a good balance between body and acidity. Luca’s nephew Federico sees both the ’20 Riserva and Percarlo as good as any that have ever come from San Giusto. He is correct when he comments about a balance that will endure. Last tasted February 2024

Barrel sample and the youth of this San Giusto wine is something too behold. A fortification equal to both Siena and Firenze combined. Le Baròncole is serious, stone-faced and impressive. My goodness. Score and full assessment reserved to a much later date. Tasted February 2023

I Sodi Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Gaiole

Heady and lifted aromas, spicy, intense and certainly a level of sauvage. More substance and layers of fruit than ever before. Tang in ways no other Gaiole sangiovese will show, no matter that 10 percent of softening merlot should round out the wine, especially at Riserva level. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted May 2023 and February 2024

La Montanina Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Gaiole

A combination of frescezza and warmth with fruit that yes is fresh but there is both weight and tension to this Riserva. Truly appellative, very wisely and obviously Gaiole, rich and yet vertical, tight and still fleshy so that you have to see this as generous. Top drop for La Montanana between 2015 and 2020. Last tasted December 2023 and February 2024.

My what a lovely Riserva! Fruit succulent and sweet and swirled so effortlessly into equally mouthwatering acidity of pitch perfect tone. Yes there is Gaiole savour and it’s presence is as a seasoning, with chef’s ability, emotion and touch. As for 2020 well this from La Montanina delves into passion and the aforementioned emozione as well and as much as any Riserva in the Classico area. Brava, Oretta Leonini. Grande Gaiole! Drink 2024-2032. Tasted February 2023

Marchesi Frescobaldi Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Tenuta Perano 2020, Gaiole

Google the words Perano + Gaiole + Chianti Classico and the first result should very well be “Tenuta Perano Chianti Classico Riserva Docg 2020, Gaiole.” Inescapable essence of Perano, essential sector of Gaiole and established representative of Chianti Classico. This is Riserva, a selection from the 90 hectares encompassing much of the estate, creating a sum total so substantial to see this 2020 as spokeswine for this agricultural place. Properly reductive while luxe and forward because in this case selectivity begets seduction, balance and structure. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted December 2023

Carpineto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Greve

Campione: A sample, lifted, high spirited and high elevation Greve raised for sangiovese that’s in a league and class of its own. Richness and a swirl of fruit meeting wood that only acidity can tame. Its does and there is a low level amount of Brettanomyces that distracts. Tannins are a touch brittle as a consequence. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Querciabella Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Greve

The first vintage where this is a nice percentage of sangiovese from Casole (out of the Lamole UGA) and yet another warm vintage. Once again it is that fruit that brings the lift. That and the small amount of whole bunch which winemaker Manfred Ing says “I can smell it” and you know something, he’s absolutely right. Crunchy Riserva or as they say, croccantezza, layered like the Annata with the volume turned up, oak usage not so, fruit more perfumed and again that lift which is so important. The delicate nature and delicacy of sangiovese is respected and preserved, the drink-ability factor as high as it has ever been. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Verrazzano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Montefioralle

Riserva is a thing of beauty and richness from 2020 for a vintage of raw power though with this sangiovese Verrazzano finds both restraint and controlled nervousness. The acidity is just about as well captured, preserved and musical as it gets for both appellation and vintage. An indication of present tense Verrazzano with this nervosity that’s never over the top or in danger of crossing into next level territory. The age worthiness of 2020 is tops. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Panzano

Showing vibrant and racy today, a really great place for Riserva, any Riserva that is but add in the current day trenchant intention to make fresher and cleaner sangiovese. Crispy if you will, dictated by the Pietraforte of these southeastern hills of Panzano. The 2020 has found its way and the window is now open. Will stay in this ideal drinking state for four to five more years. Last tasted February 2024

Eight months later and Iacopo Morganti exclaims “Molto Buono!” The wood has not fully integrated, nor was that expected but now the aggressive aspects are relenting and the fruit-acid relationship is developing into the extraordinary. Another eight months and this will enter the “zone.” Tasted October 2023

In line with the Classico yet with better quality material chosen there is higher acidity and that matters greatly. Tannins are finer as well, yet that same darkness of pitchy and perfumed fruit is consistent with tighter and stronger grip. Must be granted another year in bottle to settle the strongholds and the score. The barrel has much to say right how, noted in grains running through the veins of the sangiovese. Older vines including Al Bosco are Riserva bound. The linger and length on this is infinite, at least in Riserva terms. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2023

Le Fonti Di Panzano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Panzano

La Riserva is a factor and a child of vintage warmth, nurturing and in Le Fonti’s Panzano hands it comes away finely tuned. A full fruity expression with profound acidity and long chains of sangiovese tannin. The 10 percent cabernet sauvignon and merlot do effect the outcome but in these vineyards they act more Panzano than varietal when used as salt and pepper seasoning. Length is outstanding which speaks to a potential that will mean longer age-ability than many by this Riserva’s peers. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Fattoria Rignana Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Panzano

Led by sangiovese with 15 percent cabernet franc, mainly chosen in the vineyard because explains Cosimo Gericke, “over the years I know the vineyard and which ones produce the best sangiovese.” Spends two years in small and also large wood (Slavonian botti) but the barriques are being phased out in these years. Dark fruit, rich, deep and yes it’s a woody example of Riserva but it’s suave, mature, experienced and so very real within this kind of style. Full and substantial wine with really soft and fine tannins. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Arillo In Terrabianca Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Poggio Croce 2020, Radda

When when you take a sip of sangiovese and think aloud “wow, that’s pretty good,” well then something special is in the glass. Riserva Poggio Croce is a veritable glide of sangiovese in tutto, clear, present, clean and giving. A touch of residual sappy oak persists and will need to resolve before this as Riserva feels in touch with Poggio Croce and this unique part of Radda. That said the 2020 is not as big a wine as many in the territory, which is to say something very positive about what the (new) team is after. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2024

Brancaia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Radda

Famiglia Cianferoni – Caparsa, Radda

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Doccio A Matteo 2020, Radda

Doccio a Matteo meaning the “spring” comes from the same vineyards as the Classico but as a selection because the top and bottom sections mature differently. The Riserva may not be the “freshest” but they are the best grapes that can be harvested. Includes three percent of colorino and aged in grandi botti of 1000L size. Calm and subtly fortified, open-knit and generous. Already there and will hold for several years. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Caparsino 2020, Radda

The Caparsino always needs more time than both the Caparso and the Doccio a Matteo. Needs hours of air bit Paolo Cianferoni can’t explain why. Tannins surely, tighter chained and layered. These are chewier tannins and the only wine that’s simply not ready to drink. Rustic perhaps but when things stretch and elasticize there will be no shortage of penance served and southwestern Radda on offer. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted February 2024

Val Delle Corti Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, Radda

Riserva comes from the steep 1974 vineyard to the left (north) of the house planted by Roberto Bianchi’s father Giorgio, aged for 30 months in botti and tonneaux. A true single plot that may or may not as well be wink-wink, nudge-nudge Gran Selezione. Cool and ethereal like Annata 2020 with some spice cupboard arriving at the same time as the tannins for that unresolved protein powder feeling. Still it is understood that Val delle Corti’s sangiovese are youthful, fresh, crunchy and tart. Full and corpulent with potential being the thing about this 2020 and what’s required to see it open three years later before beginning to tell its true story. A bit raw or “crudo” at this stage. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted December 2023 and February 2024

Calcamura Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, San Casciano

Campione: Sample of sweet fruit, closed and intense with early the operative to sense and feel what’s coming. Tannins locked in tight with our palates bracing for impact. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Gabbiano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, San Casciano

Richness incarnate, soft, billowy and downy texture but high ranging acidity puts the Gabbiano Riserva in a fine state to impress. The expression is pure richesse, velvet mouthfeel, sleekness and beauty. That acidity is the driver and will keep the flow, but also spirit alive for a few years yet. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Tenuta Tignanello 2021, San Casciano

Honestly speaking it would be hard not to recognize the hundreds of years of heritage and history in a wine that bears the name of the Marchesi. Not feeling the experience would not be paying attention and not seeing the professionalism would indicate a journalistic lapse in judgement. The 2021 Riserva is sleek (from vineyard) and sturdy by design. Vertical vintage, lower in quantity to a degree and higher in phenolics to a fault. A good one that is. Sangiovese con altre varietà complementari, part endemic and part expatriate. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Marchesi Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Villa Antinori 2021

The Villa as Riserva is a great compliment to the Marchesi, not grossly different but less of a linear, structured and age-worthy wine. Swifter and sweeter in the natural fruit sense, swelling with glycerin and pectin invoking flavours. This is the one that imagines so much fruit and generosity in the easiest of drinking ways. Truly getable and as Riserva bridges the gap between Annata and more elevated if also serious appellative examples. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Poggio Torselli Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, San Casciano

A few more points of merlot than the Annata, up to 20 percent here and a dusty, also slightly musty Riserva, though acidity is quite fine. Two years in barriques but also the 3000L Grenier botti. More energy than Anaata but also more savour and verdancy. Drink over the next two years. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Duccio Corsini – Villa Le Corti, San Casciano

Villa Le Corti Principe Corsini Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Cortevecchia 2020, San Casciano

As with Le Corti Annata the wines see 27hL casks and colorino is used, “only for the tradition.” The Cortavecchia is intrinsically connected to the Annata, they are brethren and the selection between one and the other happens after fermentation. First comes the spezzaturra and then the division. The river stone soil earthiness is carnale not animale and from 2020 there is more flesh and body then before. This means more settling and grounding but also roundness than what happened in 2018, but also surely what will come from 2021. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Casa Emma Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Vignalparco 2020, San Donato In Poggio

Campione: A sample though surely as close to the finished product as it will get for this 100 percent sangiovese. Hard not to note and feel the commodiousness of the vintage, from fruit phenolic in its well developed ripeness, acids fortifying, tannins stronger than ever before. Harder to express the vineyard (Alparco) and more challenging to shine a light but this is Emma and San Donato so be sure to taste the sanguine orange ornateness of the wine. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, San Donato In Poggio

While there have been several warm vintages over the last five or six for Chianti Classico there are few that deliver this combination of concentration juxtaposed against such a high level of tannic command. The ’20 Riserva is essentially immovable at this early stage and should rightly require 18 further months to shed some of its assigned consignment, to unburden, lighten and be set free. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted February 2024

Cinciano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2020, San Donato In Poggio

Somewhere between six and seven thousand bottles are produced of this 100 percent sangiovese, from several vineyards and so the cuvée is indeed a selection. Definite spice cupboard of aromatics, coriander and ground red pepper, red fruit powder and then more attention paid because the wood is strong early on. Will be needing some time to liquify the chalkiness and emulsify into the textural fabric of the wine. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May 2023 and February 2024

Il Poggiolino Chianti Classico La Riserva DOCG 2020, San Donato In Poggio

Really unique for Classico and also San Donato aromatics, somewhat herbaceous, lifted and floral. Definitely salty while well-seasoned, namely with white pepper and a curious note of mirto. Quite a swath of unresolved wood and very much a thickened texture. As Riserva and especially San Donato goes this will need and benefit from time in bottle. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted May 2023 and February 2024

Podere La Cappella Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Querciolo 2020, San Donato In Poggio

Vineyards are 24-25 year-old for Riserva with some (25 percent) new barriques used for aging. Soft yet elastic tannins equip this 2020 for deeper term aging to the end of its first decade. Once again it is a matter of vintage and this one will see Riserva last several years longer than the Annata. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted May 2023 and February 2024

Bindi Sergardi Chianti Classico Riserva Calidonia DOCG 2020, Vagliagli

Campione: A sample and always Calidonia – Calidonia, the three vineyard (Vigna della signora Chiara, Finocchi and Perone) from Mocenni estate as Riserva that is the sangiovese incarnation of its maker Alessandra Casini. A Riserva of grace and fluidity, of movement as if feet do not touch the ground and corporeal body gliding effortlessly across the palate. The wine senza sforzo nel movimento, still in youth with wood purposed and informing fruit to come for the soirée and stay for the pleasure. As do we because the ingredients will eventually emulsify into a fine varietal salsa. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted February 2024

The women of the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019

Casale Dello Sparviero Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019, Castellina

What a change from year to year, still under the guidance of Franco Bernabei, still some salinity but the sappy quality is gone and now the sangoivese has some backbone. Structure is now part of Riserva’s world and in turn our experience. Last tasted May 2024

Perfumed to the hilt, a Castellina of quite mature fruit and seriously typical Riserva profile. Chalky as part of its tannic adjustment with wood a major part, espresso and dusty chocolate just omnipresent at the finish. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May 2023 and February 2024

Villa A Sesta Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Riserva is expressive of some more warmth and also spice as compared to both Annata and Gran Selezione. In this respect it’s truly Riserva, the concept made even more notable due to the aromatic richness in layers of seductive perfume. If the others are crunchy wines with energy and freshness than this is the chewy one, with a different energy and style. More “ruffiano,” the kind of sangiovese you eat slowly and savour every bit of the sauce. Gonna need a few pieces of bread to get every last drop. 70,000 to 80,000 bottles produced. The 2018 sold like crazy and so this ’19 is out at the same time as the 2019 Annata. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Badia A Coltibuono Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019, Gaiole

High Gaiole tones of sweet vintage fruit filling the aromatic spaces above and between. Field blend style with all the endemic bits of varieties spicing and saucing the nooks, butte chambers and crannies of this wine. There are no moments when 2019 Badia a Coltibuono is quiet or absent – the wine gifts and gifts again, and again. This is the future and wouldn’t it be nice if this family could carry on this way for another 1000 years. The privilege can never be taken for granted. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2024

Castellinuzza Di Claudia Cinuzzi Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019, Lamole

Traditional Chianti Classico from high elevation and verdant hills for sangiovese (with bits of canaiolo and malvasia nera) that can’t and will not be separated from its place. That would be Lamole and Riserva simply compounds the UGA’s character, compresses its feelings and expresses the emotions of a territory’s coolest location. This is parochial red wine of a specific and insular heritage and few other wines deliver this kind of specificity. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Emilia, Maria Giovanna and Giovanni d’Orsi – Casaloste, Panzano

Casaloste Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019, Panzano

Just recently bottled three months ago and will be released this month. There is no doubt this is the finest Riserva Giovanni has made in his 30-pus years at Casaloste. Immediately notice the salty note, the mineral streak, the moving of all parts together in mimic of a vintage where phenolic maturity and sugars came about slowly and incrementally as one. Perhaps 2016 was similar or close but this, this finds harmony as easily as it can possibly happen. Length is outstanding. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2024

Tenuta Casenuove Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019, Panzano

Riserva is 100 per cent sangiovese, a bit dusty and reserved, acids and tannins very much in charge. Crisp and crunchy for Riserva with notable fennel and balsamic notes with a nuttiness that is a palate extension from palate sweetness. A factor of new and used barriques with baking spice that in conjunction with full on ripeness to the edge creates a feeling of sleepiness. Enervating sangiovese. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted February 2023 and February 2024

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Caparsino 2019, Radda

“I remember 2019 when we tasted it together at the age that the 2020 is now,” says Paolo Cianferoni. “Now this 2019 is more relaxed.” Aromas are similar to the Mimma 2019, gently swarthy and fruity exotic, with a sense of that fruit becoming leathery but more floral along the way. “Here it’s a fresh place so the fruit is constant. The acidity is what makes the sangiovese so perfumed.” Paolo never touches the pH, no adjustments necessary because of the warming climate. Last tasted February 2024

Aged in the big barrels, determined by a selection of higher quality berries and the cask size. How does Paolo know which are the best bunches? “I just know,” he says. “For more than 20 years I know where the best grapes live.” Might be where the cinghiale eat, where the clay is wet or not, in dry weather. More of a Riserva vintage for Caparso, added richness a bonus and without any wood distraction this glides and glistens, slices and dices across the palate. Solid sangiovese with a cerebral twist. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2023 and 2024

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Doccio A Matteo 2019, Radda

Doccio a Matteo is more settled and ready to enjoy than Caparsino, yet equally perfumed as the 2019s all seem to be. Liquid chalky, a true expression of Paolo’s three combined soils, each one layered upon one another. Galesto di Scalia (di Argilla), Alberese mixed with Sabia (sand), and finally a mix of sand and clay. Lovely mix of perfumes, silky textures and blood orange reduction for a truly layered sangiovese. Last tasted February 2024

Single vineyard sangiovese with just two percent of colorino raised in 1000L botti, 12-14 months, just like the Classico. Doccio Matteo is the name of an old spring in one of the oldest vineyards, highest in elevation (450m) where the winds blow hardest. “Doccio” is a shower in Italian and Matteo refers to San Matteo. More tannin and tension here, especially as compared to Riserva (Caparsino) and needing an extra year to integrate. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2023

Colle Bereto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019, Radda

Riserva from Colle Bereto’s Radda is about as pure, fresh and scintillatingly clean as it has ever been. What we should be incredibly thankful for is the patience to see this released as a 2019 in 2024. The tannins are well on their way to resolution while the acidity is maintained. A fine, fine example of all that Riserva can be in Chianti Classico. Classic, stylish and generous. Last tasted February 2024

Big and brawny wine from Colle Bereto for Riserva and 2019 though of a concern with fruit cast in balance against structure lined up for low, slow and carefully curated development. And maturity with pure sangiovese raised and never braised, surely to be exulted and ultimately praised. Loving the acids within that structure and the chalkiness in smart ratio these vineyards seem to procure. Bravo Bernardo. Certamente. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2023

Giacomo Castellani – Tenuta Campomaggio, Radda

Tenuta Di Campomaggio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2019, Radda

Riserva is a natural extension of Annata, as natural of fruit and acidity with a similar litheness and transparency. That said the concentration exceeds or steps up, without noticing wood even an iota more upon the structural parts. Here a blend of two vineyards, of Olmo and mostly Ginestraia. Fermentation in concrete and conical vats, aging for 18 months in the grandi botti. The mix of Pietraforte and Macigno soils will not be overstated and so Riserva comes away in doubled layers on repeat. There is no doubt that Riserva steps up from Annata but never abandons the basic Raddese fact of where these grapes are grown. Sangiovese with a double identity, of the two vineyards though from 2019 the Ginestraia Macigno holds more sway. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted May 2024

Tenuta Di Campomaggio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Santa Teresa 2019, Radda

In 2019 the Riserva labeled Santa Teresa is pulled from the vineyard called “Telignie,” though Campomaggio is not able to use the name because the house at the bottom of the hill is called the same. This is the Pietraforte vineyard, vinified and aged in the Troncone vats, simply done but with no botti because the vintage saw this vineyard give the best quality and also quantity. Approximately 10 percent whole bunch included to bring a new layer of texture and also complexity. Almost no wood noted and only purity meets parity. Balanced and seductive, shoulders relaxed and flavours repeatable sip after sip. Only 5,000-7,000 bottles made, of a total 35,000 production. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May 2024

Dievole Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Novecento 2019, Vagliagli

The label that represents the original and central part of Dievole, first made in 1990 that was essentially 900 years after the estate was born. Richer and bolder than Annata with a selection of best plots more concentrated on the higher elevations. The sangiovese receives a five percent mix of canaiolo and colorino, all aging in the big casks. Very blood orange, wealthy and juicy fruit, tannins balanced and integrated, spice all over the back end. That bite is urged on by the inclusion of 10 percent stems, many of them green. Still tight at the finish so we’ll see its best years beginning one from now. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2024

Annata and Riserva at CCC2024

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG (Older Vintages)

Casale Dello Sparviero Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2018, Castellina

Quite a sappy and soupy 100 per cent sangiovese Riserva made by Attilio Pagli, before organics came in. A style for they who like sweet marmalata, a purée of minestre vegetable, an and after eight (chocolate mint), all of which can somehow be very appealing. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted May 2024

Trasqua Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Fanatico 2018, Castellina

Chewy Riserva, fully formed and developed with some of Trasqua’s finest fruit to date. Good acids too, more than most vintages and it feels like this would have been picked in late September because the ripenesses are both fully realized. Stands at attention and delivers all that it could have possibly had to offer. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Caparsino 2018, Radda

Just a bit warmer than 2019, “but not too much.” You really feel the freshness and the acidity in a much greater way from this 2018. Extremely youthful wine with all the acidity and structure truly captured. A sangiovese and Chianti Classico lover’s wine. Drink 2024-2030. Last tasted February 2024

Mature aromatics, chewy red fruit, all the leathery plum and liquorice that can be packed into a Chianti Classico Riserva. Developed to the drinking stage, earlier as a vintage than many, hot one mind you and showing that right now, and more. Some mineral and chalk to the structure but pretty much good to go. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted February 2023

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Doccio A Matteo 2018, Radda

“My favourite wine,” says Paolo, “it has for me the depth of the season.” Great richness juxtaposed against acids and freshness with true herbal bitters as sweet as they are grippy. Truly classic sangiovese and Riserva, even more so than the Caparsino. Last tasted February 2024

Single vineyard sangiovese with just two percent of colorino raised in 1000L botti, 12-14 months, just like the Classico. Doccio Matteo is the name of an old spring in one of the oldest vineyards, highest in elevation (450m) where the winds blow hardest. “Doccio” is a shower in Italian and Matteo refers to San Matteo. Just as tannic and full of tension as per 2019 Doccio Matteo but also Chianti Classics Riserva and yet the ’18 Caparsino DOCG is beginning to fade. Not this former IGT with the potential to become Gran Selezione and which rages with energy plus drive. Let it ride. Come back in two years. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2023

Cantina Tuscania Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Effige Nera 2018, San Donato In Poggio

Unequivocal and unmistakable as being a sangiovese from San Donato in Poggio for one reason alone and that is the blood orange perfume so bloody (pun intended) typical of this westerly UGA. Here as Riserva and from 2018 with its purity of red fruit so citrus is origin, fine grained though now liquefying tannin and from a vintage picked in late September yet balanced in alcohol, and ripeness ahead of a strange 48-hour spell cast by temperatures running daytime high and nighttime low. Really fine Riserva in the window at this very moment but will stay this way for three to four years easy. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted February 2023 and 2024

Nardi Viticoltori Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2017, Castellina

Hot year and one of the great recent challenges for a Chianti Classico vintage but Nardi’s Riserva comes out at 13 percent alcohol. What is this witchcraft? What kind of wizardry or magic is practiced on this farm? Finished harvest on the 22nd of September, two full weeks after rains finally came and nearly fulfilling the requiem to arrive at phenolic maturity. Still this is Castellina and waiting through to October would habe been impossible. Yes acidity is lower but still very present and the wine has aged beautifully. You feel here that you are drinking the attention and passion of a small production with this being the very best that could have come from such a challenge. Fundamental instincts followed and sangiovese that speaks to the connection between family and place. Just a touch of drying maturity coming out at the finish. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Castell’In Villa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2017, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Latest release and coming to market as Riserva for Castell’In Villa is 2017, of course and for all the right reasons. Is there an equal in Chianti Classico for this conditioning of 100 percent sangiovese raised in traditional ways that age concurrent with their modern ability to deliver joy and profundity in equal ways? The answer is hard to find and so what comes from ’17 and Castelnuovo Berardenga’s vineyards in surround of the borgo and dressed throughout the forests is in fact nothing short of profound. One of the only wines in the entire territory that need not be spoken about in terms of fruit, acidity and tannin. The approach is different, in how senses, feelings and emotions are solicited and how responses are metered to consider in terms of gravity and other physical forces at work. Ethereality is an obtuse description, as was profundity but they are what they are and the things that come to mind. Sorry, not sorry. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted February 2024

Tenuta Carobbio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2017, Panzano

Lowest of low yields and great attention needed to be paid in both fields and cellar to result in this fine Riserva ’17. Reduced tomato and still a crunchy sangiovese that needs no introduction. Blood orange citrus and charred herbs, complexities left, right and centre. The tannins dry out more than ’16 but there is no doubt they are children of the same parents. Only 7,000 bottles produced. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Caparsino 2017, Radda

Hottest vintage with sunburnt grapes but acidity remains high even while the wine may seem a bit toasted. Still plenty of freshness and a reminder that all the old vineyard fruit was used because Doccio a Matteo was not produced. Acids are strong and bright, fruit reduced but opening up and the wine is now in a proper drinking place. The answer to whatever question you are thinking is simple. Caparsa. It’s strong to be sure. Last tasted February 2024

A vintage with no Doccio Matteo made because the grape quality and also quantity was not up to Radda par. “The wine is a mirror of the land, the people and the weather, like a dog.” The grapes here are from both Riserva selections and so quality reaches above par as only one of two, our two in one were produced. Severe at its moments and yet there is much concentration and compact elements, especially chalk and tension in this grippy 2017. Wait on it – the acids are also there to act as the fruition reaching catalyst. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2023

Tenuta Carobbio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016, Panzano

More off a volumetric Riserva as compared to the output and also the texture of 2017. Similar aromatics to be honest, of tomatoes and blood oranges but also fresh red plums in 2016. The identity of the winery and the vineyard could never come into question. Says Dario Faccin, “you change the quantity but you don’t change the quality.” 18,000 bottles produced as compared to 7,000 in 2017. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Doccio A Matteo 2016, Radda

Always with three percent colorino and the Riserva that joins Caparsino through comes into being in a different way. True vintage richness but always the Caparsa freshness and spirit. This by way of acidity and intensity but who could not be seduced by the tannins and structure in spite of an “easy” season by Chianti Classico standards. A complete wine in every respect. Last tasted February 2024

The 2016 Doccio a Matteo is the first sangiovese (in this line-up) from Paolo Cianferoni that’s actually ready to drink, in fact it’s very much there with some drying tannin mixed with dried fruit happening. Full and caky wine, rich and substantial. Must have salty protein to show best and for the win. Tasted February 2023

A single-vineyard Riserva from the plot above the smaller second house called Caparsino and filled with all the soils; argile, Galestro and Alberese. Surely an absolute about face expression with higher volatility and a high, near and nigh potential for advancing porcini notes. A deeper and darker black cherry. Characterful and mature in such a different way, The acidity is uncompromising even while the wine acts oxidative with more wood than the other Riserva. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2020

Losi Querciavalle Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Needing time to open up and so 24 hours will always benefit this wine, mainly sangiovese with just a bit (0-5 percent) canaiolo fermented together and the end result is unmitigated integration. The blood orange vintage, slow oxidized and matured in big barrel for 24-30 months, a spice continuum all the way through. Menthol on the palate at the back end and more spice – so much texture and so far from going secondary. Fine Riserva vintage for Losi. Last tasted February 2024

Losi Querciavlle, bastion of one of the globe’s most impressive Alberese landscapes and home to some of this territory’s finest chiselled sangiovese. Like marble structures slowly formed by only those who know how to separate the form from the mass. This is the intuition Pietro Losi and his prodigies know and gift to the world. Give their wines time and you will understand. Like this ’15 Riserva, strong, confident, understated, perhaps yet misunderstood but surely pure and true. Bravissimo. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted February 2020

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Doccio A Matteo 2015, Radda

“A real nuclear bomb, like 2017 the vintage was every hot in 2015 and the tannins very aggressive,” remembers Paolo. Salty on the aromatics and while the wine has done some settling it’s truly taut and tannic. A beast this one that still needs more time. Not typical for 2015 but the life of this Doccio A Matteo will be much longer than 2016. Last tasted February 2024

A fresher and more spirited sangiovese as compared to 2016, energy still running full and yet you can drink this with the right amount of air. Chewy liquorice, some tar, iodine and soy. Chocolate, lots of the dark stuff. The wines showed more wood back in these vintages. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted February 2023

With Neri Capponi

Conti Capponi/Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2010

Chianti Classico UNESCO World Heritage; the modern history of Chianti Classico and Villa Calcinaia up to its UNESCO candidacy. Only four years later and coinciding with the full separation away from all other Chianti wines for a 2010 so much more fresh, alive and intense than Bastignano 2006. This from a very hot vintage and a sangiovese that finished at 14.63 percent alcohol. A much more balanced and baller wine, here as Riserva for Chianti Classico with energy and vigour in modo vogue. 5,000 bottles were produced. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted May 2024

With Laura Bianchi, Giulia Cecchi and Jessica du Puy at Monsanto, San Donato in Poggio

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2004, San Donato in Poggio

“One of the most elegant vintages in the early 2000s, not too cold, hot, hard or soft, and really well balanced,” explains Laura Bianchi. Aged in a combination of botti and tonneaux, now into full secondary comportment while still grippy and tannic. In truly fine condition though who could argue that the 1982 is fresher, of finer acidity and more balance than this ’04 made 22 years later. A sign of wood usage and the times, of pressing and extraction, of the sort of Chianti Classico that was desired 20 years ago. And yet, and yet the acidity and fine-grained tannin are together intrinsically connected for what can best be described as an unctuous union of the two. This wine just gets better and better in the glass. In fact the spirit and especially acidity are noted as they climb up the sides of the palate with sparks to a point just below the cheekbones. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2024

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Doccio A Matteo 2003, Radda

Wild wine from a wild vintage, crazy hot at a time when vintages like this were not the norm though were beginning to be. Hot year but also high acidity, likely because of hailstorms in July that knocked off half of the production. The vines reacted by delivering more acidity to support grapes that were maturing quicker and heavier. Still this is Caparsa and freshness persists no matter the dried wild strawberry and oaky flavours. “It’s not my wine because I prefer lighter wines but this is very nice – if you like rich and expressive.” Just a few bottles left in Paolo’s possession. Now only 23. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 1982, San Donato in Poggio

One of the great vintages for Chianti Classico, in all of Tuscany, most of Italy and as everyone knows, also Bordeaux. At this point the 100 percent large Slavonian cask aging is in full swing for wood with which Fabrizio Bianchi began replacing his old chestnut barrels back in the early 1970s. This would have been a bomb when it first went to bottle, so massively structured and immovable in its first 15-20 years. Possibly up until 10 years ago but is now so crunchy and giving so that all is forgiven. About as ideal as a sangiovese can be, resolved, cool and impossibly fresh. Laura feels a connection looking forward to 2015. This remains to be seen. Come back after 10 minutes and the clove can’t be missed. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2024

Monsanto, San Donato in Poggio

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 1969, San Donato in Poggio

One of the coolest vintages of the era and going back to a time when the wood was chestnut for aging sangiovese. Showing with end stage maturity, especially as compared to the 1968 and 1970 Riserva tasted at Monsanto. There is this feeling of chestnut sap reduction, a kind of soy and vanilla pudding, an herbal note and a sweetness. Imagination begets fantasy and fantasy fades into demure. Tasted February 2024

With Maddalena Fucile, Matteo Vaccari and Bernardo Manetti at the 2024 Chianti Classico Collection

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2021

Castello Di Fonterutoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2021, Castellina

This Gran Selezione is in fact 2021, shown here as an anteprima because the rules allow (after January 1st), but it surely won’t be released on the market anytime soon. The hold on the fruit is serious and the wine is still ground into a masala paste without having rehydrated, settled and showing what it should become. Nevertheless there is plenty of substance and tonic weight to rely on for a Gran Selezione that shall provide, like 2016, but also with modern timing in pocket. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted February 2024

Fontodi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Del Sorbo 2021, Panzano

Oldest plot of vines are just approaching 50 years of age growing in the schist with Galestro flaking above the soil. Giovanni Manetti decided to bottle Sorbo as a single vineyard in 1985 though it does come from three plots of plantings put in between 1965 and 1973. Though April frost affected quantity in 2021 there was no compromise to quality and in fact this is as balanced a Vigna el Sorbo as Manetti has ever produced. Bottled just three-plus weeks ago and so yes it’s tight and compact, especially the tannins that take control but truth is this will continue to happen for another few months at the very least. See past the first stage and imagine what will be, take stock of memory and project towards the future. Manetti once said “the fresh finish (of the 1993 wine) should be the trademark of Chianti Classico wines.” Perhaps 2021 will emerge this way. Drink 2026-2037. Tasted February 2024

Fontodi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Terrazze San Leolino 2021, Panzano

From the terraces around the old medieval Panzano church that the Manetti’s have and continue to restore for a Gran Selezione they were not sure would be made this early in their tenure of working with its fruit. Yet it shocked and surprised Giovanni and Bernardo to the point that it could be made at this level so early and so 2019 was the first, well ahead of schedule. This is a truly structured vintage, a trace of next direction, from the past and through the next generation, fruit so compact and mineral focused but tannins in complete control. The finish is beautifully salty and so completely Panzano. This puts San Leolino as Gran Selezione in next level and new light. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted February 2024

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Il Margone 2021, Panzano

An important selection, in 2021 mainly from the Al Sole vineyard but also some fruit coming out of Francesca. “A great vintage for us,” says Iacopo Morganti. Unfortunately the Easter frosts reduced quantity by 40 percent. No matter because Il Margone’s position is to offer a calm respite away from wines too big for their own good, pivoted towards elegance in a sangiovese so right and so pure. Puts this in the finest Panzano light as a wholesome Margone by Morganti and Il Molino di Grace that will slowly evolve over a near 15 year period with kept freshness and slow development. Last tasted May 2024

Campione: Take a little trip forward along a linear and precisely drawn line from Riserva to Gran Selezione and see what will be. Not as aggressive or intense as Riserva but its own kind of powerful and grippy while also more charming. I believe its elegance will begin to show sooner rather than later, say in the first few weeks of 2021. The wood is more noticeable on the nose and the sangiovese needs time – but charm and grace is there. This you can count on. Smaller production of 8,000 bottles. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted October 2023

Isole Delle Falcole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2021, Panzano

Campione: Will be bottled in August and released in 18 months. Since 2016 no frost issues and at this 400m-plus elevation site the April frosts have not been an issue. Striking Gran Selezione of lift, next level acidity and longest chains of tannic command. This may be a sample but it forges a connection between parts, to its Panzano vineyard, to some of Chianti Classico’s finest Galestro and iron soils, to the future. It’s all there, as are the passion plus hard work. The potential is almost impossible to imagine. The length is endless. 3,000 bottles will be made. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2024

Brancaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2021, Castellina

The aromas and perfumes are so much more prevalent and open for 2021 with stoniness and Castellina as the instigator for how this Gran Selezione is want to express itself. Crispy, savoury and the sort to really bite down and sink your teeth into. Last tasted April 2024.

New label not yet printed that likely indicated this has not been in bottle long and as a 2021 Gran Selezione that must surely be the case. Keep this in mind when you feel just how implosive and locked in the fruit is kept behind the wall of tannic sound. The freight is loaded in the compartments but the train has yet to leave the station – though as a 2021 there will be joy at the end of the line. With stops along the way because the vintage does not demand too much nor will it crash and burn. Brancaia’s 2021 is a ripe and primed GS to live out the decade and then for a few more years in the next. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted February 2024

Marchesi Antinori Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Badia A Passignano 2021, San Casciano

If it looks like, smells like and tastes like Badia a Passignano, well then it must be Badia a Passignano. Then again as a 2021 the fullness, generosity and natural phenolic grip meeting sweetness is unparalleled. Yes the underlying verdant savour is always there, always the Badia’s corner of San Donato in Poggio, but honestly the pulchritude of substance feels extant, furthered and extra level for Passignano. For Antinori. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

Pietraforte meets Macigno and Galestro at Campomaggio, Radda

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020

Capraia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Effe 55 2020, Castellina

Big and let’s reiterate big vintage for Capraia’s Castellina sangiovese and as Gran Selezione the ideal elevates to the hyperbole of an idiom. Thick, rich, oaky and seriously intense but boy that wood has to to settle and integrate. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Fonterutoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, Castellina

Clean, advanced to a finer point and really showing the sweetness of fruit at this stage. Open whenever you are ready yet can also be kept for four-plus years. Last tasted February 2024

Castello di Fonterutoli’s 2020 is Gran Selezione like looking in the Castellina mirror because the purity of red, red, red fruit is the crux and at the core of what this wine wants to say. Hyper indicative of the vintage, clear and transparent, never too weighty or adamant and Fonterutoli puts everything in its rightful place. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February and October 2023

Cecchi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Valore Di Famiglia 2020, Castellina

From Palagione where vines were first planted in 1965 and the material kept alive through massal selection. Here more structure and lower layers, compact yet breathable Gran Selezione that moves like an accordion. At once tight and playing bass notes but then open and making echoing sounds. A complex wine so young and yet with such a bright future ahead. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted May 2024

Querceto Di Castellina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Sei 2020, Castellina

Sei is long but Sei is right. Sei knows what’s what and is ready for the fight. With itself, a self imposed struggle that mimics the vines and what they had gone through in the vintage. A warm one but this amazing vineyard at 500m sprawled over a hill convex and rolling is the place where Castellina sangiovese turns out this kind of succulence. The maker knows what he’s got and delivers the goods, less in the face then many from 2020 and with grace. This is a fine wine. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted February 2024

Tregole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, Castellina

Really, really dark blood orange, deeper, darker and richer than what will likely come next from 2021. Spicy nose, wild, almost ferocious and great complexity, wound tight and the palate acting so multifaceted as well, but yet to unwind. Persistence is wow, going on forever. A serious, polished and fabulous 2020 Gran Selezione. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted May 2024

Fèlsina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Colonia 2020, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Campione: A barrel sample but how can Colonia not be distinctive? Gotta be just about ready to get into bottle at this three-plus-plus year mark, savoury bits swirling and fruit layers compounded with great force. The way the warm and frankly big vintage manifests itself here is with fruit intensity and wood spice that piques here, there and everywhere. A Colonia that needs years to integrate and more time too settle in. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted February 2024

Mazzei Fonterutoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, Castelnuovo Berardenga

“A vintage a little hidden between two great ones, 2019 and 2021,” tells Francesco Mazzei. The fruit comes from one special and large (nine hectare) parcel in Castelnuovo Berardenga on the Vagliagli side not far from Mocenni. A wild weave of expositions crisscrossing the apex and crests of a hill at 350m-plus with views to all directions. Makes for a complex patterning of fruit and acidities, a venn diagram of all that is Mazzei, the experience with Fonterutoli, the new frontier in Castelnuovo and Gran Selezione. Some variegate phenolics add to the mystique while dry and botanical Amaro comes later to expand upon the multiplicity of the wine. There is much going on and the need to wait a year or two is recommended. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

San Felice Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, Castelnuovo Berardenga

The sangiovese comes from the highest of the San Felice vineyards with a few points here and there of other indigenous varieties like the variant of colorino (called abrusco), malvasia, pugnitello and ciliegiolo. So youthful with still gritty or sandy tannins, high tonality but always the balsamic, spices and herbs. Wood is very much in the aromatic mix but also on the texture, thick as thieves with those hard-working tannins. Give it five years and things will get oh so very interesting. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Castello Di Ama Gran Selezione Chianti Classico DOCG San Lorenzo 2020, Gaiole

San Lorenzo is one of the most unique Gran Selezione because, well it was always one, long before it was allowed to be labeled this way. The large vineyard was the Classico for Castello di Ama, the wine that represented the vineyards and estate in the most succinct way. That said it was always about breadth and quantity, as it is now though the vines have been been held, treated and farmed to the highest standard. The 2020 is an aromatic beast, meaty and floral, of evergreen and spices. A potpourri and a masala, the palate acting out the stew of all these aromatics accenting juices, fats and proteins for the most well-developed Gran Selezione in the territory. A fantasy of sangiovese with 13 percent merlot and (7) malvasia nera for 60,000 bottles. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Barone Ricasoli Castello Di Brolio Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, Gaiole

Exuberance and scintillant matter exude from Brolio’s energetic 2020 Gran Selezione which is truly a selection in the form of a “Villages” example taken from 270-pus hectares and at least five different terroirs. A layered and variegate mix of sand, clay and limestone, a lacustrine set of complexities lending all that is needed to create such a well-rounded example of Gran Selezione. Defines Gaiole and Ricasoli, discovers the vintage and delivers the goods. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Barone Ricasoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Colledilà 2020, Gaiole

Colledilà, likely “lost” from the Welsh and yet this first Gran Selezione labeled with its Gaiole UGA will leave us all anything but. Like a an old and beautiful Welsh folk song about a love lost this is the sort of sangiovese that may just make you wistful and weepy. That is because Ricasoli has discovered what makes these grapes round out into a most ideal example of Gran Selezione. This is a soulful and spiritual hymn to Chianti Classic and specifically Gaiole, living, breathing and singing. There is charm, elegance and beauty here, not to mention to kind of structure built upon epochs of geology to see this linger well into the next and further decades. Drink 2025-2040. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Riecine Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Gittori 2020, Gaiole

Yet juicy, not finally because it always was for a crispy vintage of Riecine’s top drop. What truly matters now is the incredible length to tell us that the wine is in a great position and the possibilities will travel long. Last tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Wholly singular Gran Selezione aromatic set, a smoulder not noted in any other sangiovese, certainly not at this level. That said the red citrus of Riecine can’t be missed, that plus tar and roses notes so reminiscent of some nebbiolo. This would be a great ringer to throw into a mixed sangiovese and nebbiolo blind tasting with tasters struggling to decide which were which. Great length from Riecine and without a doubt a wine for cellaring. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted May 2023

Terreno Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Asofia 2020, Greve

A Sofia, self denoted label for proprietor Sofia Ruhne and a Gran Selezione from the vineyard opposite the estate on terraces rising up the eastern hill of Greve. A 2020 of restraint, clarity and controlled intensity, many old vines imparting their wisdom to develop concentration, but never too much. There is a not too hard and not too soft aspect of this sangjovese. It speaks to the heart of the Terreno matter. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

With John Matta – Castello di Vicchiomaggio, Greve

Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG La Prima 2020, Greve

La Prima is as it states, the first Gran Selezione and the larger of the two in terms of production for Vicchiomaggio. Richness and somewhat middle of the road structure but all falls into place without much obstruction. Stony and grippy, liquid chalky and quite fine all around, while also softened by 10 percent merlot. Not as complex as Le Bolle to be sure but a fine representative of Matta’s Greve nonetheless. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Victoria, Federica, Sebastain and Delfina Matta – Castello di Vicchiomaggio, Greve

Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Le Bolle 2020, Greve

Sister Gran Selezione to La Prima, certainly not La Seconda but rather “Le Bolle,” literally the “bubbles.” Happens to be the name of the top parcel at Vicchiomaggio and a Gran Selezione that captures every ounce of fruit and moment of truth for the vintage. And yet at 13.5 percent alcohol it’s a bit of a throwback, a light and bright star for the appellation at the near minimum as far as discipline and rules are concerned. This is about as elegant and graceful as it gets for the appellation so that great food can be paired alongside for years to come. If I were designing a pairing menu today this would rise to the top of the list. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico

Conte Capponi/Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Bastignano 2020, Montefioralle

Campione: A sample but one at the three and a half year mark so let’s take it at face value. One of the baller and brazen Gran Selezione in Conti Capponi’s work, doubled down by a vintage of similar character. Intense minerals and elemensl streaking through chalky fruit that mimics and speaks to the terroir – an Alberese stone that will not be denied. This is indeed serious and structured. Wait a minimum four years people. Please. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted February 2024

Conti Capponi/Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Contessa Luisa 2020, Montefioralle

Campione: A sample but one at the three and a half year mark so let’s take it at face value. Richer, thicker, softer and less intense than certainly Bastignano and in fact the lack of power makes Contessa Luisa show its wood to much greater effect. Sure this needs to relax, settle, integrate and transform but Luisa will always be the softest and dreamiest of the Gran Selezione ‘20s. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted February 2024

Conti Capponi/Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG La Fornace 2020, Montefioralle

Campione: A sample but one at the three and a half year mark so let’s take it at face value. If Bastignano is the beast and Contessa Luisa the beauty then where does that put La Fornace? Not exactly in the middle but shall we say at the mean with its complimentary mix of brawn and beauty, a handsome 2020 of warmth and energy, higher acidity and a burning desire to please. The furnace is on a heater but the flame will die down and eventually breeze to a flicker, after five or six years before fully softening at around 10 to 12. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted February 2024

Terreno Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Sillano 2020, Montefioralle

Another 2020 from Terreno but this time the terrain is Montefioralle, off of Formazione di Silano geology and so there is grit and power that A Sofia does not show. A Gran Selezione of musculature but a toned and taut corporeal type. Also finer or at least sharper acids from the Sillano and more wood noted as well. May live longer than it’s sister but it shows less finesse – which is splitting hairs but that’s how we look at children of the same parents. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted February 2024

Corso, Bernardo and Margherita Manetti – Fontodi, Panzano

Fontodi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Del Sorbo 2020, Panzano

If you think there has been movement from Vigna del Sorbo 2020 think again because the locks remain on the doors, the windows closed and the sign says “come back next season.” Last tasted February 2024

Three parcels, two planted between 1965 and 1971 plus 1973, coming together because the uniqueness of these three plots are the schist soils that manifest above ground as Galestro. All about spiciness and mid-palate volume. The sorbo is a local fruit, specific to Tuscany, very dry and tannic, much like grapes. And hello to the Chianti Classico UGA within Greve commune because this is the first label to say Panzano, 40 years in the making and finally the mention is here. Structure is serious from a reduced crop yield due to frost in April and this is what Giovanni Manetti had to say at the time. “We had a couple of days very cold, April 6th and 7th but the damages are limited to the young vines. The majority of the buds of the other vines were still closed and were not hurt by the frost. In the rest of the CC territory there were some damages in the warmer areas and zero in the cooler ones like Radda and Lamole. The frost in 2017 was much more worse than this.” A linear Vigna del Sorbo this 2020, taut, extremely young and with a great potential. Drink 2026-2037. Tasted October 2023

Fontodi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Pastrolo 2020, Lamole

The sangiovese from Lamole of the vineyard strewn with stones of marine origin. Marne di Macigno is the derivative geological term used by Giovanni Manetti and who should argue with the logic? A vein of calcareous material runs through, surely come down from Monte San Michele, up above at 1000m direction Radda. Almost as if both Lamole and Panzano are present in this unicorn vineyard, a marriage of two UGAs in one thin strip of terraced steppes encompassing a single block. Fermentation in amphora “to highlight the fruit in another way,” tells Bernardo Manetti. The most textural of all the Fontodi wines, and indeed a pulpiness as opposed to the glissade of especially the Gran Selezione Vigna del Sorbo. “The nose is like music,” says Giovanni Manetti. Classically composed, lyrical and asymmetrically on repeat. Someday Pastrolo may become Fontodi’s biggest prize. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted February 2024

Fontodi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Terrazze San Leolino 2020, Panzano

How much does the human factor effect a wine like San Leolino? The answer lies in the relationship between the land, weather, vintage and in how the people who work the fields to maximize the gifts made available to them. From 2020 the quotient is high, above 2019 and ready to pass the torch to 2021. At least in these first three vintage the incline is palpable, the progression linear and more importantly vertical. This is great and 2021 will take it further. Allow the wood to settle for two more years. Last tasted February 2024

From the vineyards surrounding the 9th century Pieve and you know what they say. “Sangiovese is planted, consequences follow.” A 15th century drawing found in a Florence museum proves that monks cultivated grapes on this property at that time. More perfume than the Classico level Panzano and so there is proof that this terraced land with high level Alberese soils provides aromatics and great structure in the way a Lamole plus Panzano might hypothetically get together for a similar result. Leolino is not a go between but something unique, something other. Special and of an aging potential that may just be more promising than that of Vigna del Sorbo, but let’s wait 10-15 years to see if that will come to be true. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted October 2023

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Il Margone 2020, Panzano

Tenth anniversary for the Gran Selezione appellation that was first launched by Il Molino di Grace with the 2010 vintage released in 2014. While Riserva may have come to a readied state Il Margone has not, because tannin times acidity come out doubly aggressive, like the Annata but magnified to the power of 10. Crazy Panzano acidity, sweet and extremamente ventoso. Not far away but still not there. Last tasted February 2024

The vineyard that gives the best quality is Magdalena Vineyard planted around 2010, both for 2020 and what’s to come in 2021. When you have less production it’s easier to separate the wheat from the chaff and so the lots fermented separately are easier to identify. This 2020 proposes an extreme set of tannic proportions but sweet fruit with heft, weight and flesh is up to the task. Tasted October 2023

Fine tannic presence from Gran Selezione for 2020, several steps up from Riserva with less pitch and grab but still overt dark fruit. More diversity and complexity in perfume, notable violets and rose but really what stands out here is how the tannins allow the fruit to stay up front. There are no perceived grains or sand-papery textures involved, neither is Il Margone soft or fluffy. There may only be 8,000 or so bottles available at this quality and so a rare and must have wine it most certainly will be. Iacopo Morganti explains it well. “It’s not easy too make three different levels of Chianti Classico. You need to understand the vintage and the differences, especially when you have less quantity.” Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2023

Isole Delle Falcole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, Panzano

The IdF 2020 will be released in two or three months and if the vineyard were registered as Panzano (and not Montefioralle) then it will be the first GS labeled with the UGA. A wholly apposite vintage to 2021, grippier with fruit shaded darker and brooding, but what really stands out is the ferric and the sanguine, intense and reductive iron blood of jove. Like eating grilled calf’s liver and now the deep red Panzano soil from this single vineyard really hits hard and flows through the corpulence of the sangiovese. The vineyard will be called Le Falcole on the label as of 2020. One of the most intense and identifiable expressions of any in all of Chianti Classico. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted February 2024

Le Fonti Di Panzano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, Panzano

Campione: A sample but more developed as such than so many because Le Fonti, unlike many others does not feel the need to extract and press to impress. In fact there is a level of restraint and fineness that speaks to confidence but also a Gran Selezione made in the way it simply had to be made. Important as one hundred percent sangiovese and definitive of Le Fonti’s finest available fruit in their north-easterly aspect and exposure of Panzano. This is seriously good. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted February 2024

Fattoria Rignana Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Villa Rignana 2020, Panzano

Gran Selezione is 100 percent sangiovese, just bottled in June of 2023. First vintage was 2013 and this 2020 is the first to see Panzano gracing the label under the new rules of the UGA. Similar elévage to the Riserva with all small barrels from a 2003 planted vineyard packed with lots of clay, Alberese lower down and Galestro at the top. Floral example, a bit of acetone, some wood scents of vanilla and coconut and finally balsamico. High acid, sharp, quite tannic and needing a few years to settle in. Will be a much better wine once the integration occurs. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Brancaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, Radda

Curious how 2020 shows a bit more maturity then the 2019 Gran Selezione and the vintage is a bit of a crossroads for this appellative level of a Brancaia Classico. Shows its wood with more aromatic and also textural density, acids are lower and a bit brooding while overall the feeling is of one very experienced and complete Gran Selezione. Balsamico at the finish and balance for sure. Last tasted May 2024

The Brancaia from Castellina is expressly three things. First and foremost a matter of 2020, secondly Castellina of temperament and more than anything a Gran Selezione to speak of the current epoch of Brancaia. As far as vintages are concerned these 2020s are a thing of great beauty and accessibility, with respect to UGA the acidity and cool mentality are at the height of heights and finally, the transparency and see through honesty is exemplary of the current Brancaia world order. Fine, fine Selezione, drinkable and cellar-able. Do as you please. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February and October 2023

Castello Di Albola Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Il Solatìo 2020, Radda

Starting at Annata 2021, through Riserva 2021 and here to Gran Selezione 2020 we see, nose, taste and feel Albola’s progression, in descending order. The most fruit, sweetest acidity, finest integration and more generous gifts are in this wine. Less structured than many Gran Selezione while also less intense, brooding or formidable as many peers – but sometimes fruit is everything. As here with a 2020 that’s ready and willing to please. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Fonterutoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Badiòla 2020, Radda

The Radda Gran Selezione is born of high higher elevation, at 570m below the tiny abbey and truly aboard the glare of white sandy limestone with some Galestro flaking at the surface. The most lift, highest tone and brightest style, part soil and part elevation, but most of all forethought. The fact that the Mazzei decided to acquire this place in 1989, whether by brilliance, chance or both, it only matters that this is a special place today with the ability to create a beautiful and fascinating wine. The energy and finesse is next level from Badiòla 2020, fresh as it gets and with a potential to age for a decade plus. Last tasted February 2024

Badiòla out of Radda is the work of Fonterutoli (out of Castellina) though the distance between cantina and vineyard is not that great. Lovely bit of swarthy behaviour and also an airy quality so elevation surely plays a role and Mazzei clearly sees the potential in this site. High toned and a notable acetone quality though it finds a way to play nice and stay well beneath dangerous thresholds. Good work and promise is clearly the thing. Drink relatively young if best after two more years and look for 2021 to surely be a cracker example of this Gran Selezione. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted October 2023

Castello Di Gabbiano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Bellezza 2020, San Casciano

Campione: A sample but a well nigh finished one because it has been in vessels for coming on three and a half-plus years. A Belleza not yet released because well, 2020. Biggest fruit, forested acidity and baddest tannins all conspire for a Gabbiano as substantial and powerful as there ever was. The 100 percent sangiovese aspect is a major component in the result but vintage takes the cake and eats it too. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted February 2024

With Cristina Fonte – Poggio Torselli, San Casciano

Poggio Torselli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, San Casciano

Campione: Only sangiovese, single vineyard of the name Montecapri, a Gran Selezione first made in 2013, skipped for a couple of years and resumed in 2016. Concentrated grapes but more than that a different sort and a freshness that neither Annata nor merlot seemed able to find. Spicy fruit, 30 months in those big casks and so a protected but far from oxidative example with a maximum 5,000 bottle production. This is the beginning of a project that will only get better. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Villa Le Corti Principe Corsini Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Don Tommaso 2020, San Casciano

The original Gran Selezione for Villa Le Corti, that being Don Tommaso, incidentally labeled with its UGA while “Zac” adds the Val di Pesa suffix, as per the commune. Quite the fleshy and substantially concentrated 2020, impressively so, rich, luxe and jam-packed with flavour. A mix of 80 percent sangiovese with merlot (that will not be available in 2023 due to no production because of downy mildew). A bit woody on the palate at this youthful stage but this will pass and Don Tommaso will drink dutifully if also effortlessly through the latter stages of this one and into the first stretches of the next decade. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted twice October 2023 and February 2024

Casa Emma Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2020, San Donato In Poggio

If Vignalparco is something to behold from the big, bad and bold vintage then Gran Selezione is not just another but an apposite matter altogether. Triply rich, fortified and tannic as a wall of hard Alberese, impenetrable and the wine just feels like it’s on the dark side of that moon. If there is one – and many have questioned the notion, but seriously this Gran Selezione is not nothing. Not hard mind you, just a force of Chianti Classico nature. Boom! Wait five years. Trust this is the truth. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted February 2024

Il Poggiolino Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Le Balze 2020, San Donato In Poggio

Campione: Feels like a very mature Gran Selezione for 2019 and so perhaps some oxidation from this sample amplified by tasting it late on day two at the Collection Looking forward to another opportunity down the road. Tasted February 2024

Poggio Al Sole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Casasilla 2020, San Donato In Poggio

Casasilia which can mean “the blessed house” is tied to Badia a Passignano just one kilometre away and the pre-1990 name of Poggio al Sole under the previous ownership. The flagship wine that was Riserva changed to Gran Selezione as of the 2012 vintage. Best grapes, harvested a bit later and longer macerati”on. Once fermentation and maceration are complete the “130 percent sent to barriques (between 10 and 20 percent new) is then narrowed down to its 100 number. Hard to imagine or find more suave texture and refinement which in GS translates as scorrevole. Which tells us that Poggio al Sole has as much in common with Panzano as it does with San Donato in Poggio. Playful acidity, precision and fine tuning. Runs on Swiss time if you will. A mulch of grippy tannin on the back end suggests waiting a year or two. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted December 2023 and February 2024

Cento Anni di Chianti Classico, Palazzo Vecchio, Firenze

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019

Cecchi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Villa Rosa 2019, Castellina

Single vineyard sangiovese from Casteto at the highest eastern heights of the Western Castellina vineyard. Most freshness and elegance of all the Cecchi sangiovese and from 2019 a wine so ready to drink you will find it hard to keep any bottles in the cellar. Not that structure is an issue because Villa Rosa will mature slowly over a five year run. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted May 2024

Nardi Viticoltori Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Del Pino 2019, Castellina

First vintage from the one hectare vineyard, “our vision of the different sangiovese,” the dark soul and D12 (Emilia-Romagna) clone planted by Giacomo’s father back in 2002. Small bunches, strong and thick-skinned leading to a requiem of longer macerations (as many as 30-35 days). Darker of colour and a richer version of Nardi but more important is the “croccante” and “graffiante” nature of the tannins. Great acidity captured (at 6.2 tA), a full half to three-quarters higher than the Annata and Riserva. Th exposure is northeast (which makes dad look like a genius) and the soil is a very strong clay. Sees 20 months in Slavonian oak and evolution is low, slow and relatively forever. Balsamico finish and acidity (more than tannin) is the driver. Think Brunello if you like but this is purely Chianti Classico Gran Selezione. A father is and a grandfather would surely be proud. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February 2024

San Fabiano Calcinaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Cellole 2019, Castellina

Mainly Sangiovese with some colorino and a few splashes of merlot “that speaks Chiantigiana.” Also a 500m elevation for most of these grapes, the sangiovese planted in the 80s and converted to organic in the 90s. A stony Galestro soil opposite to the sandy clay and calcari, i.e Calcinaia around the borgo and winery. Only Cellole delivers this cool, liquid peppery swarthiness that the Classico does not show and also a combination of verdant but also distinct minerals notes. Tannins are exceptionally taut with at least two to three years remaining before they begin to truly integrate. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted February 2023 and February 2024

Tregole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Castellina

From the oldest vineyard planted by in 1972 by the Scalerandi family, two owners before Sophie Conte’s father purchased the estate. More obvious concentration than any of the other Tregole wines but also this settled, calming and fully nourished feeling. Have a glass of Gran Selezione 2019 and it will feel like the end of a great meal without having overeaten. The vineyard delivers great material and the layers of fruit are more than apparent. Having tasted vintages going back several years now you can see the development and the acumen growing in Conte’s world. This falls right in the middle but the learning curve is showing. There is a tiny bit of oxidative character on the back palate and so this vintage is more than ready with a delicious finish that reminds of certain dry amaro. Last tasted May 2024

Carpineta Fontalpino Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Montaperto 2019, Castelnuovo Berardenga

A preview of 2019 that will shown at the Chianti Classico Collection in February of 2024 that are now finished wines “but to me they are young,” shrugs Filippo Cresti. The Montaperto layering of many red fruits are the crux of the perfumes and freshness out of ’19, they being pomegranate, currant and plum, juices running and so many layers to peel away. Focused vintage and “we love it,” adds Gioia. Return in a year and see just where it looks like this will go. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

San Felice Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Poggiorosso 2019, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Almost hard to believe but 2019 seems bigger, broader and in a way wilder than the 2020 Poggiorosso and yet this single vineyard Gran Selezione is a force to reckoned with, no matter the vintage. The vibrancy and especially the acidity is the wild aspect of a sangiovese that acts a bit the rebel, with cause. Quality here is tops in every respect, fruit is ripe on both ends and that acidity is really quite sweet. Splitting hairs compared to 2020 but this is something special. Amazing work from all new 500L tonneaux. Drink 2024-2037. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Villa A Sesta Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Sorleone 2019, Castelnuovo Berardenga

A mix of energetic freshness and structured depth, somewhere ideally in between where Sorleone resides in this its sixth vintage as Gran Selezione (though its was not made in 2020). First vintage with new oenologist (Attilio Pauli) will be with the 2021 though the winemaking team in the cantina stays the same. In the window beginning now or perhaps just recently and this mix of glycerin and sweet spice does well to activate the salutary and imaginative senses. Fine shape for a fine wine. 3,000-5,000 bottles per year, this being on the higher end. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2024

Marchesi Frescobaldi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Tenuta Perano Rialzi 2019, Gaiole

There was a local who knew the name of the vineyard and said it was called I Rialzi, which translates as “the lifted up,” or in another way of saying it, rizalto. The rocky location housed a ditch or a gully in the direction rising up towards Badia a Coltibuono. Over time the soils settled to hide the clough but the extreme rocky soils are still home to the vines. Says Lamberto Frescobaldi, “the vineyard matters most,” even more so than the estate or the denomination. In Gran Selezione terms at least. Frescobaldi was told “I don’t give a shit about a selection from you. I want a selection from one vineyard.” So, how does this make that happen, offer a taste or sense of Rialzi? It does so with aromatic volume and vigour, tension and the experience of fruit from a given vintage. As for 2019 well substantial and stress free is helpful but acidity and a wine’s anxiety are what drive Rialzi, no matter its philanthropy. In the end Rialzi is a gift, of Perano and Gaiole. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted December 2023

Querciabella Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Greve

The first commercially available vintage was 2017, from the highest reaches out of Querciabella’s vineyard parcels between 450 and 530m aboard the Ruffoli hill. Picked four weeks ahead of same altitude vines in Lamole because of exposure and well, Ruffoli. Treated to a submerged cap, i.e. capello sommerso methodology, a simmer of skins kept wet just as they have been doing forever in Barolo. This means a quality of tannin that comes out by infusion as opposed to extraction and with such an ideal vintage the result is uncompromising. Freshness captured, instinct incarnate, tannic freight compact, though the layers have breezes blowing through. Precise and focused as expected and the finale lingers forever. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted February 2024

With Susanna Grassi – I Fabbri, Lamole

I Fabbri Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Lamole

From the oldest vines, including those planted back in 1965 and aged for two years in large cask, a.k.a. grandi botti. The old vines show what can be done from lowest of yields, highest of concentration and by way of a contract that seeks and attains the necessity of elegance. Everything about Susanna Grassi’s Gran Selezione speaks to the Lamole UGA, in sweetly herbal and savoury perfume, a floral note connected to the botany and grace under the pressure of structure so well defined. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Podere Castellinuzza Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vecchie Vigne 2019, Lamole

Old vines from Podere Castellinuzza’s high elevation Lamole location are the impetus to set this Gran Selezione apart while keeping in perfumed line with compatriots of that most unique UGA. Who does not want to own fruit from this location in today’s Chianti Classico and this family’s time has surely come. The next epoch of sangiovese from Lamole begins right here with succulence, energy and intensity. Floral and spicy, austere in a tannic way while gently rustic, but so very beautiful in all these ways. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

With Emanuele Graetz – Isole delle Falcole, Panzano

Isole Delle Falcole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Montefioralle

Just beginning to open and emerge because the vintage delivers that kind of fruit generosity but the vineyard simply will not be quiet or separate itself from this always bloody sangiovese, not even for a moment. The heavy metal presence creates the most metallic, elemental and mineral trilogy, a triptych of sangiovese, acidity and powerful tannin to equip this Gran Selezione for a decade-plus of immovable life ahead. Last tasted February 2024

The project of Emanuele Greatz, exporter of Roberto Voerzio, Il Molino di Grace, San Fillipo (Roberto Gianelli) and Barbaresco’s Russo. This is the early fruition of Emanuele’s dream, renting Panzano land in 2016 to eventually purchase and a first vintage in 2017. The land is officially Emanuele’s now. The name of the Conca or amphitheatre actually shares an affinity with the Conca d’oro, in shape, orientation and yet there is much more forest and also higher elevation. Total of four hectares planted, 1.2 up on the hill facing south at 420m and roughly two below the house, both set in Montefioralle. The final 0.8 for the Gran Selezione is in Panzano right next to Montefili and so Graetz calls it Montefili – internally.” It will be called Il Falcole. Gran Selezione 2019 is solo sangiovese sent to 30 months in big barrel combination of French and Slavonian. Purely Panzano through a Selezione of a pinpointed place and to be honest the fruit is a bit deeper and darker than many Panzano ‘19s. That said there are layers and layers to unfold, unfurl and open with high acidity from the high elevation vineyard up at 520m. Where else is Panzano (other than Montefili and Cenattoio) will express this elevation in this wild-eyed and excitable way? A harbinger of the future and initialization of the realization of Emanuele’s dream is in this glass, from this bottle. Wait three years to understand just a bit more and figure things out for 10 more thereafter. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted February 2023 and 2024

Arillo In Terrabianca Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Terrabianca 2019, Radda

All sangiovese and nothing but the sangiovese in one of the first iterations of Gran Selezione under the guidance of new and improved ownership. Brightest of red fruit for a concept and work in progress that seeks to deliver utter transparency for lower (relatively speaking) elevation out of Radda. Firm enough though the tannins are anything but austere. Drink early GS, again, relatively speaking. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Brancaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Radda

From the first vineyard purchased by Barbara Widmer’s parents, Brigit and Bruno, back in 1980. Ripped out and re-planted in 1999 with four clones chosen from the Chianti Classico 2000 project because massal selection was not viable at the time. Great fruit, grainy structure and time needed to heal the wounds and rusticity off the wine. There is so much character and potential with almost no maturity showing yet, however those tannins and that fruit do tumble around together. Wait another year, or so. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted May 2024

Colle Bereto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, Radda

Like Riserva the Colle Bereto showing at the Chianti Classico Collection in 2024 is 2019 for Gran Selezione. Not quite as mature and resolved as the other appellative level but still en route and in a similar arena. More strength and power from these saucy tannins, long-chained and still visible, if also reverberating. The wood is still very much in control so be patient and allow a rendering, but also the disappearance of a mild swarthiness. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigneto Il Poggio 2019, San Donato In Poggio

The arrival of an Il Poggio is greeted with great anticipation because luxury and fortune have beget tastings of several recent and also older vintages. So imagine what Monsanto’s 2019 will surely bring to the table out of San Donato in Poggio. No ordinary moment, but one likely to get frozen into time. Open heart and mind, dig into deeper understanding and intuitive possibility. Gran Selezione 2019 from the Bianchi family’s hilltop vineyard is sublime. Concentrated, understated, refined, precise and giving. Nurturing if edgy but always gracious and unselfish. A touch reductive, protected and of course stylish. A moment so vivid it causes ache, awe and longing. Too much waxing for a bottle of wine? Actually no but another Il Poggio for the ages. Drink 2026-2039. Tasted October 2023

Fattoria Montecchio Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2019, San Donato In Poggio

Bottled in September of 2023 though winemaker Riccardo Nuti is keenly aware how much more time is needed and so plans are to release this Gran Selezione after a full year in bottle. Sees 20 percent amphora because frankly Montecchio is not just a Fattoria of wine (and olives), but also a “fornace” for working with clay. An original in this regard and one of the pioneers for GS aging. The ’19 sings with pure and unadulterated sangiovese aromas, explicitly San Donato in Poggio because of the red florals, citrus and sanguine character. Also brings an added layer of palate texture, the kind that settles and coats, but fruit is the medium. With time the defraying will become a glissade but for now the verticality of this Selezione is not ready to relax or relent. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted February 2024

Bindi Sergardi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Mocenni ’89 2019, Vagliagli

Tenuta Mocenni presides at one of the higher points in the Vagliagli UGA at 500m with vineyard blocks impounded with great Alberese stones and outcroppings of Galestro. The south facing amphitheater is one of Chianti Classico’s most impressive sites and sights. The latest vintage is not yet released and there is no shock how youthful and tightly wound you will find this 2019 to be. The one that follows will proudly display the UGA on the front label. More than just a few years of time in more than one kind of vessel has equipped this major potion of fruit with ample layers of structure in a Gran Selezione so bloody big, substantial and beautiful. Will most definitely require five to seven years of unwinding. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Gioia, Sara and Filippo Cresti – Carpineta Fontalpino, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Carpineta Fontalpino Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Dofana 2019, Vagliagli

A preview of 2019 that will shown at the Chianti Classico Collection in February of 2024 that are now finished wines “but to me they are young,” shrugs Filippo Cresti. The dried balsamic quality of 2018 is here replaced but more freshness and spirit. A richer wine in 2019 as compared to Montaperto with the wood more involved – while the wine this young is trying to figure out its way through adolescence. The clay is fully involved in just how textured and fruity Dofana acts in this inimitably generous vintage. Flesh will come, with time. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Dievole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Sessina 2019, Vagliagli

A 6.4 hectare vineyard at 450m which qualifies as the highest point of Dievole. A south exposure with Macigno and outcroppings of clay to deliver more power than any other estate sangiovese. The aromatics are expressly consistent with Riserva (and also Casanova) but the musculature is taut and developed. That which Riserva commits to is magnified in this fourth vintage of the Gran Selezione, none more so than the tannins which grab, grip, secure and hold on tight. They compound and reside in the arena of the austere at the finish of this profound wine. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February 2024

Michaela Morris and Christine Lechner at Prowein 2024

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG (Older Vintages)

Casale Dello Sparviero Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Paronza 2018, Castellina

Paronza is the name of the vineyard and comes from a hospital housed by a monastery that hosted pilgrims. Still the work of Atillio Pagli, sappy like the Riserva, fruit quality improved from the ’18 Riserva while so soft and creamy with that same kind of perceived sweetness. Ready. Last tasted May 2024

Well traveled, maturing and warm Gran Selezione from Castellina’s Casale dello Sparviero, of high aromatic intensity to match stride for stride a sangiovese poised at the ready. Herbal for Castellina though neither brushy dry or brassy, but instead a juicy bleed of fruit and flora. Solid GS through and through, equivocating and evocative of the UGA. Last tasted October 2023

Paronza is a buoyant and almost weightless, gravity defying Gran Selezione, easy of mind, body and alcohol. Aromatically reticent and a wine so young you really have to play, swirl and agitate to get any kind of emotive response. Perfume, red fruit and fresh sanguinity do emerge, followed by a sappy, almost syrupy texture dominated by liquid Galestro-willed tannins. Very Castellina, wholly vintage related and will drink well beginning two years or so from now. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2022

Rocca Di Montegrossi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigneto San Marcellino 2018, Gaiole

There is ten percent pugnitello with the sangiovese, already meeting the new requirements of the Gran Selezione. From the 2020 vintage San Marcellino will say Gaiole on the label. Aging is 25 months in barriques, tonneaux and botti, 25 per cent new oak overall. Almost three years in bottle at this stage. Finest of San Marcellino tannins are coming about ever so slowly, surely to mature over a 15 year period. Tells Marco Ricasoli, “elegance does not mean weakness. The power does not affect your mouth.” Posit tug between salinity and sapidity. Last tasted October 2023 and February 2024

So fresh, young and structured but my if there is another Gaiole Selezione with as much stuffing as San Marcellino it would be beneficial to hear about it. Thirty-plus year potential. Truthfully. Tasted May 2023

The next San Marcellino Gran Selezione is a big one, strong willed and big-boned, laced with trace schisty-marl-Galestro elements and minerals from a vineyard capable of structuring wines like no other. This is Monti in Chianti, of all the red, blue and black fruits, coming away violet purple and speaking about a season. A warm one, all the way through to October and the phenolic ripeness here is off the proverbial charts. Wow. Drink 2025-2037. Tasted February 2023

Verrazzano

Castello Di Verrazzano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Sassello 2018, Montefioralle

Not yet released and will have at lest three more months in bottle before that can happen. A strong vintage and normally the release would be the fall but both wood and fruit need to time to find each other. The substance in Sassello 2018 is, well substantial, in fact something more than that. Richness at the height of Verrazzano’s abilities but my goodness this packs a punch while also showing off the modernity and harmony that define this estate today. Bravissimo. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Verrazzano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Valdonica 2018, Montefioralle

The thing that connects Sassello and Valdonica is the vintage, the power and the full on substantial effects compactly packed yet carefully multi-layered. A swarthiness really separates this GS from Sassello in ways that put this in its own light. The aromas and flavours also bring in exotic spices but also a succulence that show how special and different this sangiovese truly is. It walks a fine line, flirts with danger and comes out singing. Drink 2026-2036. Tasted February 2024

Emilia and Giovanni d’Orsi – Casaloste, Panzano

Casaloste Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2018, Panzano

Fine swirl of sangiovese with voluminousness liquid peppery aromas from the word go that are commanding and unrelenting. Put your nose into Giovanni d’Orsi’s Gran Selezione from late (though properly timed) harvesting for what was necessary out of Panzano. For 2018 that is because late September heat by day and cold by night meant stem ripeness, higher alcohol and captured acidity. All of which put 2018 Casaloste into fine form, big and meaty, bountiful and elastic. Bravo. Drink 205-2032. Tasted February 2024

Gagliole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Pecchia 2018, Panzano

Pecchia from only Pietraforte Panzano soils was IGT through the 2016 vintage, skipped in 2017 and brought into the Chianti Classico DOCG appellation in 2018 with the estates first Gran Selezione. Less transparency but clearly more polish and luxe disposition than Gallùle but what this expresses are hearty matters of spotless and seamless perfection. Structurally speaking the Pietraforte puts this sangiovese in a most precise place to establish a top position in every respect. Just 3,000 bottles produced and though there was great heat at the launch of harvest there were also low nighttime temps and all the acidity was preserved. Great graphite style and cool as an October Panzano night. Really special wine. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted May 2023 and February 2024

Il Palagio Di Panzano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Le Bambole 2018, Panzano

Campione: Of all the Gran Selezione samples this Le Bambole is one should be the nearest to be ready because, well it’s 2018. Now two years longer in waiting than most other unreleased samples and yet mon dieu this ’18 is still so far away from being ready. Uncanny how much Pietraforte strength Il Bambole is want to direct as itself and on our palates that feel both slaughtered and bamboozled. So befitting the name and also the vintage which delivered great late September heat. Cold nights too which is why this acidity is striking and frankly necessary. On par with 2016 which is a feat in itself. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted February 2024

Villa Trasqua Gran Selezione Chianti Classico DOCG Nerento 2017, Castellina

Nerento offers up that super important and at times rare mix of maturity and results based on time having been the necessity to allow for an approach to drinking this Gran Selezione at this stage. The wood would have been obtrusive and on top just six months before and this timing is fortuitous to say the least. Some raisin and fig with high quality acid and a balsamic sweetness woven through the tannin. Not an extreme vintage as might be expected but surely a high-toned one. Drink 2023-2026. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Marchesi Frescobaldi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Tenuta Perano Rialzi 2017, Gaiole

Third vintage of Rialzi from a hottest and driest one, though always worth a reminder that Perano is high elevation Gaiole – meaning a cooler and fresher place. In Chianti Classico terms this means the vineyard and its cooling maintenance from rockiest of soils lends a much needed pulse, flux and regulating ability to ensure sangiovese’s credibility. Vigour and dewiness are preserved which allows Rialzi ’17 to grace the palate like clean early morning summer moisture on grass and bushes. Fruit was hung a little bit longer than many other single-vineyard Gran Selezione to be sure, full phenolic maturity has been acceded and the conclusion is about a full and favourable sangiovese. A unique one at that and one to surely benefit from some rest in the cellar. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted December 2023

Cecchi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Villa Rosa 2015, Castellina

In agreement with Andrea Cecchi whereby in some ways 2015 is still a baby, but on another level the maturity is there, or at least seen that wasy through one of the two open bottles. This second pour is not only the answer to a predictive moment made in September 2018 but a reconciliation of what Villa Rosa sangiovese is want to become. Youthful and yet ready, in the first stages of secondary character but at least five more years shall pass before the next phase begins. Last tasted May 2024

These are not the richest and most extracted Chianti Classico and they are truly driven by acidity, a Castellina acidity to be sure, edgy, expected or not. The red fruit is direct and linear lightning, not overly complex and certainly true to consistent form. It’s actually quite amazing to note this form of sangiovese structure as being very specific to commune, very close to the Valore Gran Selezione and recognizable for place as much as any in the entire territory. This will evolve slower than the Valore, in fact I can’t see it changing all that much in the next five years. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted September 2018

Losi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Millennium 2013, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Still quiet and reserved, far from even hinting at the end of its first millennium in bottle. Full and still in a chaste state, a textural casted Gran Selezione that exults the finest selections of Losi’s vineyards. Gives and gives some more but its best and most complex days still lay ahead. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Cecchi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Villa Rosa 1988, Castellina

From 1988, raised on Piaggia, the top of the Villa Rosa hill and aged in chestnut barrels. In great shape, truly well kept and the toasted chestnut aromas are those caught in a time machine. Chianti Classico and sangiovese from another era, a savoury balsamico, however that is consistent if altered because of time. Time that has softened and dried out the fruit yet the palate delivers a level of freshness that needs to be tasted to be believed. Speaks to wine being made the right way at the time and yet you wouldn’t do things this way now because the sangiovese demands evolution and a new approach. A look back that says you can peer through a portal to see changes coming and for the next 40 years. Tasted May 2024

Vinsanto del Chianti Classico DOCG

Castello Di Monsanto Vinsanto Del Chianti Classico DOCG Occhio Di Pernice 2006

Rare and different for VinSanto, here as 100 percent sangiovese and in many ways nothing like the style that comes from those made with trebbiano and malvasia. Plenty more caramel and especially spice, of nutmeg, sweet lemon and iced tea. A really fine black tea, tannic and softened by clover honey. Sweetness, acidity and impeccably balanced. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted February 2024

San Giusto A Rentennano Vinsanto del Chianti Classico DOCG Giusto 1999

Remember that a great vintage for reds might not succeed with Vinsanto and vice versa but this 1999 just feels like ideal middle ground. Intense sweetness (around 350 g/L) with lower volatility and solid acidity. Length simply outstanding, A treacle of deep caramel and caramelized fig, brown sugar syrup and finishing spice – cardamom and nutmeg. Crazy complexity if surely one in the sweeter and softer pantheon of San Giusto Vinsanto. Last tasted February 2024

Vinsanto Giusto 1999 is from 90 per cent malvasia and 10 trebbiano dried on traditional mats then transferred to small oak (caratelli) barrels, with absolutely no botrytis allowed. The selection is extremely careful to avoid the noble rot. Perhaps the most viscous gelée of VinSanto ever put in mouth because 400 g/L of residual sugar will do that in the most concentrated and incredible of ways. The most intense VinSanto you will ever find. Could go three-plus decades further. Drink 2018-2035. Tasted February 2018

Brancaia Tasting

IGTs

Brancaia Rosé 2023, Toscana Rosato IGT

Made with 100 percent Maremma grown merlot picked earlier (mid-August!) than wine for the reds, keeping the alcohol down with light colour and high acidity. No skin contact, three months on lees for a creamy and sapid Rosato that goes down far too easy. Currants and faint strawberry but just easy and lovely. Summer go to Rosato. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Il Bianco 2023, Toscana Bianco IGT

All sauvignon blanc from Castellina vineyards, picked early (which would be late August) for the purpose of acidity, freshness, brightness and intensity. First Bianco was made in 2011 (though was a very different style at the time) and now the variety is a veritable facsimile of itself. Shows some aging potential for more layers to pop up and out, but not for 10 years. Crunchy and salty enough, not quite startling but surely creating a pop and a buzz on the palate. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Tre 2022, Toscana IGT

A blend of all three Brancaia properties, two-thirds from Maremma and one-third Castellina/Radda fruit. The varietal blend is 70 percent sangiovese with (15 each) cabernet sauvignon and merlot. Aging in tonneaux and concrete. Serious yet uncomplicated, coastal ripeness meeting Classico region acidity for layers, piques, rises and valleys in a red blend. Three layers of savour, gariga and balsamico with three distinct types of spice, some of it very related to wood. This just feels like a perfect match to veal shoulder or Ossobuco, braised in a few cups of Tuscan red wine, fresh tomato, mirepoix and saffron, then topped with Gremolata. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May 2024

With Barbara Widmer – Brancaia

Brancaia N°2 Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, DOC Maremma Toscana

Coastal cabernet is a unique thing unto itself and with the streak of salinity running through there is less density and brood than what might otherwise happen in today’s increasingly warming climate. There is an elegance to No. 2 and a beautiful sense of the brushy Mediterranean terroir. Tannic and finishing at dark chocolate with a shot of espresso. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Il Blu 2021, Toscana IGT

The mix is merlot from Radda blended with cabernet sauvignon from Castellina. Five of 15 hectares from Castellina and half (eight of 16) in Radda. All Chianti Classico area fruit and how they layer together is a matter of desire coupled with Barbara Widmer’s experience. True blue merlot with as much structure as any found anywhere this meeting of Tuscan varieties will occur. So different than Bolgheri (and obviously Maremma) but no shock to see. Seriously structured red, fine-grained tannins and intensity self-reflecting inwards and needing up to five years to expand. Very confident wine. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted May 2024

Just as with sangiovese there is a marked difference between 2020 and 2021, also for merlot and cabernet sauvignon. There may have been a time when ripening (especially the cabernet) was a challenge in terms but think that way no more. Some frost damage at Easter reduced yields but the quality here is exceptional, the flavours developed and true. This will age effortlessly for 10-15 years. Wait for three because the wood is still very much in play. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Il Blu 2020, Toscana IGT

Brancaia Ilatraia

Brancaia Ilatraia 2021, Maremma Toscana IGT

A change to the labelling begins in 2021 now with a mix of the classic label. The 2021 is expressive of more Machia Mediterranea than any Ilatraia that have come before. The brushy savour and local gariga are so prevalent on the aromatics and the palate shows great succulence for this very special red blend. Not only is the label a next generation style and idea but the winemaking also seems to follow this route. Freshness and crispy quality creates something new, vibrant and exciting for what Ilatraia is now and also going to be. Really special vintage, extraordinary and of a potential unlimited. Tasted a second time, May 2024

The repeatable 2021 blend of 40 percent each petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon plus (20) merlot does not equivocate as a carbon copy of the 2020, nor should it and acts to remind how Maremma vintages will alter and in turn pay heed to the terroir. This feels like Galestro in the mix, surfacing for scents of the petrichor of rocks and sea and air after a rain. Rich and elegant, flavours swirling of fruit, earth, elements, the sea, mineral and natural sweetness. Finely poised, chiseled, and structured to live a very long, good and proper opus of a life. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2020, Maremma Toscana IGT

That blend since 2009 is 40 percent each petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon, plus (20) cabernet franc. The three months of “refinement” in concrete began with the 2019 vintage and here 2020 presents a wine of more energy and freshness. Chewy but also scorrevole, gliding and sliding across the palate with this glistening and glycerol style of fruit that says so much about modern day Maremma. A full and concentrated yet never gratuitous Maremma red blend so perfect in pitch, sway and glide as it shows so much grace today, but also to do so for many years going forward. Tasted a second time, May 2024

The change for this 20-plus year-old IGT happened in 2009 when sangiovese was eliminated, petit verdot introduced and cabernet increased. Closed aromas for now, soon to change because 2020 will open much earlier than 2019 and also 2021. The petit verdot is aching to be untethered and understood, the other parts less so but will come soon thereafter. There is great personality and acidity to this 2020, a freshness unexpected and a diversity within a wine that comes in layers, marine waves and complexity. Wow vintage, again unexpected but then again, not really considering Maremma, Brancaia and 2020. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2019, Maremma Toscana IGT

From 2019 the aging process changes, still 18 months in barrel but now followed up with three months in concrete before bottling. “To give the wine time to become a unit” explains Barbara Widmer. The 2019 feels more forward than 2018, maybe because of less stress during the season with ’19 allowing the team to breath after 2018, but there is so much fruit it seems the structure and therefore potential will be lessened. Rich and more wood sensations here, a chocolate expression with ganache painted all over the dark fruit. Tannins are of very good quality though they are softer and silkier than most vintages. A seductive Ilatraia this 2019 blend of 40 percent each petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon, plus (20) cabernet franc. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2018, Maremma Toscana IGT

Rich vintage with layers and layers upon others of fruit, wood, fruit, wood and more fruit. “We were very afraid because of the heat and drought after 2017,” admits Barbara Widner, which means some negative linger or hangover might have been a part of the work during the ’18 season. But luck was on the Brancaia side with good winter rains, a fine spring and balance throughout the summer, all the way to harvest. “We were super, super lucky and were able to relax.” Concentration, restrained power because freshness and really good potential still lies ahead. Could see this drinking well, like 2004 for example, 20 years forward. Drink 2026-2038. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2017, Maremma Toscana IGT

Remarkable acidity from 2017 when you consider the drought and heat that occurred from winter all the way through to harvest. A vintage that could have been a disaster and the blend of 40 percent each petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon, plus (20) cabernet franc seems to fit, no matter the vintage. Not only that but also the switch away from sangiovese was so smart because it could have truly been problematic in 2017. Yes this is ready to drink and yes it’s rich and extracted but once again it needs saying that acidity keeps the dream alive. Lovely work here with 2017 and a perfect Ilatraia to pour at wine dinners all over the world. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2016, Maremma Toscana IGT

The 2016 is in the finest shape of any Ilatraia thus far, with great acidity and an energy that means business. Concentration yes but also layers upon layers of natural sweetness, kisses and the caress of what this wine does to nurture the palate. The most suave tannins of them all and a beauty, but also grace about the wine. Yes it it the most experienced and confident wine of the 20 in this vertical. Drink 2025-2038. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2015, Maremma Toscana IGT

The 2015 is nothing but lovely, simple easy and slowly evolving in pretty much the way you would have expected to be. For winemaker and Widmer the closest comparison would be 2004 but there is such a fruity quality (yes it is younger) and that fruit has done little to advance out of its freshest stage. Not much will happen for another two years. Will drink for a few more years on top of the few imagined five ago. Lasted May 2024

The blend changed in 2009 and here in ’15 it’s cabernet sauvignon (40 per cent), petit verdot (40) and cabernet franc (20). In a way too bad because the ’08 was quite glorious but here in a wholly antithetical way, now there is more brightness and vitality. Not that the barrel regimen is shy in any way but there’s really a lift and not merely because of vintage. Quite balanced and should age well for a few more years. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted September 2019

Brancaia Ilatraia 2014, Maremma Toscana IGT

The most challenging of vintages, with 2015 no bargain, “even for Maremma on the wet side, along with the Suzuki fly in the vineyard.” Required a major amount of selection and in the end Barbara Widmer was quite happy with the result for this blend of 40 percent each petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon, plus (20) cabernet franc. Meanwhile the energy and persistence are more than fine and ample for the vintage with secondary character is coming on quite slowly. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted May 2024

Tasting 20 years of Ilatraia at Brancaia

Brancaia Ilatraia 2013, Maremma Toscana IGT

A very good vintage for Maremma, considered tops even though the same could not necessarily be said for Chianti Classico. Loving the acidity and chalky liquidity of the 2013, a wine that was managed so well, partly because the vintage was so generous this way, but also because experience with place, blend and style have come to a very good place. Not sure this will have the same stuffing that 2012 is showing but the enjoyment now is really tops. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2012, Maremma Toscana IGT

A full, substantial and concentrated wine from 2012 that clearly shows a progression speaking to what Maremma could and will be able to do with these kinds of blends. Acids and tannins are equal and available, up to the task in support and the harmony here is second to none. Experience and acumen are on display to say that Ilatraia is truly on the correct track. Drink 2024-2031. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2011, Maremma Toscana IGT

If 2010 was showing top acidity and energy than 2011 takes these necessary longevity extended factors to another level altogether. What stands out here is the cabernet franc which gets more and more important in a blend with the 40 percent each petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon. The length here is outstanding and the vintage still expressive of its longevity and future potential. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2010, Maremma Toscana IGT

The challenge of sangiovese not succeeding on the Maremma coast without irrigation meant a new blend having been initialized in 2009 and still in play through at least 2022. That would be 40 percent each petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon, plus (20) cabernet franc though it could vary by two percent from year to year. The acids in 2010 are remarkable, sweet and crucial to a warm and “big” year such as this. Another 2010 that surprises with its energy and also balance. The maturity into secondary epoch has happened with seamlessness and grace to put 2010 in top light. Great showing. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2009, Maremma Toscana IGT

First vintage of the new blend, kicking out the sangiovese and so now with 40 percent each petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon, plus (20) cabernet franc. About half new French wood from two sources, Sylvan and Raimond. A wildly authentic Maremma IGT, aromatics full of the coastal Macchia Mediterranea, the balsamico by the sea, the brushy savour so specific to the Etruscan Coast. Richness and great climatic interest, a feeling of the dry maritime place and wood a big part, but more as an aid and abet, not the dominant driver. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2008, Maremma Toscana IGT

Quite an advanced Ilatraia from cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and petit verdot (60-30-10), the last vintage with not only this exact blend, but also sangiovese. Chewy, lots of chocolate, wood very much the dominant factor, the sort of Tuscan red that appeals to so many, especially those who were paying attention to this style back in 2007. Time in the glass helps open up more channels. Last tasted May 2024

The blend is cabernet sauvignon (60 per cent), sangiovese (30) and petit verdot (10). A vintage of high acidity and exceptional structure. Has taken on as much wood as the fruit can handle or at least support. It’s a gathering of big bones with flesh still attached and a long finish. The year and the acumen are clearly on display for a project that seems to have hit its proper stride. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted September 2019

Brancaia Ilatraia 2007, Maremma Toscana IGT

Much more maturity to 2007, especially after tasting the 2006 and yet the blend is just the same as it had been going back to 2002. That would be cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and petit verdot (60-30-10), here quite integrated, with fine acids (if not quite ’05 or ’06 acids) and yet the charm here is really lovely. Very ready to go, please and make the experience a fully enjoyable one. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May 2024

Ilatraia 2021-2002

Brancaia Ilatraia 2006, Maremma Toscana IGT

The blend beginning in 2002 and culminating in 2009 was was cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and petit verdot (60-30-10). Big vintage and there is an aromatic spicy chalkiness to ’06, owing to ripeness and also high quality tannins. Surely a wine of the times and so very specific to where the wood really dominated and the wine is just now slowing down. Wow – how does this wine now show this way with so much confidence, character and attitude? Amazing really. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2005, Maremma Toscana IGT

Remarkable vibrancy and energy from 2005, warm but balanced vintage as it was and the first to speak of the Brancaia experience for Maremma and what the young vineyards (planted in 1998) were willing to offer and eventually to mix and work with the last plants put in back in 1995. The blend from 2002-2009 was was cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and petit verdot (60-30-10). More character and ultimate interest from 2005, at least as it goes for the first four vintages of Ilatraia. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2004, Maremma Toscana IGT

Good if unremarkable vintage that “you would consider wanting to have every year,” says Barbara Widmer. You feel the wood on 2004 more than the vintage before and after, rich in chocolate, chewy fruit leather centre and cocoa dustier on the back end. Same blend as with ’02 and ’03, of cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and petit verdot (60-30-10) More evolution here but also length…and harmony. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2003, Maremma Toscana IGT

A warm year and you can smell the liquid smoke and also peppery heat on the nose but honestly the continuance from 2002 and into 2004 is surely there. The acidity is in great shape, sweet and vibrant, the finish forceful with cocoa and liquorice. Super fine and nice for the mouth from an Ilatraia where again the blend was cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and petit verdot (60-30-10). Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May 2024

Brancaia Ilatraia 2002, Maremma Toscana IGT

The initial idea behind Ilatraia was to find a place in Tuscany where you could ripen sangiovese in every and not just a here or there vintage. It was not conceived of an actual business plan back in 1998, definitely not to create a wine like Ilatraia. The first vintage was 2002 and the grapes were so good the decision was made to create this wine. And yet the vintage so maligned made it a challenge for Barbara Widmer to bottle all of the possible 20,000 bottles – and so she made just 10,000. From the start the blend was cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and petit verdot (60-30-10), now in 2024 where there is no missing the preserve of freshness. Last tasted May 2024

The blend is cabernet sauvignon (60 per cent), sangiovese (30) and petit verdot (10). Grapes come Maremma and Chianti Classico. A cool, rainy vintage and certainly no picnic for sangiovese and Chianti Classico, but pretty much a challenge in all of Tuscany. With a syrupy chocolate, iodine and balsamic quest having been reached. Has aged quite well and drinks with secondary pride, followed by a sweet finish. Drink 2019-2020. Tasted September 2019

Caparsa Mimma 2021, Toscana IGT

With 30 percent whole bunch for the first time and a much higher production because the vintage was generous this way. Also more oak and fruit, saucy, pulpy and fleshy with the greatest potential of the three Mimma (2019-2021). This will be bottled in two weeks and so it’s still an anteprima but really is a finished wine. This is the be prepared to pair with red meat sangioevse that will clean your palate withe every sip. Fine and grippy tannins will see this live a log life. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2024

Caparsa Mimma 2020, Toscana IGT

Mimma is tannic, that much is clear from the first sip. Only the third vintage and mon dieu what a beautiful, fresh, clean and crispy sangovese. Love to sip and willing to lay it down. As you wish but best scenario would be to let this sangiovese have some time in the bottle. The women got is exactly right. Limited production of just 1,000 bottles. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted February 2024

Caparsa Mimma 2019, Toscana IGT

Still a beautiful IGT but wholly different to the 2020, here the second vintage of Mimma made with grapes chosen only by Gianna and Fiamma Cianferoni. Last tasted February 2024

Mimma could have been Chianti Classico, it could be Gran Selezione, dedicated to “all the girls of the area,” says Paolo in all earnest seriousness, hand-picked grapes by Paolo’s wife Gianna and daughter Fiamma. This is the flagship, small production less than 2,000 bottles, grapes from all over the vineyards, picked in the middle of harvest, during the second pass. There is a restrained intensity in this sangiovese and it does indeed make you think. That’s important, It means Gianna and Fiamma get it. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2023

Casa Emma Harenae 2022, Colli Della Toscane Centrale IGT

Harenae refers to the sandstone soil known locally as Arenaria but also what is used for terra cotta manufacturing in Impruneta. Fifth vintage for the solo sangiovese artist macerated by the process of “capello sommerso” for 60 days and aged a year in 1000L amphora. Bottled in October of 2023 and Paolo Paffi calls Harenae the “B-Side,” an ulterior way to look at sangiovese that can be a hit though it will always have its quirky, natural or alternative style. A sangiovese that is correctly and properly oxidative, drying, tannic to a great and serious degree. A tapestry woven of woolly texture that will not be denied. It’s freshness is driven by a sanguine character that is so very San Donato in Poggio. It’s just expressed in a very different way.Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2024

Casale Dello Sparviero Bianco Di Toscana IGT 2022

Drink straight away, fresh and salty, easy white for every day. Vermentino, malvasia and trebbiano. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted May 2024

Casale Dello Sparviero Rosato Di Toscana IGT 2022

All sangiovese, just a couple of hours run-off juice, simple and salty like the Bianco, but exaggeratedly so. Relates to the high salinity in the soils and for Rosato this is the way to speak for this wide open geographical section of Castellina. Succinct, spot on and uncomplicated glou-glou of a Rosé. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted May 2024

Casale Dello Sparviero Rosso Di Toscana IGT 2021

Sangiovese blended with merlot and cabernet sauvignon, proprietary IGT blend that drinks as succinctly and direct as imagination should ask it to. Unadorned, balanced and perfectly designed for that proverbial pasta, pizza and steak house pour by the glass. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted May 2024

Casale Dello Sparviero Chianti Superiore DOCG 2020

Pure sangiovese rom the area around Poggibonsi, organic, about 10,000 bottles and well made. Bit of vanilla and simple sappy wood flavours, but quite clean and perfectly serviceable. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted May 2024

Casaloste Don Vincenzo 2018, Toscana IGT

The signature wine is in ode to Giovanni’s father who helped Casaloste get its start in 1993 and this single two hectare vineyard is purposed grown for this wine alone. The vineyard delivers the most concentrated fruit and the most developed phenolics and it shows in the intensity but also form this warm vintage in the bold and compact layers of Casaloste’s sangovese. A wine first produced in 1995 (two years after the first Casaloste) and one that takes time to develop, piano, piano, lentamente, slowly but surely. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2024

Casaloste Inversus 2019, Toscana IGT

From the merlot vineyard facing west planted in 1999, with 10 percent sangiovese. The first (2003) vintage was 50-50, as an experiment to see the relationship between the two before slowly (2005-60/40, 2007-80/20, then in 2009- 90/10) working with more merlot. The 10 percent sangiovese is just the right amount to keep the connection. Inspiration came from Giacomo Tacchis who knew that the grapes had been here not 50 but 200 years ago. Silky with a fine tannic grain running through and the similar beauty shown by Riserva 2019. Lovely, lovely wine. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2024

Laura Bianchi and Giulia Cecchi – Castello di Monsanto, San Donato in Poggio

Castello Di Monsanto Chardonnay Collezione Dai Vigneti Di Monsanto 2022, Toscana IGT

At this point in the chardonnay’s tenure the percentage of wood is 30 percent which is a number that came into effect back in 2008, down from 50. From a Galestro strewn plot of five hectares facing northwest and still a fresh place and so a saltiness pervades, but the predominant feeling is what Laura Bianchi calls sapidity. That’s because there is a phenolic moment and also mineral grip that’s more than just or perhaps apposite to saltiness. A challenging vintage, very warm (amongst other extreme weather events) and still Monsanto’s 2022 chardonnay is bursting with energy and freshness. Flesh and richness too of course but balance is in full effect. Will this age with the best remains to be seen but today it seems to matter very little. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Monsanto Chardonnay Collezione Dai Vigneti Di Monsanto 2005, Toscana IGT

Vigneti Di Monsanto were planted to a special clone of chardonnay that has always seemed so resistant to disease, especially Perenospera and Laura Bianchi tells they’ve only lost a few vines in 40 years. At the time of the 2005 vintage the vines would have been 23 years of age and it’s kind of remarkable how this 18-plus year-old chardonnay emits a vapour trail like older riesling. That’s the phenolic push-pull of salty and sapid, the dichotomy of a Monsanto chardonnay that’s always in play. A fine moment and once again proof of this unique clonal-varietal relationship at work. That said 2005 is fading like a beautiful sunset over the hills of San Gimignano. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Monsanto Sangioveto 2018, Toscana IGT

One of the original “Super Tuscans,” second to (San Felice’s) Vigorello, of 100 percent sangiovese that could not be casted as Chianti Classico when that solo performance was not permitted. The Scanni vineyard and its calcareous soils with marine sediments puts the “S” in salty, so much more so than what happens in Monsanto’s Chianti Classico. Notable connection to Giulio Gambelli, of the planting of the Grosso and in how he and Fabrizio Bianchi would meet on a daily basis to discuss wine growing and making. Verdant streak of Poggibonsi-San Donato in Poggio woods, cool and slick, saline and ethereal. Absolutely and unequivocally Sangioveto from its place but also a wine that needs time. More than many and this lengthy 2018 will surprise many by living famously but also brilliantly for nearly two decades. Drink 2026-2037. Tasted February 2024

Cecchi Cobalto Val Delle Rosa 2021, Vermentino Superiore Maremma Toscana IGT

Vermentino done up three ways, in steel, wood and also amphora, for freshness, salinity and verticality married to structure and mouthfeel. Brings about a balance of all parts in not just one but several layers and level of elegance for white wines, not just from Maremma and Toscana but anywhere and everywhere. Cobalto is such a white wine, an experience that leaves you satisfied because it touches all the points that matter. Andrea Cecchi’s father was ahead of the curve with his decision to make vineyards in Maremma. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted May 2024

Maddalena Fucile and Matteo Vaccari – Cigliano di Sopra

Cigliano Di Sopra Nuvola Del Cigliano 2022, Toscana IGT

Picked earlier to preserve acidity (5-ish g/L of TA) and says Matteo Vaccari, “we work with the lees for a good resolution. You can make mistakes with sangiovese but not with trebbiano.” Texture is of a terrific natural coarseness while energy improvises, improvise upon and rights the fabric of this white. Last tasted February 2024. A mix of 75 percent trebbiano and (25) malvasia, five days whole bunches for a quick syringe of carbonic and then a short, old wood stay. Comes away with just that quick strike of matchstick and a finish at 11 percent alcohol. Citrus is very lemon, juiced and gelid like curd but what stands out is the dry extract and sweet tannins. This can and will age – there is no doubt. Picked on September 17th, 2023 – a week later than previously – on the 24th. Less than 1,000 bottles made. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted October 2023

500 Years of Villa Calcinaia

Conti Capponi Villa Calcinaia Mauvais Chapon Rosato Metodo Classico 2018

Prequel: an intimate tale of Renaissance Florence; a description of the history of the Chianti area and the Capponi family up to the purchase of Villa Calcinaia. No not 1244, 1352, 1435 or even a reminiscence for Pier Capponi to 1494 but the toasty, gingered-oxidative style does suggest an older bubble. The name conjures antiquity, Chapon as Capone for Cappone, French influenced, as in Champagne method sparkling wine nearly 50 months on its lees and finishing dry as the Greve valley in a hot season. Orange skin, reduced lemon, lemongrass herbal, a kiss of pace (or “pace”) and a brush with sage success. Spicy, high acid, unrelenting and long. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted May 2024

Conti Capponi Villa Calcinaia AD 1613 Rosso Toscana IGT 2011, Toscana Rosso IGT

The High Renaissance; from the Renaissance to the Grand Duchy, life at the villa and how it was organized. Old, alive and well, one-third each sangiovese (with mammolo and malvasia nera) in ode to the nearly 150 Chianti properties, especially villas owned by the Capponi in the 16th and 17th centuries. Alive more in spirit than corporeal standing because fruit fully waned has given way to frutta di bosco, secco and a creamy chestnut purée. Acids are persistent, the wine hangs loosely but tough enough to keep on keeping on. Tasted May 2024

Conti Capponi/Villa Calcinaia Vigna Bastignano Rosso 2006, Colli Toscana Centrale IGT

World’s largest voluntary emigration, red gravy and Chianti; the Chianti Classico; the Capponi family plants the first non-promiscuous vineyard in the area. The Bastignano vineyard’s top estate drop comes out six years after conversion to organics and 10 years after the help of Roberto Bandinelli brought Calcinaia into its present state. Only 168 bottles (pus 50 magnums) were produced for this higher pH (3.44) and low alcohol 2006 (12.21 abv) for something that lasts with a continuance of acidity, though the fruit is dried, leathery, liquid cocoa flavoured and marked by a cupboard full of spice. A warm vintage that has evolved quite rapidly, or at least indicative by this bottle. Drink up with haste. Tasted May 2024

Dievole Trebbiano 2022, Toscana Bianco IGT

The first vintage was 2017, originally aged in French wood but now in casks made by a Rufina craftsman called Carmignana. The mix is 80 percent Tuscan oak and (20) chestnut for trebbiano as a white in many ways acting more like a red. At least in terms of structure and coming form the west bank of the Arbia where a mix of soils bring all the elements to the vines. Harvested in mid October, incredibly and famously so, a new frontier for this area, a wine of acid and texture, notably phenolic, made rich by 10 months in the wood. Delivers that honeysuckle and acacia sensation, partial malolactic creaminess and a finishing note of honey. Good succulence and then length. Did not expect this level of complexity and it just might age for a spell. 20,000 bottles produced. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Famiglia Losi Querciavalle Malvasia Nera Ritmo 2022, Toscana IGT

The current vintage of the malvasia is the one that makes Valeria Losi think of Spring. The earliest roses, also not quite but maybe hinting at violets, but what it brings are flowery sensations, intense and stronger than fruit. This is a matter of eight to ten years ago really getting down and into vinifying malvasia on its own and finding the best of the variety for what it can do alone. It’s a tradition but a familial one and very specific to Losi. Super integrated tannins, non-aggressive and fine. A most unique and special wine. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Famiglia Losi Cavalier Tranquillo 2022, Toscana Rosso IGT

A simple red, the way Valeria and Riccardo Losi’s grandfather used to make Chianti Classico when white grapes were permitted. Just a spice of white grapes, five percent in this vintage for a light, crunchy, fresh and simple red. Fun Rosso. Drink 2024-2025. Tasted February 2024

Famiglia Losi Rondò 2021, Toscana Rosso IGT

Rondò, a kind of music but there happens to be a grape also called this way – but this gives the way of a round leaved foglia tonda and so this is a matter of onomatopoeia. Round and yet forceful, tannic and so implosive, intensely so. Mon dieu. What a massive but drinkable wine. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted February 2024

Luca Martini di Cigala and nephew Federico

Fattoria San Giusto A Rentennano Percarlo 2019, Toscana IGT

The 100 percent sangiovese that lives for itself and yet Luca Martini always feels that the wine shows the truest character of the place. Percarlo holds a higher percentage of grapes grown on Tufo soil (non volcanic sediment left behind by the water that was here three to four million years ago), a soil of sandy quality and pebbles. Results in a salty quality, a mineral quotient, a stream of airy brightness within a very structured and powerful sangiovese. Great saltiness and also fruit, a minty or mirto sensation that creates a cool, salt licked feeling. There is no other wine like this. Amazing freshness incarnate. Drink 2024-2034. Tasted February 2024

Fattoria San Giusto A Rentennano Percarlo 2009, Toscana IGT

What do you remember about 2009? “The problem was in August with one very hot week (40-plus degrees) that stopped the plants,” says Luca Martini. Sangiovese however is a very resilient variety. Most thought the wines would have no staying power and they would have been wrong. This shows great freshness and subtle spice, more than amazing for a 15-ish year-old sangiovese. Still showing in the early to middle stages of secondary. Fine acidity, not so high but special. Supportive and always the catalyst to make the fruit sing. A remarkable showing for Percarlo and a wine drinking perfectly right now. Will linger this way for five or more years. “It may not have the potential to develop more complexity, “ says Luca, “but it will stay like this for many more.” Like Barolo, in a way. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted February 2024

Utopie Grand Cru Doublé, Prodotto En Infiascato Dell Azienda Atipica, Morraiole 2008

A collaboration between Luca Martini and Roberto Voerzio, 50-50 Percarlo (sangiovese) and Voerzio Barolo (nebbiolo), more for fun at the time, for shits and ironically serious giggles than anything else. The question of course is why and can these two highly opinionated grapes work well together? Is the sum greater than the parts? Well, no of course but try to think about this in a different way. Only produced twice, in 2008 and 2010, the idea (and label design) by (journalist) Barton Anderson. Luca thought it was oxidized from the beginning so he called Roberto who replied, “you don’t know nebbiolo.” No trust for two years but then it began improving and hit its peak two or three years ago. The nebbiolo is more dominant, especially the style of the tannins and the fruit darker, a dusty example, more typically nebbiolo. Floral note just has to be Percarlo, that and the tufo mineral but still the nebbiolo wins. Maybe 2010 will be the opposite. The idea came from Maurizo Castelli and the sangiovese meets nebbiolo at Volpaia. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

With Bernardo, Corso, Margherita and Giovanni Manetti at Fontodi, Panzano

Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve 2021, Toscana Centrale IGT

The village of Flacciano, the old Latin name that became Panzano, though there is still a place in the vineyard’s valley that bears the name. The name of the church where the cross was located in that valley before the 18th century. The church where you made a payment of “indulgenza,” so that HE would pardon and gift your place in paradise. The 2021 is a truly generous if still shy Flaccianello of that necessary wish for balance between substantial fruit and structure, high acidity and an overflowing mouthful of pure sangiovese. Seems to taste lighter and hide alcohol, so much more so than it is truly built upon and the age ability is very great. No other sangiovese expresses the luxe and voluptuous capabilities of sangiovese grown on Pietraforte in Panzano like Flaccianello. That’s just a fact and yes it is true that some see this archetype in terms of densities and ponderosity. Consider what matters most. Balance determines outcome and 2021 is right there where it needs to be. Drink 2027-2039. Tasted February 2024

Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve 2020, Toscana Centrale IGT

Very little movement from the magnanimous 2020 Flaccianello that made the most of its Pietraforte and there will be no doubt that it will age as well as just about any vintage of the last 40 years. The 2021 is conglomerate sandstone incarnate, of mineral and fruit bonds unbreakable and the fruit to shine through binds tied strictly tight. Last tasted February 2024

The new generation says “Flaccianello is it’s own thing and I don’t want it to become something else.” The words of Bernardo Manetti and yet Dad will say. “It will become Gran Selezione – before I retire.” Them’s promising words for a wine of Pietraforte tannins and from 2020, another season for great concentration. Focused and precise and while tight there is something more immediately beautiful and gratifying about Flaccianello 2020. Drink 2026-2037. Tasted October 2023

I Fabbri Rosato Castle Ros’ E’ 2023, Toscana IGT

Reserved sort of Rosato, lithely tart, malic and a colourful display that marks a stylistic choice for Susanna Grassi’s first kick at the blush can. The acidity of Lamole is the catalyst and the driver for expression and result. Just perfect with salumi artigianale and hard, salty cheese. Drink 2023-2025. Tasted February 2024

Il Molino Di Grace Gratius 2020, Toscana Rosso IGT

Two things about Gratius, not just in this vintage, but two things that really stand out. One is how far from dark and opaque this vintage is when you think about how big and dark the wine should be. Second is how great a nose, or says Morganti, “it has a good nose,” realistic in tone, but the Gratius comment is as understated as anything he will ever say about anything. This is elegance and red fruit sangiovese incarnate, open and floral, so different in a complete way than any or all of the three appellative CCs. A new label design for 2020, busier, with more symbolism and commentary than ever before. Last tasted May 2024

Unlike 2020 Riserva the underbelly of structure, depth and layered acidity combine for aggressiveness and tension. Bigger Gratius in 2020 with potential as high if not higher than that of 2019. A wall of sound, structure and vision. Tasted February 2024

Campione: “With Gratius we work in a different way, aging in barriques and tonneaux,” explains Iacopo Morganti. From 2022 the aging will happen in 15 hL Austrian wood. Big wine from 2020 and that is not written, spoken and pronounced lightly. It is the vintage, hot and heavy, a romance between sangiovese and weather that does not happen so often. A lustfully romantic wine but be patient and allow the friendship and the longevity of the union to develop. Two years in wood and now needing a “cleaning” by way of vegetable gelatine (vegan, 3 g/l per 4hl) and then bottled by the end of the year. Very tannic finish. This should be Gran Selezione. It’s single vineyard and arguably the top wine. Starting with 2020 the artwork changes on the label with each vintage. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted October 2023

Il Molino Di Grace Gratius 2019, Toscana Rosso IGT

Today it is worth talking about the difference between Gratius and Chianti Classico (as a combined mix of all three levels) because the freshness and qualities delivered by the field blend varieties create a posit tug between salty and sapid. Gratis 2019 is getting close to resolving the wood and its chalky river of tannin. Big and bountiful, a buzz of energy plugged in and time still the ally. Last tasted February 2024

Gratius will make a very high quality Gran Selezione and the time is nigh to accord it the designation. All the qualities are inherent and intrinsic to the coming status, namely concentration, finest silken grains of texture and balancing tannin. Come now, the future is poetic and gracious. Tasted October 2023

Choosing not to compare Gratius to Chianti Classico at any level, let alone Gran Selezione, is wise and for several reasons. For one thing the blending in of canaiolo and colorino changes dynamics by setting and settling acidity, elevating pH and stabilizing colour. For more reasons check out the manual but here are the Coles notes. Gratius delivers two-toned liquorice, more direct solar radiated brightness, finer and yet less immediately understood structure and a chewiness that sets it apart. What matters is here is that Gratius is the representative for the single San Francesco vineyard and so it is a profound IGT ready, willing and able to become a wine graced with the Gallo Nero and labeled as Panzano. Two new Austrian casks will conceive 3,900 bottles going forward and the future is all about DOCG quality at the highest appellative level. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted February 2023

Isole Delle Falcole Vecchia Vigna 2021, Toscana IGT

Not released but already bottled. A bigger Vecchia Vigna, if surely because the old plot is a more than conjunctional mix of 70 percent sangiovese with ciliegiolo, colorinio, caniaolo, malvasia and trebbiano. if you compare to the 2022 barrel sample this ’21 now rests in a quieter, somewhat closed phase. Also a palate texture of silk and glycerol but acids are raging. This demure of aromatics marching alongside and matched up against intelligent if also incredible lift does the kinds of things to the palate that the Grand Selezione simply does not. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February 2024

Isole Delle Falcole Vecchia Vigna 2020, Toscana IGT

The crunchiest old vines field blend that anyone will ever taste, anywhere such wines are made. Why, well simpy because it is made with sangiovese plus reds and a white grape. So why were white wines planted with reds? To help fix the colours of the red, to add acidity and also to sweeten for table grapes, wrapped in wire nets to keep the animals and birds away. A cultural inclusion and a heritage imperative. This is so young, much like the GS 2020, immovable, powerful and tannic. But there are more fruits involved, especially cherries but also citrus. Tons of citrus. Almost like corbezzolo but also pomegranate. So fascinating! Last tasted February 2024

An apposite vintage to 2018 for this unparalleled field blend of sangiovese, colorino, canaiolo, ciliegiolo, malvasia bianca and trebbiano though since 1948 much has changed and more sangiovese planted means less interruption or intrusion from the gaggle of other grapes. Just as juicy and gregarious while also vertical and filled with old school tension but also charm. Mid-weight and also alcohol, approximately 14 percent but this is a valley of elevation and woods so freshness just fills the air. This is very special. The 2018 was just a bit loose by comparison. Tannin on the back end suggest waiting two years. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February 2023

Isole Delle Falcole Vecchia Vigna 2018, Toscana IGT

Richer and rounder by a mile as compared to 2021 and 2020 (with 2019 not released because of some Brettanomyces, akin to Soldera to be honest). Crunchy acids and succulence, tart with natural sweet edginess and lots of wood still to resolve. The 2020 and 2021 hide the barrel or better integrate it with finer acumen. Last tasted February 2024

The plot was originally planted in 1948 to sangiovese, colorino, canaiolo, ciliegiolo, malvasia bianca and trebbiano. Hard to find a field blend like this anywhere. Twenty plus percent is original vines and the rest planted, but also restored in 1982. Emanuele Graetz re-planted 1,000 (sangiovese) plants in 2022. Spends 18 months in older wood and yes, this is what you would expect, though how could you possibly know what to expect? Produces only 6,000 bottles from nearly two hectares and the purity is so real, with verticality, some leathery maturity but much more so a juiciness that determines the true spirit of the wine. Is this ready? No, not quite but man you want to drink it. Clean, honesty and remarkably focused despite the potential for tohu vavohu. Picked on the 24th of September. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2023

Isole Delle Falcole Merlot 2021, Toscana IGT

Merlot 2021 is another beast, tannic as the GS and VV but with a different sort of fruit sweetness and rounder disposition. Red fruit incarnate, a sweet an sour raspberry but a dark one, not the kind from Guatemala. Very Tuscan merlot, no in fact wholly Chianti Classico area merlot. No try again – distinctly Falcole merlot. The place always wins. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted February 2024

Isole Delle Falcole Merlot 2020 2018, Toscana IGT

Merlot softens a bit sooner and while this bottle (at this moment) might feel just a touch mature the rest of the wine’s parts are all in perfect pitch. Lift is weightless and elevated, acidity sweet and touchless, tannins tight and in control. In the end the sand and Galestro rule the fruit to remind of place. A place called Falcole. Last tasted February 2024

Will be called Auré which stands For Maurizio and Loretta, owners of the property who have sold to Emanuele and are responsible for planting the merlot in 1978. Just six rows making 1,200 bottles maximum and one of the few old vines examples gone solo in the Classico area. I mean you have to taste this merlot to believe. Plenty of fruit but red with no tar, char or smokiness. Instead all perfume, picked a week ahead of sangiovese, nothing drying or leathery but just the sweetest textures, aromas and tannins. A great site and yes merlot is special for where it comes. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2023

Jurij Fiore & Figlia Occhiorosso Diforì 2021, Alta Valle Della Greve IGT

The word diforì means “drunk” in old Tuscan, as when you would ask someone with red eyes, “are you drunk?” Therefore occhiorosso the grape and its translation as “red eyes.” Jurji Fiore grafted material from Sebastiano Capponi onto American rootstock in a rented vineyard called “Clos de l’Ingénieure” in Lamole surrounded by a short stone wall and the owner is in fact an engineer. The first vintage was 2019 (of only 75 litres) after 18 months aging in a demijohn’s worth. No production from 2020 and though the quantity was high enough to use a few casks, Fiore chose to continue in demijohn for the 2021 simply because it worked so well from that 2019. Nothing else smells or feels like this, so far from sangiovese and yet so very Rosso from inside the Chianti Classico territory. Some might at first feel something sangiovese about it but characteristics differ for this rare grape discovered by Professor Roberto Bandinelli of the University of Florence. Bandinelli was incidentally the consultant for Capponi’s Villa Calcinaia. Wait on this tannic and rustic red soloist for its legs to stretch out and charm to be released. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted February 2024

Jurji Fiore E Figlia Lassù A Lamole 2022, Alta Valle Della Greve IGT

From the vineyard at Castello di Lamole near to Sono Cosi, down below the road, north facing and surround by wood. Only receives an hour of sun in winter and maybe two or three in summer. Freshest of places and especially for trebbiano. Jurji Fiore considered planting only chardonnay but wanted an Italian variety. Dad suggested famoso from Romagna and so he grafted some, along with chardonnay from Hauts-Côtes-de-Nuits. Lassù is a blend of the three, at the time to fill a tank and now its the recipe. Spice, body and freshness fill the space of this wine, from the three varieties emulsified together. A balanced trilogy from which you don’t feel anything too much, or weight for that matter and the three barrels of new, one and two year old do exactly what’s needed to lift, place and show this Lamole white blend. A bi-phenolic white, at times waxy and herbal, of high level citrus preserve and of an intensity that makes sure to hide the wood. Sara Fiore says it is very dissetante meaning thirst quenching. Fourth vintage and now in a well developed place, style and effect. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2024

Jurji Fiore E Figlia l’Amore Classico Vino Spumante Di Qualità 2021

Second “just for fun” attempt at sparkling wine for Jurji Fiore (and he wasn’t happy with the first) with this having just been disgorged on January 26, 2024. Metodo Classico, blanc de noir, 400 bottles produced. A play on words between Lamole and Amore, sangiovese di Lamole. Great energy, toasted, gingery and all the spice comes out because it’s Pas Dosé, dry as the desert. All the fruit comes from Lamole, a sort of green harvest, in the first week of September more or less. Brilliant second effort. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Mazzei Fonterutoli Concerto Di Fonterutoli 2020, Toscana IGT

The first of the Fonterutoli Super Tuscans born in 1981 of sangiovese with 20 percent cabernet sauvignon in Castellina at 350m of elevation. The vineyard is close to Ser Lapo where clays predominate. The sangiovese sees time in tonneaux while the cabernet sauvignon goes to barriques. Gives some muscle and punch with vanilla and lavender notes and fine tannins. The vintage is big and also lifted, quite so which means time is needed to settle the score. The tannins are austere and commanding at the finish. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted February 2024

Castello Di Fonterutoli Siepi 2021, Toscana IGT

Siepi (first made in 1992) comes from the original vineyard aboard a plateau and 240m, from two parcels, one sangiovese and the other merlot. The latter was planted in the 1980s as an alternative to colorino and to help soften the austerity of the sangiovese at the time. The decision was made then too make a 50-50 blend, “a dream of a perfect wine,” says Francesco Mazzei, “of roundness, colour and style.” The sangiovese dominates today because things have changed with the territory’s climate and soils supporting mature levels of ripeness and finesse from the indigenous grape. The shift is welcomed and applauded because more than ever Siepi represents the identity of the place. Could have been 100 percent merlot 32 years ago “but we could not imagine a wine without sangiovese.” As it must. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted February 2024

Mazzei Belguardo Vermentino Superiore 2021, Maremma Toscana IGT

A Tuscan coastal varietal white made from four clones and partially aged on skins for six months in amphora. The genesis is from 2011 though the concept has morphed to create the textural wine that it is today. Two of the clones are Corsican, the other two Sardinian. Fresh, clean and bright with that skin contact salve upon the palate, without weight or residue left behind. Slides and glides easily, extract and tannin are high while seasoning is sea salt and white pepper. If you like chenin blanc and/or grüner veltliner than this should appeal to you. “I think in ten years 50 percent of the wines in the Maremma will be vermentino,” predicts Francesco Mazzei. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Monte Bernardi Tzingarella 2022, Colli Della Toscana Centrale IGT

Tzingarella is the Greek gypsy daughter with a blend of merlot, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and colorino. All co-fermented from vines planted in the right zones where sangiovese should not be planted. Humidity zones has much to do with the decisions and so merlot will grow in the cooler locations, the franc in the highest. The young vines make this wine and while it’s very dark berry it’s also liquorice, sweet herbs, drying tannins and variegated richnesses. Violets and dark fruit perfumes but also this vivid quality. Drink 2025-2028. Last tasted February 2024

Monte Bernardi Tzingara 2022, Colli Della Toscana Centrale IGT

Tzingara is the Greek gypsy mother and the wine from the older vines, powdery in perfume that really comes through in the duality of cabernets. They, the merlot and the petit verdot make for a Tuscan wolf in Bordeaux knit sheep’s clothing for a blend that is super fresh, tight, and floral. You can really chew this wine equipped of a palate that is like fresh leather but also noted in how juices are squeezed out to be swirled as it is worked by your palate. Great Scott fruit and even finer acidity captured. Super fun wine. Drink 2025-2030. Last tasted February 2024

Montevertine Pian Del Ciampolo 2022, Toscana IGT

Mainly sangiovese with bits of canaiolo and colorino, first made in 1991 which was incidentally a cold and rainy season that followed the great 1990. A vintage when Martino Manetti’s father Sergio found himself in position possessive of second, third and fourth level quality grapes. Why not make something to drink? Everyone loved this wine right away. Made here and there but persistent demand determined producing it every year starting in the late 90s. Essentially the pressed wine from la prima Le Pergole Torte and seconda Montevertine. Great freshness from Pian del Ciampolo, as in the “plains of Gianpolo,” as per Dante’s Divine Comedy where Ciampolo appears in Canto XXII of the Inferno. Not much more than a resourseful modicum of structure and truthfully while this could be the equivalent of a Chianti Classico Annata the style and effect are purely Radda in Chianti Montevertine. Ripe acidity, slight Macigno chalkiness and this feeling that the plants and grapes have and are in a 15 year midst in their adjustment to climate change. You would never know this was a wine that came from a hot vintage. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted May 2024

Montevertine 2021, Toscana IGT

A warm but balanced vintage, harvest in the first week of October, “the right time for us,” says Martino Manetti. From the vineyards planted in 1984 onwards, infusing fruit born in blocks from 1997, 2000-2008, 2012 and 2014. No barriques, only Slavonian cask and always made in the same way, going back to the oenological days of Giulio Gambelli and through the more current work of Paolo Salvi. Manetti is the first to admit that oenology is not his strongest suit and so a consultant has always been integral to getting the most out of these wines. The 2021 is a profound matter of subtlety and strength, with restraint and power being the hallmarks of Montvertine, but maybe here a bit more fruit, florals and near full-bodied punch as compared to some other vintages. Singular because, well Montevertine but this is truly a matter of the place above all else. There is a Macigno streak running through that speaks in terms defined as Radda and the acidity is expressly Raddese but again, the particularity of the 2021 is Montevertine. A wine made to tell a story of where it was conceived and also where it will go. Could imagine tasting a 2001 and/or a 2011 today and the wines would reveal as variations of a replicable performative theme. Still, with respect to this wine, it would be best to wait two years before seeing the true (2021) vintage light. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted May 2024

Montevertine Le Pergole Torte 2021, Toscana IGT

As expected Le Pergole Torte expresses more volume and aromatic concentration than Montervertine mainly because its source are the oldest vines, namely the 1968 and 1972 original blocks. Twenty to 25 days of maceration with pump-overs, followed by a racking off and then a return to the concrete vats for another few months for malolactic fermentation. A year in barriques (on average 15-20 percent new) and another year in Garbellotto Slavonian cask, maximum 18 hL size. Martino Manetti is reminded of 2007, a vintage that acted closed early with the requiem of a minimum four to five years to be released from its tannic chains. And yet these days Manetti’s wines open sooner – it’s just a fact of change, maturity, growing and mapping out better sangiovese. The floral meets Macigno mineral expressiveness is present from the start yet without the intensity of 2017, nor is 2021 showy with the power of 2018. This 2021 resides right there in the balanced middle wheelhouse and should rightfully begin to give generously of itself starting in 2026. Some sangiovese are just in another league. Drink 2026-2040. Tasted May 2024

Giacomo Nardi – Nardi Viticoltori, Castellina

Nardi Viticoltori Farfaro 2022, Toscana Bianco IGT

Farfaro is the yellow flower that appears in the vineyards to mark the advent of Spring. Blends 80 percent trebbiano toscano and (20) malvasia chianti. “For me the white grapes are the last that I pick” explains Giacomo Nardi, simply because that’s how long they take to mature. From 270m on clay with a mineral stone called lignite, used for fire, a.k.a flint stone, as opposed to brown coal. Honeyed and fresh, dry and so very spring incarnate. You could close your eyes and imagine that you are drinking chenin blanc. Drink the you know what out of this clean white. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Nardi Viticoltori Baccheri 2021, Toscana Rosso IGT

Baccheri is an ode to Giacomo’s grandparents, 60 percent sangiovese with (40) merlot, aged in older barriques and tonneaux. The gastronomic red, restaurant ready, fresh and the kind of wine to fill the mouth with soft waves of clean fruit. A fine example in a sea of Tuscan IGTs where consumers get very lost. Baccheri is easy to find. Drink 2024-2026. Tasted February 2024

Nardi Viticoltori Serrico 2020, Toscana Rosso IGT

“This dream is possible because of what my father has done.” Though in general Giacomo may not love merlot, he makes an exception and put this together in a way that rises above the 100 percent new barrique aged soft chocolate examples. This ages 24 months in used barriques, followed by a selection of the top of the top. First vintage was 2017, followed by 2019 and this being the third. Elegant and rich, acids full and supportive, length outstanding. One of Chianti Classico’s top IGTs. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Podere Capaccia Querciagrande 2020, Colli Della Toscana Centrale IGT

Tasted side by side with the ethereal 2019 and so 2020 by comparison is bigger, broader and more muscular. No shock there when you consider that when a vintage like this comes along there will be darker fruit and more of everything each time it happens. This is a factor of climate change that is not always considered, that the goalposts are moving and while sangiovese’s reaction is up and down, the median point continues to shift forward. Digressions aside this ’20 simply needs more time. The bones are so solid, upright and of a density that any wine of hopeful structure would die for. Sturdy like a mature “quercia grande,” immovable and secure. Less connection to the past but still the DNA is strong – it’s just that it shows this in terms of tannic austerity and foundation. Rich and intense, wood more noticeable and patience required. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February 2024

Podere Capaccia Querciagrande 2019, Colli Della Toscana Centrale IGT

Not only are Herman De Bode & Fanny Huygen restoring the borgo of Podere Capaccia, they are also doing their part to resurrect the past. Querciagrande comes from sangiovese vines planted in 2007 and when winemaker Alyson Morgan arrived in 2012 she wanted those vines to produce this wine. To rekindle the spirit within the place and the wines that were famous for their particularity. This vintage in particular reminds of a kind of red fruit from another era. There is a soft-spoken and simple charm about its ways, along with a generosity, kind spirit and most of all a nurturing for our palates. Very Capaccia yet Querciagrande is ushered into today’s world while maintaining a link to the past. Top vintage for what is surely the goal. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted February 2024

Podere La Cappella Oriana 2020, Toscana IGT

Varietal vermentino, not usual for the Classico area yet here sense is made in San Donato in Poggio with winds from the Ligurian Sea blowing in, unhindered, no barriers in the way. First made in 1998, grafted over and then restarted in 2014. Not a coastal vermentino but one particular to the soil of Chianti Classico. Silken, glycerin mouthfeel, ripe, almost akin to viognier. The wine’s label by artist Antonio Manzi pays tribute to Bruno Rossini’s wife. Spicy finish, visceral and textural, again so reminiscent of viognier and without the salinity of the sea. Sapidity indeed. Approx. 2,500 bottles produced. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted May 2023 and May 2024

Poggio Al Sole Sangiovese Bianco 2022, Toscana IGT

Speaking for his father Johannes Davaz it is Valentino who explains that there was no Bianco to pour for guests and also friends at the winery. Nor was there a Bianco from sangiovese available anywhere nearby. Davaz rented a chardonnay vineyard “for practice” and so white wine has been made since 2016. In 2019 the first vintage of sangiovese bianco was produced, “in purrezza.” Valentino notes that if you harvest too early, like it’s Rosé, nothing good will come. “What we have learned,” says Valentino, “is that anything less than 12.5 percent alcohol will result in boring wine. You need to find the sweet spot.” Johannes has now spent 10 years trying to understand and figure out the moving target. Practice makes (this current level) of perfect and so just 4.5-5.5 months of lees aging puts the white sangiovese in a world occupied by the likes of (top level Umbrian) trebbiano spoletino, super pure, salty and satisfying. Substantial palate presence and most of all authentic. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted December 2023

Manfred Ing – Querciabella, Greve

Querciabella Camartina 2020, Toscana IGT

A blend of 70 percent cabernet sauvignon with (30) sangiovese, also fruit coming off of estate vines upon the Ruffoli hill. Yes sangiovese is involved but a warm and bold vintage delivers full on, rich and throttled cabernet sauvignon treated in such a restrained and elastically stretched away. That said the youth and immovability put this is linear, vertical yet sleek and suave way. There can be little doubt that this 2020 will have an ability to age with the best of the Camartina so being in any kind of a hurry would be a damn shame. Shy now, two to three years away from just beginning to open and bloom, four to six from what will begin to be its early realities. There is some brotherly fighting happening now but these are varietal siblings that will always get along. They will have each others’ backs. Drink 2027-2039. Tasted February 2024

Querciabella Palafreno 2020, Toscana IGT

A reminder that this 100 percent merlot became this way after the disasters of 2002, 2003 and 2004. Had been a blend before those nasty vintages. Merlot rarely shows lift and this 2020 has it, almost sangiovese attitude in a way, but obviously a Ruffoli thing. Is this succinctly Ruffoli or merlot? Has to be both but this vintage sways in a terroir direction, neither good nor bad but simply what it is. Calcareously chalky, grippy by sandstone mineral and climate directing a child’s every move. Palafreno 2020 does what needs. The highest production of the last 15 years which means a whopping 6,000 bottles. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted February 2024

Querciabella Batàr 2021, Toscana IGT

The blend is 50-50 pinot bianco and chardonnay though 2021 lends a bit of a percentage towards the former. Low quantity vintage though it can never be forgotten that an abandoned vineyard in the early days delivered the original 100 percent pinot bianco. Was called “Bâtard Pinot” back in 1988. In 1992 chardonnay was added and the pinot was dropped. Then the Bâtard became a French faux-pas but the Milanese love child continued and finally the D was dropped. Still the homage to Bourgogne always hides under the covers. Skins are truly important for this ’21 and textures are everything. Are these components fine-tuned and refined to a level that really exults the wine Querciabella is trying to make? The answer is yes, in another way than before, though this current (already to market) vintage is so young it’s a crime to even discuss. Balance is spot on, subtlety and soft spoken voice sending positive messages and vibes, but ultimately it needs to be revisited in two or three years. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted February 2024

Rocca Di Montegrossi Geremia 2018, Toscana IGT

A mix of merlot and (20 percent) cabernet sauvignon that may not be a wine of appellative origin but make no mistake. This shows Monti in Chianti as well as most though with an added richness and textural weave reminding us that this is in fact not sangiovese but an ulterior mix of the vinous and the opulent. Success with other varieties that grow very well in this southern part of Gaiole given acidity and freshness as a factor of the land littered with Alberese soils. The mix of wood is 10 percent new, (30) second passage, (50) third and finally (10) fourth. Spice and spiciness, from cinnamon through nutmeg and then the accumulation of finest expatriate grape tannins. Drink 2025-2033. Tasted October 2023 and February 2024

Tenuta Carobbio Pietraforte 2015, Toscana IGT

A blend but the cabernet sauvignon is 98 percent, with (2) petit verdot. Says Dario Faccin, “for us considered one of the great vintages. “The vineyard is 42 years of age as of the 2015 vintage, the Alberello training now changed to Guyot back in 2013. Philosophy the same, berries selected manually beginning in late October and into early November. The softest extraction at low temperatures for 48 hours to fix essential colour, followed by 25-26 days of maceration and then malolactic in new French barriques. These barrels move on to be used for Riserva (Chianti Classico) in their second year. These are the most refined and softest tannins in Tuscan cabernet sauvignon, so much so that you can drink this now, though in fact it is already more than eight years old. It being a current release tells so much about how perfectly timed the decisions have been, all the way through. Adds Faccin, “history is really important and the wine is history, not the conversation.” Drink 2024-2030. Tasted February 2024

Tenuta Carobbio Piluka Pinot Bianco 2022, Toscana IGT

Now the fifth harvest and while the vineyard has changed, especially with respect to maturation, though the work in the cellar remains the same. Dario Faccin has planted two more hectares and by 2026 there should be 25,000 bottles in production. Grapes are kept at zero degree temperature for a day, fermentation is cloudy and the wine in old oak is held for a year. Acidity is upwards and above 6.5 g/L, high and mighty for a Tuscan white wine. Creamy palate, acidity that pops and most important truly ripe fruit. If you like top shelf Sancerre, Chablis Premier Cru and chenin blanc from old vines in the Western Cape then this pinot blanc will be something special for you. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted February 2024

Tolaini Sangiovese Mello 700 2021, Toscana IGT

Single site sangiovese grown at 700m on the western slope of Monte Luco, less than two hundred metres lower than Monte San Michele which at 893m is the highest peak of the Monti del Chianti. Luco is a place that just 10 years ago nobody would consider trying to ripen sangiovese and yet here we are. This has to be the highest planting in the Chianti Classico territory though IGT is the labelling because that elevation is above the parameters, though truth be told this was always going to be an IGT. For the time being. Welcome to the future, though Mello 700 is a costly endeavour, a project that requires the implementation of heroic agriculture and 50 euro ex-cellar pricing is the requiem. Aromas are incredible for this second vintage. Perfumes act the part of Lamole and/or Radda but the real factor is mountain air. Meaning freshness and stylistically speaking you might imagine something like nerello mascalese from Guardiola on Etna Nord. This location is one of ice and snow, not to mention hail but vines here actually sleep through winter. They awaken and by harvest time ripeness happens, though at least for now a verdant streak will always run through the sangiovese. A truly beautiful wine this is and my, what a discovery. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted February 2024

Villa A Sesta Vas Oro 2019, Toscana IGT

The cabernet franc was planted approximately 15 years ago and this marks the second year as a varietal wine, hopefully to stay this way for a good long time. That said with only 3,000 bottles produced it’s spoken for, but so worth pouring to speak for what the grape can do from Castelnuovo vineyards. It really tastes like cabernet franc with notable chocolate and pyrazine then back again. Muscular franc, toned and handsome. Drink 2024-2027. Tasted February 2024

Twitter: @mgodello

Instagram: mgodello

WineAlign

Godello

a wine processor

Tag Archives: Corriere della Sera