Montalcino Previews 2025: Brunello 2021, Brunello Riserva 2020, Rosso and older vintages

Montalcino morning

Thirty-eight years after first visiting Montalcino it was a phrase articulated by Canalicchio di Sopra’s Francesco Ripaccioli that helped to explain the true essence of the place. “Born here by chance, growing here by choice” were words to truth spoken for anyone who has vested a resolute interest in Tuscany’s most talked about hilltop village. For Capaccioli, consciousness is not something that happens incidentally or by accident, intention determines outcome and making wine in Montalcino has never been a pursuit for the timorous. Capaccioli’s ideology is expressive of his deep sense of belonging to a place and in his endeavours he is far from acting alone. The modern day story of Montalcino may only officially date back just shy of 60 years but roots run centuries deep and the current generation’s commitment to quality and community is taking the Brunello and Rosso (with smatterings of Sant’Antimo and Moscadello) to another level. Three examples amongst many can be found through the work of Tommaso Squarcia at Castello Tricerchi, Valeria Vittori at Il Molino di Sant’Antimo and Ilaria Martini with her partner Michael Peter Motiu at San Guglielmo. This group of young next generation producers have chosen to activate the living embodiment of the phrase voiced by their passionate peer. Nato qui per caso, cresciuto qui per scelta does well to define all that Montalcino was yesterday, continues to be today and surely will become tomorrow.

Francesco Ripaccioli, Canalicchio di Sopra

Annual visits to Montalcino are filled with vintage intelligence and journalists scoop up this information, Godello included. Vintage matters are no doubt important and yet each year the word Vigna seems to increasingly dominate the word count. Just 10 years ago the mix and juxtaposition of Brunello and Riserva was the thing – Today Vigna is the great foil for the classic Brunello bottling and it sure feels like Riserva’s status is decreasing, or perhaps altering in meaning. For more and more producers making a wine of place now comes before thoughts of producing wines of a vintage. “The wine of the vintage has to be a message to the market,” explains Ripaccioli, “and that is the Riserva – After 20 years a consumer will recognize it as a wine from the vintage it came from.” At the peak of Cupano’s elevation is the Cardetta Camigliano, “the road to the sea,” running through the vineyard. The road was the shore of the ancient river and thus the rocky disposition. Beginning with the 2022 vintage Cupano winemaker Andrea Polidoro decided to eliminate Riserva and instead made the choice to begin producing a new sangiovese from the rockiest vineyard. “I think it (Riserva) is a useless category,” insists Polidoro. “Just an excuse to take a Brunello and double the price.” What will this new wine be called? No answer as of yet, but Cupano di Cupano does have a nice ring to it.

The AIS Siena Sommeliers

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

So what about 2021? Perhaps a season of many characteristics shared with that of 2015. That said it was 2001 the last time there was a vintage with this combination of April frost, high quality fruit and ultimately balance. At Camigliano, lower production was the result of, if not quite a catastrophe due to the April frost. “A natural selection” says winemaker Sergio Cantini, with full yields in the upper blocks and 90 percent loss down below. In the end total production was 170,000 bottles as compared to a normal amount of 200,000. For Valeria Vittori at Il Molino di Sant’Antimo, the loss was 40 percent.

More of a “balanced vintage,” says Frescobaldi agronomist and winemaker Davide Bozzon, with a longer harvest from mid-September through to the early days of October. You might be tempted to compare 2021 with 2001 though they are assuredly different eras and it’s worth mentioning that Camigliano did away with barriques between 2005 and 2010. Since then the medium of choice has been 60 hL casks of mixed origin and so wines today are vastly different to those made in the early 2000s. At Argiano it was 2015 when the barriques were out and the large Botti in. La Fortuna lost nearly 40 percent of production to the ’21 frost, a bit less at the estate vineyard to the northeast while the 1997 planted Castelnouvo dell’Abate vineyard suffered a harsher fate. Similarly in 2020 though not quite to the same extent and from which Angelo Zannoni made the unique decision to de-classify some Brunello and create a “Late-Release” Rosso di Montalcino. “For terroir (nerds) and the Montréal market.” As for barrels, Zannoni makes use of his 27 hL casks for 10-15 years. Asked what he does with them after that he says “break then down, make a fire and cook a bistecca.”

With AIS Siena Sommelier Angela de Nardis and Le Chiuse

Banfi’s Chief Agronomist Gianni Savelli, Winemaker Matteo Bagnoli and Director Ridolfo Maralli explain the course of weather and action for the 2021 season. The frost of April 7th and 8th affected the lowest vineyards below 100m of elevation but most of the vines are above the frost line and so overall the yields were reduced by a mere 15-20 percent. The end of July and beginning of August saw heat spikes to peaks of more than 40 degrees and irrigation was used, then stopped after Ferragosto to avoid problems that might occur during veraison. Water does not reopen the vines from their shutdown because when temps are high the plants “valves” are closed and they will not absorb moisture because the water evaporates before that can happen.

Only short rains came in September, typical for Tuscany. To slow down sugar maturation the first thing was irrigation and the second a removal of the apical leaves. The bunches take 120 days but the leaves can be as short as 60 days to develop sugars so you do what you can to reduce the photosynthesis of the plants. Also to reduce alcohol by as much as one percent, though the colour stability becomes questionable. The team has figured out that reducing the yields to three or four tonnes per hectare brought lots of sugars, but not necessarily the best quality. In the end sangiovese is the most resilient variety and they are no longer looking for concentration, muscle and colour. Better to think in terms of say nebbiolo and not cabernet sauvignon. Banfi’s first selection goes to Col di Sasso, the second to Rosso di Montalcino. The third gets sorted in the winery, also using an optical sorter for Brunello di Montalcino.

Montalcino, September 2025

A look at vintages from current Rosso to future Brunello

Harvest 2023 intel from Biondi-Santi informs that here was 420 mm rain from October 22nd through February 23rd, most of it in the early winter, including snowfall. Frost came on April 6th, along with 32 rainy days out of 45 from May 3rd to June 14th, including a hail event on May 25th. The amount was 235 mm of total rain. More than 5mm on average every day, or an actual average of eight mm each day it rained, with the highest concentration right at full flowering. “In 25 years this is something I’ve never seen,” tells Biondi-Santi Director of Winemaking Federico Radi, but as they say, “quando piove sotto gli alberi non piove,” when it rains it doesn’t rain under the trees, or use an umbrella. Another hailstorm occurred on August 17th and 88 mm of rain fell in August. Harvest lasted 21 days, from September 13th to October 10th, with rainy days on September 14th, and the 21st to the 23rd. Harvest was longer than normal, with relatively stable weather during picking days.

There is no easy way to spell or say it but 2023 will always be known as the Peronospora vintage. The rainfall in mid-May through mid-June wreaked havoc on the vines through an unprecedented attack by the genus of oomycete plant pathogens, often called “water molds” that cause severe downy mildew diseases. The May-June deluge fostered the pathogens, often bypassing the leaves, heading straight to the budding fruit, in many cases attacking both simultaneously. In 2023 Canalicchio di Sopra blended the fruit from all three single vineyards into the Brunello. The loss was 65 percent and as a result no Cru, Vigna or Riserva were made. For more on the vintage read Godello’s Benvenuto Brunello report from the 2023 edition.

Masterclass with Gabriele Goreli MW

As for 2024, it was as challenging a vintage as they come, first from a rainy Spring, followed by a dry summer and into September with eight days of rain. Was hard to choose when to harvest and the overall weather posed a credible threat to organic agriculture. Stringent selection of grapes was necessary with variable ripenesses all over the vineyard map. The most variability came from fruit in the youngest vineyards and also those vines growing in the sandiest soils. Fourth generation Capanna winemaker Amedeo Cencioni explains that neither 2023 nor 2024 were vintages to put sangiovese into any new wood. For the most part the ’24s will be lighter wines, that much we know and barrel tastings at more than 20 estates confirm this prospect. That said the average alcohol will be in and around 13.5 percent and the most drinkable of all Montalcino wines will be beautiful.

At Cupano Andrea Polidoro speaks to their location as “the most Mediterranean part of Montalcino. For me it looks like Ireland – Compared to the Maremma.” Many agronomists are converting their vineyards from Cordone Speronato to Guyot and Polidoro has well considered his own responses to climate change, including ceasing the practice of vine topping in 2022. The change was nearly immediate with less alcohol development being the noted result. After a 2022 experiment Andrea did indeed convert the 2013 planted vineyard in 2023. “The bottom line is Guyot produces the most consistent yields from year to year.”

Garbriele Gorelli MW

The outlook for 2025 is arguably the most promising since 2021 and without there having been any significant frost events. The overall consensus is one of extreme positivity and that includes a high quantity of fruit. A rainy Spring beget a fresh July, followed by not just a warm but caldissimo days beginning in mid-August. Also some rain and therefore humidity but nothing overly detrimental to the plants and ripeness continued along a measured path. Sugars developed into moderately elevated ripeness at the end of the month, comfortably controlled by day for night temperature excursions well into September. The expansion and contraction of the skins created the requiem for gentle extractions and carefully executed pumpovers to nurture ’25’s tender sangiovese fruit.

At Capanna an experimental technique began in 2016 to be employed during fruit set whereby some basal leaves are removed, resulting in important actions for the fruit and vine. First to encourage a toughness in the developing skins, second to promote self-fortification during a stressful moment and third to elevate the poly-phenolic properties, acidity and also to promote a looser or less tight structure in the bunches. Ultimately to avoid disease pressure and equip the bunches for the rest of the growing season.

More harvest intel for the 2019 and 2020 vintages

Weather station data and interpretation reminds of higher rainfall in the 2019 Spring with a few further spikes in August and September. A total average of 400 mm across Biondi-Santi’s vineyards fell from April through September. After the rains of August 31 through to September 2nd the balancing of atmospheric conditions during a dry two weeks created ideal ripening conditions between September 10th and 15th. Harvest of 15 days lasted between the 14th and October 1st, save for a pause between the 22nd and 24th because of 50 mm of rain.

Harvest 2020 saw a 91 percent higher monthly minimum February average temperature than the norm from 1981-2010 and a monthly maximum February average temperature 26 percent higher than that of the same 30 year period. On the 26th of March a snowfall caused some damage to young buds in the vineyard. Average rainfall of 280 mm from April through September (230-320), the most at Greppo, least at Pievecchia. “A vintage of climate delicantenza,” is how it is described by Federico Radi, slowly, incrementally getting warmer, an indication of relative similar maximum average temperatures as compared to the previous 40 years. Then rains in August worked towards rebalancing the physiological state of the vines after a stressful Summer. Harvest was 10-plus days, from the 9th to the 21st of September, with rains at the end after picking was finished, including 68 mm on the 25th. “Easier than 2021,” tells Podere Brizio’s agronomist Lorenzo Bernini, “and more difficult than 2019. The most normal vintage in recent memory.” In other words, somewhere between moderate and difficult.

September 2025 Masterclass with Gabriele Gorelli MW: Brunello di Montalcino 2020

Montalcino is essentially a 17 km square, actually 17 x 18 and a terroir of great natural drainage. One of the region’s healthiest constants is its 44 percent of woodlands and 4,400 ha of vineyards are planted within the total surface area of 24,000. Rosso di Montalcino has increased from 510 to 860 hectares with 271 estates having been assigned a total of 352 hectares, in effect from the 2024 vintage, all from existing plantings that would have been Toscana IGT to eventually become Brunello. This raises the total production potential of four million to now five and a half million bottles. The thinking is ultimately to help producers adapt to different seasons, moving the needle in one way or another, to Rosso or Brunello. The destination of fruit per appellation is therefore fluid and producer defined. All this makes for a new dynamism in producing sangiovese in Montalcino. Age of the vines for Brunello must be 10 years and yet the average is actually more like 30.

From 2020 onwards the new way to approach and categorize Montalcino vintages is through the Brunello Forma. The new system replaces the old star ratings with three descriptive words to sketch each vintage. For 2025 the rubric is composed of “Captivating. Bright. Succulent.” Forma refers to the shape or fitness of a vintage, formulated through various studies, including weather data elaboration, bottle samples analyses and tastings by eight international MWs one month ahead of Benvenuto Brunello. The workgroup is led by Italian Masters of Wine Gabriele Gorelli and Andrea Lonardi. There have been 39 weather stations, owned or shared by wineries installed since 2019. Data from each individual weather station are correlated to a portion of territory, homogeneous in terms of altitude and slope exposure, occupied by a certain area of vineyards. Each single control unit is representative of a certain vineyard surface. The percentage of the surface represented, compared to the total vineyards of the denomination, is the weight that the weather station unit obtains in calculating the average of the values. In 2020, high temperatures in and around 35 degrees happened from July 20th through August 20th, followed by late August rainfall. In a nutshell, a tight window of harvest for 2020 occurred between September 12th and 20th, with worsening weather at the end of September. Here are the eight 2020 Brunello poured and tasted.

Brunello Masterclass

Aminta Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Southeast sector of Montalcino, in and around 400m of elevation, near to Castelnuovo dell’Abate off of Pietraforte with sand, silt and calcium carbonate. Also Formazione Silano, of schist, very stony and the presence of Galestro. The name Aminta is of Greek origin and means “defender” or “vindicator.” Derived from the ancient Greek word amyntor, it is also a classic name used in Italian culture and featured in the 16th-century pastoral drama Aminta by Torquato Tasso. Owned by the Cecchi family (of Chianti Classico) and this being their first Brunello vintage. Rough and tumble, chunky tannin, wood clanking through and time necessary to smooth out the details. Drink 2027-2029. Tasted September 2025

Caparzo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A 50th anniversary vintage of Brunello that represents all four defined sectors of the region, with a minimum 25 plots contributing to the whole. Cutting edge technology eliminates unripe seeds in the sorting process during the first two days of fermentation. Good quality skins means 17-22 days of contact with them. Quite a savoury and crunchy time for Caparzo 2020, quick note of clove, wood still very much a factor but accessibility really beginning to take shape. Last tasted September 2025

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

Collemattoni Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Area of Sant’Angelo in Colle with some fruit also sourced in the southeast closer to Casetlnuovo dell’Abate, località Sesta. Small production, darker fruit with a sweetness of fruit doubled down by the impact of the wood. That would be 30 months in 32 hL Slavonian cask. Ready to be enjoyed by any measure. Last tasted September 2025

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

Il Poggione Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Aged in 30 and 50 hL botti with as much dynamic fruit ability to mix and match from dozens of sangiovese blocks. Little movement in year two after release with a sweet Balsamico indicative of the vineyards’ south-central location and all the macchia that grows in the area. Distinct personality for a large production Brunello. On brand for the 2020 vintage. Last tasted September 2025

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

Lambardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

From the area of Canalicchio (di Sopra), almost a one man winery with a vineyard on the highest amount of clay (and tufo) leading to a chalky profile. Classic Brunello spiciness and a piquancy with amazing tension because of the push-pull posit tug between impressive fruit weight and the austerity of tannin. Fierce and in control, near-searing, with importance of intensity. Consistent with the 2018 by Lombardi which means for 2020 it’s a bit atypical. An emotive wine. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted September 2025

San Polo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Aging is done in 10,20 and 40 hL cask for 30 months. Showing its silken and polished style with mahogany red fruit and the scents of caramel and soy. More like caramelized plums and citrus with a mild bitterness at the finish. Hard to argue against the style being just a bit Venetian. Last tasted September 2025

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

Talenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Showing some reduction 10 months later and also an herbaceous character with the presence of essential oils. Gabriele Gorelli M.W. describes this as a “noisy” wine, translation “in a current state of unsettled behaviour,” with blood orange and ultimately umami running through. There is an unbridled sense of intensity and passion going on here. Last tasted September 2025

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 Oliveto P.56 2020

Marginal place at the southeast border of the appellation, few vineyards nearby and abutting Maremma across the Orcia River. Nearly a year strengthens the leathery character of the wine with liquid chalky texture, ever so slightly coarse and so very real. Only Slavonian wood used, 20 and 35 hL, with some whole bunch fermentation making for a small amount of stemminess. Truthful example off Brunello di Montalcino. Last tasted September 2025

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

Northeast Montalcino at Canalicchio

In September of 2025 Godello was joined by best travel mate Michaela Morris, Brad Royale, Julie Garton and Igor Ryjenkov MW for a Squadra Canadese journey through Montalcino. Visits were made at Camigliano, Castelgiocondo, Villa Le Prata, La Fortuna, Patrizia Cencioni, Tenute Silvio Nardi, Ruffino Greppone Mazzi, Banfi and Canalicchio di Sopra. Miha and Mihe continued with calls at L’Aietta, Argiano and Gorelli. Finally Godello made a Sunday morning drop-in with le donne at Le Potazzine. In November of 2025 Miha and Mihe resumed their check-ins at Castello Tricerchi, Podere Brizio, Capanna, Il Marroneto, Biondi-Santi, Aminta, Molino di Sant’Antimo and Franco Pacenti. Godello’s last two visits were with Poggio Landi and Giodo. Benvenuto Brunello 2025 was without question another smashing success, with thanks as always to director Andrea Machetti, Marketing and Communication Manager Carlotta Salvini, the Consorzio’s new President Giacomo Bartolommei and the sommeliers from AIS Siena. The breakdown of the 285 wines tasted and reviewed in September and November is as follows: Rosso di Montalcino DOC (45); Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021 (125); Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020 (33); Older Brunello di Montalcino (and Riserva) DOCG (71); Toscana IGT and other wines (11).

Southwest Montalcino at Argiano

Rosso di Montalcino DOC

Aminta Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

The 2024 vintage marks a 180 degree turn from 2023 and the challenge could not have been greater for a team still in the throes of earliest stages about learning their three distinct vineyards. The purity, vision and intonement are much clearer for a Rosso that brings the elevations of Pian Bossolino and Cantina vineyards together. More Pietraforte stoniness, less dusty character and more clarity to speak for the duality of fruit. Acidity has heightened through the positivity of its natural sweetness and 2024 will almost certainly mark the beginning of deeper understanding just six years after the purchase of the estate. Will be released sometime in 2026. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Argiano Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

The most new and unusual vintage, hot in August and rainy through September for an aromatically perfumed vintage with low alcohol at 13 point something percent. Bernardino believes it is truly a reflection of climate change, coming from the seas and their effect on storms and unusual weather patterns. He also believes Montalcino may be benefiting from this, especially if you are an estate that has the means to combat climate extremes. Argiano is blessed to have some control and so a vintage like 2024 comes out singing with fruit freshness, bright shine and exuberance. Then again there is a sneaky acid-tannin chain working as one that will se some longevity for a Rosso most people won’t imagine that to be possible. Drink 2025-2029.Tasted September 2025

Camigliano Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

As challenging a vintage as they come, a rainy spring, dry summer and in September eight to the days of rain. Hard to choose when to harvest and a threat to organic agriculture. Stringent selection of grapes from a harvest with variable ripenesses. Mainly and usually fruit from the youngest vineyards and also those vines growing in the sandiest soils. Easy-drinking Rosso in any case, youthful and fresh, void of tannin, dare it be said…gamay like. Fruity, pretty and with a gentle carbonic pulse. Drink this bowl of fresh cherries early and often. Drink 2025-2026. Tasted September 2025

Caparzo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Stony Rosso di Montalcino, clearly conceived for Rosso’s sake and marked by elastic tension. Early drinking proposition, as it should be, all the crisp notes played in fine tuning. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Caprili Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Unique Rosso di Montalcino and if produced for easy drinking available to all, think again because there’s more to this 2024. Reflections of the vintage are clear and transparent but underneath there is some grip, phenolic presence and executive function by design. Feels like the extra stuffing is a matter of purpose. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Carpineto Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Very pretty Rosso di Montalcino that when tasted in the midst of many Brunello truly stands out alone to express its appellative character. Freshness and lightness with some olive oil pastry on the palate and fine if not aggressive tannin. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Castello Tricerchi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Freshest of vintages for sangiovese and the most refreshing change for Montalcino, exemplified in this wide open Rosso. Like a cool and windy blue sky November day in Montalcino. Just enough chalky liquid limestone underlay below the sweetness of a natural wine’s beautiful fruit. Do not come looking for spice, by wood or otherwise, nor body neither. Piedmontazine macerating transmogrifying into aging methodology might lead you to think Langhe Nebbiolo, but sangiovese from Montalcino is the measure, truth and the performance. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Fattoria dei Barbi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Youthful yet approachable Rosso di Montalcino with the stamp of 2024 and its lighter disposition. Then again there is consistently some weight and also wood to this, no different here, no matter the season. Drink 2026-2027. Tasted November 2025

Gianni Brunelli – Le Chiuse di Sotto Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Rich and to be honest luxurious Rosso di Montalcino, extraordinary really for the 2024 vintage. So much for all the wines being light as a feather. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2025

Francesco Mulinari, L’Aietta

L’Aietta Rosso di Montalcino DOC Atia 2024

“Making a Rosso di Montalcino in amphora is romantic for me,” explains Francesco Mulinari, “because it comes from the land.” An amphora from the producer Tava cooked at 1200 degrees celsius, as opposed to many cured at 800, or qvevri at 600. Makes it less porous and more suitable for sangiovese and Rosso di Montalcino. Born in amphora and put straight to bottle, after six months of skin contact and maybe just 12 hours in stainless to clean and stabilize. Natural, pure, tannins extracted low and slow, verdant but not wooden and the chains are just the same. The flavour is purely and distinctly sangiovese, the wine called Atia, an Etruscan name for the god of the afterlife. A correct Rosso that both pushes the boundaries and connects the dots. Tannins dry in the end, unlike the smooth kind by wood and textural complexity is the bonus feature. Drink 2025-2028.Tasted September 2025

Patrizia Cencioni Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

Spices on the nose, rising tones, a struck tuning fork of red fruit reverberating until it fades out. Viscous mouthfeel and plummy with the red fruit tang. Neither high in acid nor phenolic of grip but somewhere comfortably in between. Correct, proper and solid Rosso for vintage and place. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Pietroso Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

One of the bigger and yet not more powerful of the Rosso di Montalcino while there are few that find this level of harmony and balance. Fantastic and inviting fruit profile, as Brunello or here as it is Rosso, if for the estate not the same level of structure or age-ability. That is the crux of their situation and so two things or truths are here. Drink now with pleasure and feel confident to age five years. Maybe more. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2025

Talenti Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2024

The Rosso bodes well for 2024 with its clarity, transparency and brightness. The truth spoken and delivered without pause or distraction, ready to please right now. Looking forward to the coming Brunello experience three years further down the road. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2025

Aminta Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Of the six hectares planted to sangiovese at Aminta, two point seven are classified as and dedicated to Rosso di Montalcino. The ’23 yields were clearly lower because of the Peronospora vintage but what remains is fresh, ripe, well-seasoned and macchia-dusty sangiovese. Rosso is a mix of Pian Bossolino plus Cantina (at Aminta) vineyard fruit and as a factor it is the Pietraforte that gives this wine a two-thirds sandy-stony feel. No worry about pushed extraction and instead come for a restrained, respectful, stony and as it is said, proprio Rosso. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Biondi-Santi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

The hardest working Montalcino team making use of the most empirical data is sure to deliver a Rosso so distinctly Biondi-Santi, torch in hand abiding to all that has come before. The perfumes are the proof, namely of agriculture and because of the most difficult vintage in surely 25 years. A melting pot of aromas and flavours, gastronomical soup of seasoning, dashes of this and that, salt and pepper, aromatics pulled from so many places. Runs through the middle of 100 years of ripenesses, body, textures, acidities and overall structure, finishing with the best harmony achievable for the vintage. Never to forget the rains, Peronospora, frost and hail events, summer temperature spikes and all that kept a team on their toes for five consecutive months. The 2023 Biondi-Santi Rosso di Montalcino has weathered the storm to come away beautiful. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Not a Rosso vintage because of the Peronospora challenge but those who made any quantity did so as a choice to abide by always producing Rosso. As here and never taken for granted but instead with great focus and precision. Like finding a friend and sharing a bottle, here Rosso is joyous and comforting, there for a good laugh, full of energy. Pour for those who love Montalcino and they will feel like Brunello is in their glass. Pour for others who do not know or understand sangiovese and they will never go back. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2025

Capanna Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Self-prescribed and professed traditional Rosso and structurally that would be accurate, however the sleek mouthfeel would suggest a more modern approach. There are 12 hectares of (classified) Brunello and 4.5 of Rosso, with some of the Brunello fruit joining the Rosso ranks. This is a matter of selection and also a necessity to provide the substance for a Capanna Rosso to handle oak aging. Acidity is particularly special for 2023 and the liquid chalky character suggests a run forward, potentially six years further. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Castello Tricerchi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

The tragedy of 2023, a vintage of Peronospora and hail, resulting in 60-plus percent loss for Tommaso Squarcia. Deeper richness and concentration from 2023 without any quanity unfortunately but fruit quality and compaction of tannin are strong. The Piedmontazine maceration into aging style brings the sleek mouthfeel and length. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Col d’Orcia Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Ultra engaging and appealing Rosso di Montalcino from a master of the appellative craft, not only for drinking with immediate gratification but also to lay away and know that ten years (or more) will surely work to its benefit. The quality of the fruit, temperate ability of acidity and overall emotion are all as fine and prepared as ever. Blue chip Rosso di Montalcino stock. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted November 2025

Col di Lamo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Unmistakable estate sangiovese, Brunello or Rosso, here the latter and with thanks to the house for making any at all. Rosso as Rosso for Monday though Friday, weekends too. Red fruit in flight, high in tone, warm of colour, easy on the palate. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2025

Collemattoni Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

One of the more perfumed Rosso di Montalcino for the vintage and that is saying something because there are many. A season of challenge and this feels to have met the issues and played the cards dealt, to come away more than relatively unscathed. A pure and decoded sangiovese in the Rosso idiom that speaks in a clear language for all to understand. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

With Donatella Cinelli Colombini and Violante Gardini

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Delectability in Rosso di Montalcino from the lowest quantity vintage and for the house a consistency of quality across the board. An appellative paradox but accepted in this world of farming and producing wine. This 2023 is made by a pioneer in summarily ways with a result as democratic as it is a leading example for Montalcino. Drink anytime or hold for up to five years. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Elia Palazzesi Rosso di Montalcino DOC Collelceto 2023

Now that is a bloody delicious Rosso di Montalcino – Both times tasted. Sharp and juicy, fruit forward yet undercut by a lightning strike of mineral presence. Purposed and persistent. Top echelon sangiovese food wine. Go to town. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Fanti Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Darker fruit for Rosso di Montalcino and all the better for it in this 2023 vintage. Concentrated beyond the pale and the norm, but again the inner workings of this example demand the material. Drink early and preferably with ragù, even better if made with cinghiale. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Franco Pacenti Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

A short stay in wood, quite significantly less than that of the grippy 2022 and that hot vintage. Makes for a more elegant Rosso and Lorenzo Pacenti says “it’s important for Rosso to not be too concentrated a wine,” which this is certainly not. Understated power and concentration actually, an aromatic stunner of floral perfumes, red roses and a distillate of the flowers so glycerol in texture. Stylish for Rosso, seductive and finishing with some palate coating warmth. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Il Poggione Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Perfect everyday Rosso di Montalcino predicated on red fruit at the height of availability and without the encumbrance of overwrought pressing, wood or structure. Comes at the palate in manageable and controllable ways, then leaves nothing but sangiovese footprints. Ideal for all. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2025

L’Aietta Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Only stainless for the fermentation process, 70 percent goes to Slavonian cask (for a guarantee of aging), 30 percent in steel for freshness and in the end the wine is re-blended after aging. Plenty of tension and intensity, especially considering the fruit all comes from Castelnuovo dell’Abate. With thanks to the schistous marl soil manifested as Galestro, creating notable but not austere or drying tannins. This is in fact a Rosso to age. Average production is 2,500-3,000 bottles but in 2023 only 800 due to August 17th golf balls sized hail in Castelnuovo dell’Abate and also cinghiale at L’Aietta in Montalcino. Drink 2026-2030.Tasted September 2025

La Fortuna Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Not an easy vintage because of so much Spring rain with (Peronospora) disease pressure, vine leaves always wet day and night. Many treatments, “24, mama mia,” says Angelo and it was impossible to consistently get through all 18 hectares as necessary. There was loss (30 percent) but not a disaster compared to many neighbours. The Rosso ages 12 months and yes the wood is felt as far as Rosso goes, however those who like the style and especially ready to drink Brunello will adore this firm and traditional character. Overall the ’23 is a seriously competent and proper Rosso with side accents of macchia and Balsamico. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted September 2025

Le Chiuse Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Memory traces back to first tasting this Rosso di Montalcino nine months ago and that recall is like looking in a mirror. This ’23 moment is an exact reflection of the first, uncanny and wonderment asks what wizardry could this be? How can fruit caught at optimum phenolic ripeness be unchanged with so much time having passed? How can the pitch perfect acidity react with the fruit and come away as accurate in this moment? How is any of this possible? “Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to taste and try.” Last tasted November 2025

“Another unique aspect of ’23 was the colour of the skin – black, not blue, like pinot noir. It usually looks like the colour of the blue ocean and in 2023 it was darker.” The words of Lorenzo Magnelli. Aromatic and fruity, like raspberry and currant but really floral, right form the very beginning.” Truth spoken and persistent from a vigorous season and Magnelli always picks at sunset when the temperatures are lowest. A unique Rosso for Le Chiuse and by extrapolation also the vintage, drinking dutifully and beautifully right away and while it may not seem so structured these tannins are quite sneaky. “A Rosso di Montalcino that goes straight to the point.” You get exactly what it and Lorenzo are saying. You listen and you like the story. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted February 2025

Le Potazzine Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Rosso 2023 is still very young, the aromatics still demure with the knowable perfumes waiting because they take a minimum two years to come out. The scents are certainly pretty, floral and like the flowers of herbs and aromatic brush in late Spring. Palate tells another story (for Rosso) with darker red fruit, firm grip, tight acidity and implosive intensity. Having tasted this previously there is a confirmation of 2023 being a longer to live and persist kind of vintage. A reminder 39 days of maceration with three pumpovers per day. All of the fruit is certified as Brunello, save for what goes into the IGT. Approximately 20-25 less production from 2023. Last tasted September 2025

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

Molino di Sant’Antimo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

One of the most floral Rosso di Montalcino, purest of red berries, nary a moment of earthy or dusty character. Kind of salty when you consider the mineral elements that clearly come from the vineyard. “Sometimes vintages are salty and others not so much,” says Valeria Vittori. ‘This one is salissimo.” She’s right – this is truly salty. The finish exhibits a bit of a kick so let this sit until the Spring and drink comfortably for four years more. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

Patrizia Cencioni Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Organic in the vineyard but not certified. Due to extreme rains in May and June eighteen treatments were used in 2023, as compared to the average of 10. Made using fruit from the youngest vineyards, aged in the largest casks in the winery, French and Slavonian, 26 and 42 hL sizes. A Rosso of extreme perfumes, fresh roses, fennel, liquorice and spices in an aromatic concentration aided by much of the fruit either dropped or made into 5,000 bottles of Rosato. Crunchy and sneaky structured with some elements that just feel like Brunello, namely depth and structure. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted September 2025

Podere Brizio Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

The Brizio Rosso is clearly in the same family as the Landi in terms of richness and concentration but what elevates are in added complexities, namely from location and experience. Vine age, southwest Montalcino geology and climate bring layers and different quality of tannin, also for Rosso. This ’23 has already come to a drinkable place and will pair dutifully with all the antipasti and primi piatti you might wish to bring to the table. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Landi Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Ripe and fine-grained textural Rosso, wood factoring in spice and mouthfeel. Vinification in steel, 12 months in several sizes of botti. No concrete talks like in Dievole though that may change for the future. A real red citrus mixed with cherry stone bitters feel to ’23, specific to vintage meeting the north by northeast Montalcino location. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2025

San Guglielmo Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Notably sweet acidity is the catalyst to elevate grip for this proper and bountiful Rosso. Shows the human side of the appellation with a producer’s unselfish approach to delivering great quality no matter the challenges or circumstances. Their gift is our fortune and 2023 is what we want to drink. Guessing it’s also their’s. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Uccelliera Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2023

Still such a strong effort for Rosso 2023, fruit quite ripe, deftly extracted and macerated for an example with sweetness and a walk through the sottobosco. The mixing in of earthy character sets this above so many that only bring fruit and not much else. Proper does not of enough to explain the top quality Rosso coming from this estate. Last tasted November 2025

Sister property Voliero opens with easy access, as does Uccelliera but there is more structure in this 2023 Rosso. Was not fully expected but there it is as verticality and while not exactly closed – it’s not an open book by any stretch. Use your imagination to look ahead and be prepared for a sangiovese equipped to unravel over a long and slow period of time. Masterful example for the vintage. “The starting point for the territory and the wine that proves the ability of Montalcino is Rosso.” His explanation and Andrea Cortonesi will never take this wine for granted. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted February 2025

Gorelli Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

The ’22 Rosso has now been in bottle two years following one year in barrel and that after fermentation in wood. Rich layering of red berries and local tree fruit for a most enjoyable Rosso you just want to drink. Then there are the sneaky moments of structure and grip to see the ‘22 Rosso age slowly for a good five-plus year run. Good and crunchy, herbal and tight at the finish. Yet another Gorelli sangiovese of clarity and promise. Drink 2026-2029. Last tasted September 2025

Il Marroneto Rosso di Montalcino DOC Iacopo 2022

The 2022 represents the latest Rosso vintage and the one that will remain for a spell because there was none made in 2023, only Brunello. Obviously well structured to be a Rosso from vineyards classified as Brunello. Not to mention a vintage were the barrels all exhibited more structure than usual. There are Rosso di Rosso, Rosso and this as Rosso by Rosso. Hard to fathom tannins could be this ripe and ripped for a sangiovese of appellate depth. “I like this Rosso, otherwise I wouldn’t put my name on it” says Iacopo Mori. He’s drinking this vintage right now, “but not everyday” he laughs. Same. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2025

Poggio di Sotto Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2022

A few years of aging is so righteous for this Rosso, taking it out of a vertical climb and into a place where the fruit stretches elastic out and back. A Rosso now ready for the market, though honestly it would already have been there some time ago. Soft and generous, a pulpy flesh of stone fruit from the tree into the hand even before it falls from the stem. Kind of the point don’t you think? Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

Val di Suga Rosso di Montalcino DOC Vigna Spuntali 2022

Vigna for Rosso di Montalcino and also age, up to two years longer than the 2024s that will come to market starting in January 2026. Implosive red citrus, zesty in a grippy and structured example of the Rosso. No need to request more spirit with all the pent up energy to make one forget about things like concentration and texture. Sangiovese is want to pop on the palate and this 2022 is relentless in that pursuit. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

Argiano Rosso di Montalcino DOC Sella del Leccio 2021

Technically a Rosso di Montalcino though the vineyard could very well be given over to Brunello with soils similar to those in Vigna del Suolo. Made since 2019, organic since the beginning and 15 months of aging in barrel before bottling 1,500 total bottles. Bernardino Sani loves this vineyard, Vigna del Leccio, a place that delivers more form grip and concentration for Rosso. A saltiness runs through with a proper sourness and the intention is not just real, but realized. Seriously grippy Rosso with great potential for aging. Drink 2026-2030.Tasted September 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2021

Just 10 months forward and still freshness with not a single moment of oxidation defining the 2021 Rosso. Again, Francesco makes a Rosso that will not make a Brunello, if mainly because two more years in wood will oxidize the wine. Best young but there are easily five to seven years left in terms of potential for this wine . Last tasted September 2025

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

Warm and dry summer months followed the spring frost for smaller berries, lower yields and concentrated wines, including at the Rosso appellative level. Similar if just slightly less glycerol to 2020 but surely more spice and exuberance. Really full and promising Rosso that just seems to express the best of all worlds for this style of sangiovese. This is the vintage with balance and sapidity, Tuscan style, with a longer finish. Last tasted September 2025

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 . 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

Gorelli Rosso di Montalcino DOC 2020

The 2020 remains in a perfectly fresh state, especially on the palate. That and a full red glycerol fruit vintage with a really seductive personality. Tasting at peak right here and now. Tasting side by side with the 2022 Rosso makes you realize just how tight that vintage is today. Then again the ’20 has just that small amount of tautness in tannin still to resolve. Drink 2025-2027. Last tasted September 2025

La Fortuna Rosso di Montalcino DOC Special Late Release 2019

A selection of the (27 Hl) Slavonian Botte Grande and aged six months longer than the “normal” Rosso, released the following year for specific markets, in this case Montréal. The purpose is to position the wine somewhere between the Rosso and the Brunello and in fact the fruit comes from Brunello classified vineyards. Quasi de-classified in that sense but the concept is determined by export and wholesale price. First vintage was 2016 and while this really does fit the middle bill, there is more substance, grip and elasticity than Rosso. The acidity is quite elevated, though without any noticeable volatility and the wine speaks of the zone more than anything. The fruit only comes from the homefront to explain this extraordinary acidity translating as freshness, intensity, excitement, energy and finally the inducement of salivation. Rosso “Riserva” of seduction. Drink 2025-2030.Tasted September 2025

With Michaela Morris and Giulia Cecchi at Aminta

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Aminta – Famiglia Cecchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The label design for the coming January release of Aminta’s 2021 Brunello di Montalcino is inspired by a modern abstract painting by Giulia Cecchi’s grandmother Anita Sardelli, her given name combined with Monte Amiata as the handle for the newest Montalcino estate. The final kicker that encouraged the family to choose this name was the pastoral Torquato Tasso opera that finishes at a natural hot spring, which Aminta incidentally happens to have right next to the Cantina vineyard. Aging in French and Austrian tonneaux supplies plenty of wood seasoning though the fruit is able to climb through. That said another year is needed to see that to fruition and then we might see the clarity of winemaker Alessandra’s clean and precise style. The mix of the three Brunello vineyards, Cantina, Caselle and Pian Bossolino are all appropriately represented with Caselle more in control in the earlier stages of evolution. This is the beginning of something worth staying in full contact with, of a Cecchi family Brunello putting in the time, thought, energy and passion to create something new, worthy and proper for Montalcino. 6,200 bottles produced. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Aminta – Famiglia Cecchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Gli Amici 2021

Friendly sangiovese from these early days of Cecchi’s foray into Montalcino at Aminta with fruit sourcing threefold. Meanwhile the team digs sample pits in the vineyards, tests soils and figures out which block determines as the most singular for Etichetta and soon to be Vigna Brunello. For now there are Cantina, Bossolino and Cassele for Gli Amici and this most nurturing 2021. There is some dusty macchia and very noticeable local Balsamico to meet the stylish plum fruit in a Brunello that should rightly be predicated on its acidity. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Argiano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Fermentation part in stainless and part in concrete, malo in cement and then racked to casks, from 15 to 50 hL sizes. More or less 30 months, a blend of different blocks, a passage in cement and bottled in June. Noted firmness and grip straight from the nose with a purity of red fruit in the most tangible Brunello di Montalcino way. You can’t deny the cherry quality, nor will any taster ignore the genius of a masterful acumen in blending many blocks and barrels into a sophisticated sangiovese. Acidity is the driver as always, travelling, unraveling, rewinding and repeating the processes forever on the palate. Long for a Brunello Classico, normal for an Argiano Annata. Drink 2026-2031.Tasted September 2025

Argiano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Suolo 2021

The mix of one year in (12 hL) Taransaud and two further in (15 hL) Garbellotto botti are the impetus, catalysts and ideal vessel voyage for Argiano’s out important sangiovese, here from a top ranking vintage with a moderate and accepted 30 percent loss to the April frost. Most important is to walk the spongy clay soils of the six hectare vineyard with a limestone content in the marl that rivals any in the whole of Montalcino. Also to witness the enormity of fossil shells in Francesco’s office to understand the history of geology and the ocean that once covered the land. Don’t forget the two streams that contain the long Suolo blocks, once bigger rushing rivers and now the silty alluvial deposits they have left behind. If the Classico Brunello holds an impressive level of grip then bear witness to Vigna del Suolo with its impressive and authoritative level of control, stoicism and restraint. Bottle aging is essential because well, sangiovese, although one would have to be without working senses to not see the beauty right here, right now. Once the wine has aged a further XTC years the purity, acidity and faultless tannin will find the senses working overtime. “Trying to take this all in. I’ve got one, two, three, four, five.” Or twenty years to enjoy the results. Drink 2028-2040.Tasted September 2025

Armilla Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Sangiovese in all its obvious and proprietary glory comes from a restrained and correct 2021 Brunello. A crunchy and as they say croccante 2021 with savoury herbaceous bits and juicy proverbial bleed of Jove to cast and cake the palate while never allowing the brain to forget that this is the real sanguis Jovis sangiovese from Montalcino. Could never deny the importance of that kind of thought, or sensation. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

La Famiglia Camigliano

Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Not only recently bottled (in May) but also more quantity of bottles as we speak and taste the youthful exuberance of this 2021 Brunello. Consistently and already at this stage one of the more silken and glycerol inflected sangiovese, here from a significant (94 hectares and fourth largest) production in the southwest of Montalcino. A selection (separating Rosso from Brunello) for which choices are made from year to year. A pure sangiovese syrup defining the mix of vintage and style, refined and perhaps many characteristics shared with that of 2015. That said it was 2001 the last time there was a vintage with this combination of April frost, high quality fruit and ultimately balance. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted September 2025

Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Paesaggio Inatesso 2021

Lower production due to the April frost, “a natural selection” says winemaker Sergio Cantini, with full yields in the upper blocks and 90 percent loss down below. In the end full production was 170,000 bottles as compared to a normal amount of 200,000, a 30 percent drop overall. The Etichetta label is a selection of quality and still made with the extra layer of concentration duty noted. A more structured sangiovese, less forthright and not yet giving itself away. Stylistically consistent but there is no doubt this selezione will be the more attractive wine. Ages in the Grandi Botti, new to four years old for a production of 30,000-40,000 bottles, on the lower side for 2021. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted September 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Stellar vintage with just over 10 percent loss in the Brunello Classico because of the April frost, though in the end the balance on the vines created the end game result. “We can’t talk about the balance of 2021 without the frost,” says Francesco Ripaccioli. “That is the paradox of the vintage.” You note, consider and feel the harmony from the first, through a continuance, in perpetuity, until the glass and bottle are done. A saline streak runs through, owing to schistous rocks manifested as Galestro interacting with calcium carbonate and Canalicchio’s various types of vineyard clays. There have been elegant Brunello is this estate’s tenure but the initial response from 2021 considers that adjective like never before. The highest dry extract ever matched by top ranking acidity is surely the reason, explained in a most simplified form. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted September 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna La Casaccia 2021

You might want to think about what a single vineyard of cru Brunello means to you before tasting a sangiovese like Vigna La Casaccia. Why? Because this may not be what you expected, a serious wine without heft or the type of concentration you may think fulfills that definition. Instead there is freshness and restraint, of sweet clay and more alcohol (at 15 percent) because when phenolic maturity arrives the sugars have already climbed to that level. This is Casaccia and yet acidity does the yeoman work to elicit that vineyard’s magic and be sure to deliver its pleasure. A wine made exactly as the vineyard demands while that freshness shows strong four years after vintage is the catalyst to drive the point across. Bigger in a way, but all in balance. Drink 2028-2037. Tasted September 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Montosoli 2021

The aromatic profile is simply different to that of La Casaccia with location and soil composition being the reasons why. Less clay, more schistous stone come up to the surface as Galestro to see a change in structure, both of fruit and also tannin. More power, grip and trenchant intendment from Montosoli. All this and low lying greenery in the macchia spectrum, verdancy matched by a subtle natural sweetness though the brushy biodiversity surrounding the Montosoli hill can’t help but determine the aromatic course of this sangiovese. Again, bigger in a way, like Casaccia, not as obviously generous but frankly more complex. Drink 2028-2039. Tasted September 2025

Capanna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

No major frost issue for Capanna, with thanks to late pruning well into March and the end result for harvest was not considered a loss, but one of medium production. Not to mention this being an absolute classic Brunello di Montalcino and also one that represents the traditional yet luxe character of one from Capanna. Spot on, focused, precise and correct. The spirit of the north. Bottled approximately one year ago for 40,000 bottles produced, on average from vintage to vintage. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Capanna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Nicco 2021

An experimental technique began in 2016 (first year of Nicco) to be employed during fruit set whereby some basal leaves are removed, resulting in important actions for the fruit and vine. First to encourage a toughness in the developing skins, second to promote self-fortification during a stressful moment and third to elevate the poly-phenolic properties, acidity and also to promote a looser or less tight structure in the bunches. Ultimately to avoid disease pressure and equip the bunches for the rest of the growing season. All this for a 2021 Nicco single vineyard sangiovese that may just be the finest Brunello ever made at Capanna. Glorious fruit, high acid sweetness, fineness of sleek tannin and harmonious every moment you spend with this Brunello. Poly-phenolic properties exude from a non-plussed sangiovese that went through its suffering long before ripeness ever began to set in. Sound from vision and humility by way of soul. There are 7,000-8,000 bottles of Nicco produced, on average. Drink 2028-2039. Tasted November 2025

Capanne Ricci Tenimenti Ricci Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Higher tonality for 2021, acidities manifold to direct the destiny of a dusty, racy and rising sangiovese. Settle into itself on the palate with juicy fruit and that feeling of land able to store and reserve water to survive drought, ever so slowly releasing to itself. Here a Brunello refusing to let the tannins dry out on the palate. Successful vintage for this estate. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Take what you know or think you know about 2021 Brunello di Montalcino and do two things. First consider the vineyard, keep the rocks and stones in mind, the sandy clay and how they all might influence a vine and its fruit. Second exaggerate what you think that effect might be and concentrate these thoughts. It is then that you will see how the declarative hue and aromatic intensity of this Montalcino sangiovese are the product of place. Then it becomes all to clear what that means for 2021, closed in this earliest stage, potentially explosive and ready to burst. For Caparzo the time will come soon enough. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG La Casa 2021

Curious to note the reactive and still reductive state of the 2020 Caparzo (Riserva) and the lack thereof in this 2021 Vigna. La Casa is an entity unto itself, layered of the schist-strewn Galestro vineyard’s elemental gifts while not compact or mired in mitre or weight. Notably stoic, confident and organized for a slow, incremental and step-by-step approach to maturity. Hard to imagine there will be any change at all in the next few, perhaps even five years. A recognizable cru wine for northerly Montalcino, regardless of vintage. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2025

Caprili Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Another shade of richer fruit than sister property Armilla, lower in tone and bigger of flesh, ripeness at next level and intensity to match the elevated qualities that ultimately result in big time complexity. Serious sangiovese for the 2021 vintage. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted November 2025

Carpineto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Quiet and demure aromas for the house, a sweet rose floral note and red berry inclusive of leafy verdancy carrying over to the palate. Mouthfeel is silky for the vintage and the way these wines are usually perceived, as is the natural sweetness with only vague hints of macchia. Simplicity of pleasure gifted and received. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

La Squadra Canadese at Banfi

Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Red fruit multifold, berries mostly and that rare sangiovese with a wild strawberry note. Glycerol, an oiliness and liquid chalky mouthfeel for a polished and satiny Brunello. You can still feel the presence of barriques though a few years forward that element will begin to fade from the profile. Still a bit of a flavouring agent though the vintage’s quality provides this large quantity Brunello with a core of fruit freshness. Production is 480,000-540,000 cases from a section chosen out of 173 hectares of vineyards. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2025

Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Marrucheto 2021

The single Vigna Marrucheto takes up where Brunello leaves and exaggerates the riches of that large production wine. Produced since 2016, significantly smaller amount, a selection from three plots in 10 hectares for around 8,000 bottles. Vines are uniquely trained in this vineyard to a mix of Cordone Speronato and “Alberello Banfi.” The result is a full ripeness of plummy red fruit, a more soil and micro-climate derived macchia and mid-palate substance. Crunchy for Brunello with savour and linearity. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted September 2025

Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggio alle Mura 2021

Though Poggio all Mura may have originally been conceived to make a wine of colour, muscles and especially wood, those days are in the past. No more bleeding off juice to increase colour and chance the loss of aromas. Gone are the comparisons or turns taken with Don Melchor at the top of 100 best lists and now this Brunello serves a new purpose. More about clonal selection and zonation, to express Banfi’s sector of Montalcino with sangiovese character and flavour. Medium-sized berries, middle of the road structure and Brunello di Montalcino identity. Approximately 38,000 bottles. Drink 2026-2030.Tasted September 2025

Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Behold the sweetest vintage fruit captured at absolute peak ripeness, yet more than that the essentials encapsulate to regulate and dictate a northwestern Brunello di Montalcino’s future. A sangiovese of slow release, for qualities that will compound and gift new moments of higher truth with each passing month on the calendar for 15 years. Possibly even more because structure and what should be described as supple character can only develop a sangiovese this way. As fine as some vintages past have recently been, it is this 2021 that expresses essential ideals at the classic appellate level. Drink 2028-2038. Tasted November 2025

Castello Romitorio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Filo di Seta 2021

Massive aromatic attack, assault on the senses, classical movement rising to a crescendo. Fruit, spice and a toasted nuttiness unique to this and only this sangiovese. A perspective like no other, mimic of the vistas from the perch of the place, not to be fully grasped understood less you stand and look out with wonder from where the wines are raised. The 2021 runs like a stream through an untouched virgin forest, silken texture phantom threaded with the invisible filaments of finest tannin. The delicacy and subtlety of this wine will surely be the impetus to see it live 20-25 years, most of them in this original state. Drink 2028-2043. Tasted November 2025

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

For Tommaso Squarcia the 2021 is more balanced than either 2019 or 2020 and in his mind, in a word, “perfect.” Picked in the first week of September, fermented in tonneaux, sent to tank under a submerged cap (Piedmontazine style) for six months and then finished in botti. Yes, six months. All the work that Tommaso has put in in his first seven years have come to this moment in his classic Brunello of northern Montalcino perfumes and mouthfeel of a kind and level never experienced before. Not from his sangiovese and not from 99 percent of Brunello made in the territory. Sleek and silken yes but more than that – something elastic, stretched and pliant, nimble and agile. The tannins follow suit and you can imagine their ebb, sway and flow for many years to come. “It’s not a legend of a vintage,” says Tommaso. “It’s very good and more personal.” The humility (e la vita) are beautiful. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2025

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG A.D. 1441 2021

“This label was born with the submerged cap (Piedmontazine method of maceration into aging), but now it is everywhere in this winery.” Not 45 or 60 days but six months of cappella sommerso to add the sleekest mouthfeel an an already perfumed Brunello di Montalcino. The single vineyard is the saltiest of the Tricerchi Brunello, drawn from mid-slope where the most limestone filters through the soil. Tommaso Squarcia is preoccupied with pH and this is the lowest for these vineyards. Could this be a Riserva were it aged a year longer? Sure, but why and then no, because there is no tradition at Tricerchi and the A.D. 1441 carries more profound meaning as a Vigna wine. Drink 2028-2039. Tasted November 2025

Castiglion del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Highly perfumed sangiovese here for 2021, spices run amok as they season every moment spent with this unique Brunello. Exotics from spice island across several seas, a Zanzibar biriyani, a Madagascar pepper, Indian masala and Indonesian kretek. Imagine cumin, coriander, cinnamon, allspice and more, from all over the world to make sangiovese feel gastronomical, developed of flavours and alive. With thanks to fine acidity and underlay of horizontal tannin, there should be even more to come. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Castiglion del Bosco Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Campo del Drago 2021

Some Etichetta and Vigna Brunello are quite similar to and really just extensions of their Classico kin but in this situation Campo del Drago is really different to the Castiglion del Bosco Brunello. Well to be fair the wild spice notes are here, but other elements command attention, steal hearts and the show. Perfumes go floral and the gentle way they nurture the senses shows just how special this vintage is for the estate. There are but a few in their northwesterly location but 2021 succeeds up there with the best of the denomination. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

More than flesh here with a full and substantial syrup of sangiovese in the clearest vernacular spoken by a house that knows its way around modern Brunello di Montalcino. Richness incarnate, sleek and smooth, wood judiciously employed and the sort of sangiovese to woo just about anyone who looks to be impressed by Brunello. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Ciacci Piccolomini d’Aragona Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna di Pianrosso 2021

Imagine the sleek and silky way a classico by Ciacci Piccolomini will seduce palates and then multiply that notion for an experience on an entirely different and higher level. Vigna di Pianrosso is the highest quality of ripening in fruit of experience in a single vineyard that has shown to develop quantifiable character on the estate. That and a quality or rather quantity of tannic freight that makes this Etichetta label exist someplace grand. There are a number of 2021 Brunello with a similar profile, rich and stony, grippy and forceful, time the operative to shed some of the rigidity and stress. A vertical sangiovese of a tall order will take some tome to soften and see to its fruition. Impressive 2021s for this historic estate in the southern reaches of the denomination. Drink 2028-2036. Tasted November 2025

Col di Lamo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Sleek, smooth and palate caressing 2021 Brunello di Montalcino with a feeling of calm and tranquility. A second sip brings the spice by cask and a drying tannic feeling to speak for a requiem of aging further in bottle before the best moments are to be experienced. Would suggest two years to allow the kind of integration that will open arms wide open and encourage top hospitality from this sangiovese of truly fine potential. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Col di Lamo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG A Diletta 2021

Wealth of fruit fills a Vigna/Etichetta cup runneth over for a Brunello of elegance and grace. Then comes the structure to equip this sangiovese with all the necessary elements for aging, likely to extend well into the next decade. The fineness of texture and architecture could very well put this in any Montalcino category, but simply put it’s made for a daughter. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted November 2025

Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

For 2021 a sangiovese of impressive perfume, a deep inhalant for the vintage, aromatically sweet and quite singular in that regard. A rich proposition, inviting, enticing and frankly seductive, classic for house and yet so forward thinking but also acting. No missing the tannic profile and ability to also command a structural proposition to see this travel long, and well. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Collemattoni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

There are not many Brunello that show cards or wear hearts on sleeves this early in their tenure and then there are those that almost feel dangerous, with lurking character in shadows and fog. This is one such sangiovese, deep and mysterious, an opaque and beautifully swarthy example, clean yet composite, clear though currently complex. All sangiovese needs the bottle and this will require ample time, likely more than most out of 2021. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted November 2025

Corte dei Venti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

High toned and rising still, perfumed to the maximum and yet taut, caught in a stiff, wind, yet to glide free. No crust or crispy texture but surely layers of skin to peel away, years required to get at the flesh of this sangiovese. Impressive variegation and stature, not to mention stature for 2021 Brunello. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Quite the pure sangiovese yet singular, different, aromatic and textured of its own design. Accord as well, between various blocks where serious investigations attempt to disseminate what’s what, which is which and also what for. There is a sweet swarthy quality to 2021, clean and correct, acidity just about as fierce as the fruit and structured like the tannin. In a word, fine. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Poggio Molino al Vento 2021

Would wager a guess that this 2021 is the ripest of the four Vigna Brunello produced at this estate. Perhaps not the most structured in the squadra di quattro and yet there is plenty of stuffing to keep maturity far away while cask, fruit and tannic goods work forward together. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Fiore del Vento 2021

Tasting Fior di Vento side bye each with Vigna Poggio Molino al Vento makes one realize that the latter is tighter and delivers less immediate gratification. The floral perfume and pulchritude of pulpy red fruit is extraordinary in this sangiovese child of the wind. There is no mistaking its generosity and willingness to please. Some sneaky structure will aid and abet, but the best years will be early for this 2021. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Fior di Meliloto 2021

Deeper and to a degree more brooding with the fab four Vigna Brunello is Fior di Meliloto, the rhythm section, keeper of four-four time and the beat. The backbone behind the band, a star and unsung hero that makes sure everything else not only functions but delivers magic at the highest level. The fruit quality is impeccable in this flower child of a sangiovese, the timing sound and the vision unsung. Will age longer than anyone expects and probably look the same for as long as its parts each take care of their own abilities. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2025

Corte Pavone – Loacker Wine Estates Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Campo Marzio 2021

The most expressive, effusive and excitable of the fab four would be the Campo Marzio, balladeer when the notes require passivity and screamer when necessary to get the message out, loud and clear. A sangiovese of dichotomy, giver of wisdom and beauty, fruit of the highest quality matched to backbone, but also greatest confidence that says take it or leave it. A 2021 Brunello that encourages a flexible and adaptable approach which means you should never feel obligated to agree, but are free to make a choice. Submits to nothing and creates art of the highest degree. Drink now or wait 20 years. Take what you want and leave the rest. Drink 2028-2037. Tasted November 2025

Cortonesi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG La Mannella 2021

If 2016 was the most democratic of Brunello di Montalcino vintages then from 2021 this may well be the most democratic and classic for sangiovese. This you feel from the very beginning, in aromas that invite yet do so of an gushing nature. They are floral and hint at something stony but do not commit one way or another. The palate presents a similar situation, beguiling though surely not gratuitous nor overarching of hastily remitted flavour. There is a subtlety about this 2021 and still nothing is taken for granted. The clarity and purity are both exemplary and aging potential will be long. Democratic speaker of sangiovese truth. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2025

Cortonesi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggiarelli 2021

Yes another democratic vintage Brunello if also delivered in deeper tone and understanding. More aromatic layers to shed, repeal and unfold, a greater set of complex tones and also for what comes after. From nose through palate, a pool of flavours resting in a deep well, warm as they are, fruit almost as syrup and still so properly elastic to say they will expand, contract and ever so slowly come closer and closer together. Terrific Vigna Brunello for 2021 with great potential. Drink 2028-2037. Tasted November 2025

Godello at Cupano

Cupano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The yields of 2021 were reduced by 60 percent because of the frosts on the nights of April 6th and 7th, yet thankfully Winemaker Andrea Polidoro pruned as late as possible, in early March. That saved the 40 percent result for a vintage which was his first as a solo artist. The temps reached 29 degrees in March and the frost nights as low as minus seven. Dio mio, man, porca miseria. Phenolic ripeness meets the natural sweetness of sugar ripe fruit with an underlay of red clay and silty chalkiness that speaks to the type of tannins come from a reduced number of bunches come to their fruition in a hot year. A chewiness to the texture, a longer maceration (28 days on skins) that may just be the last Cupano vintage to express itself this way. A unique perspective that may not deliver the same vantage point again. The finish feels almost citrusy, like blood orange, akin to 2013 yet here in a more classic stylistic, layering and effect. Keep 2021 in your hlass for 20 minutes and the structure will only intensify. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2025

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Cleanest, purest and topmost definitive Brunello recognized through a scan of Donatella’s tenure at Casato Prime Donne in northern Montalcino. Intoxicating perfume for a production totalling 40,000 bottles, spicy aromas, specific and deliberate, wildflowers and the full cupboard for all savoury, sweet and umami needs. Full and developed flavours, ever so slightly liquid chalky and of an early maturity for sangiovese that will stay in a holding pattern for five-plus years. Longevity is guaranteed for five-plus more. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted September 2025

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Progetto Prime Donne 2021

Prime Donne is the selection, of barrels chosen by a group of women in wine, annually and for a special production of maximum 10,000 bottles. Concentration and barrel impact run deeper with the French wood enacting in greater charge. A plethora of spices amuse in a caraway and fenugreek exotic way. Again there is an early feeling of maturity, come togetherness and accessibility as noted in the 2021 Brunello. And again the sangiovese will await further instructions before setting about to change. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted September 2025

Elia Palazzesi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Great aromatic warmth, a peppery rise and spicy start. Crispy, herbal, crunchy and with drying tannic elements. Nothing particularly phenolic and so not a matter of finishing jitters. though needles are there on the back palate. Will benefit from time in bottle. Drink 2028-2031. Tasted November 2025

Fanti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Oh the humanity and generosity of this sangiovese, giver of life, blood of Montalcino. Consistency with the finest and most erudite of them all, always liquid in its viscosity, no matter the season, of heat or drought and also non-plussed. The 2021 shows this ability at the top, reproduces the natural character of its actions with just enough energy an drive. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Fanti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vallocchio 2021

Move across and upslope for a block of sangiovese fruit that grows and matures for something special to deliver a Vigna Brunello with the best of its vintage. To be fair the botti on this particular wine feels furtive, not heavy but surely stuck to the fruit in layers and weighty as a result. Pools upon and collects on the palate with warmth and this will take time to channel, outflow and ultimately subside. Would lay these down for two years. Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

Fattoi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

So much perfume, so little time. Red roses and spices, a liquid white peppery infiltrate into the distillate and all this even before taking a sip. More of the same to be honest, with drips of extract, from edible petals, rose and nasturtium, far from candied, herbs and cracked spice aromatics. Tannic to a pretty impressive degree and perhaps the most structure ever noted from this sangiovese. Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Looking back to the most democratic vintage of the last 10-plus years there feels to be at least some semblance of similarity to that 2016 vintage Brunello. Here 2021 abides by the season, obliges with harmony of its parts and reminds just how important an appellate wine it truly is. Approachable and instructive, ultra correct and with just that right amount of backbone for 10 years of positive aging. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted November 2025

Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Fiore 2021

Consistency thy name is Barbi, Fattoria in delivery of expectation and dreams founded in history and tradition. Steadfast at every level of production, the classic Brunello unfailing and the Vigna unwavering in its determination to abide, but also oblige. We are the benefactors and proud to partake, always, hopefully without disruption. That is the hope. From 2021 Vigna Del Fiore is generous and structured, Full stop. Drink 2028-2036. Tasted November 2025

Fuligni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Sometimes there arrives a Brunello di Montalcino in the glass that feels next level, on another plain, of knowledge and determination. This would be a prime example of next level at the classic, traditional and to stay current, also most modern level. This 2021 screams Brunello di Montalcino. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Gianni Brunelli – Le Chiuse di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Aromatic volume but most noticeable and frankly notable for flavour depth, of red fruits with just a hint of blue. No missing the restrained power and surely the singularity of sangiovese, a matter of the soil and estate heart that all should know about in Montalcino. These sangiovese are snowflakes, like all sangiovese and 2021 separates them as distinctly as any vintage. Save a few of these for a rainy day. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

All of the vineyards are planted to Grosso clones of sangiovese, of looser bunches and small berries for distinctive France Pacenti Brunello in the località of Canalicchio. The winemaking is attentive and classic, no tricks, experimentations or magic, simply the Montalcino facts transmitted direct from respectful agriculture. The consistency of Pacenti’s sangiovese is second to none, clean and pure as any, chic and stylish, generous and beautiful from the moment each vintage is released. Better after two to three years for sure but simply a prime example of Montalcino that does not need time to show the proof of great fruit that results in top tier modernist Brunello. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted November 2025

Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Rosildo 2021

There are vintages when Rosildo and Brunello may seem similar, an extension from one to the next without great difference but the very fact certifies the Cru’s ability to simultaneously express concentration and elegance in a way the Brunello does not. No matter the vintage and the variation in the clay soils is the impetus to make that happen. Rosildo in 2021 speaks in eloquence and performs a delicate dance upon the palate, as if it hovers just a millimetre above every nerve and pore, with sweetness of fruit and acidity bound as one in a structural tiptoe across, with agility and poise. What a palate caress from the Grosso clone of sangiovese this ’21 truly performs, generously and without pause. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2025

Giodo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Giodo escaped the frost of April of 2021 after a long and cold winter that lingered well into late March/early April. Bud break and flowering was late and so production was not compromised after a high level summer season. After selection from barrel the best of the best find their streamlined way into this “Grand Vin” from which the most suave and finessed tannins wrap up the fruit in a tight flannel blanket. What matters most is that finesse and the way a carefully considered sip is hypnotic, inducing a sense of calm that ever so slowly and intentionally courses through the body. The length is endless and each successive sip just adds to the feeling. Sangiovese into the mystic. Drink 2027-2037. Tasted November 2025

Giodo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Prètto 2021

Prètto is not a cru Brunello but in fact the new label, more approachable and drinkable a sangiovese as compared to the Giodo. Think of it like Bordeaux where the name of the estate is the top wine and if a bottle is written to another label then it is a second wine. The distinction is made in the cellar after tasting through barrels with the first selections ending up in the Giodo. This being the first and the idea was born two years ago with the production being higher than the Giodo. Bright like La Quinta yet deeper and more profound like Giodo, not in between but expressive of elements with connection to both. Much closer to the Giodo of course but you can drink this anytime. You open the bottle and you finish it. Opens the door to the Giodo. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2025

Godello at Il Marroneto

Il Marroneto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The Brunello is found to be in the middle between the powerful 2020 and 2022 vintages, yet the weather was basically the same as in 2020. The frost may have done damage for others but Il Marroneto’s vines showed neither stress nor damage. Nor was there any delay in the process of the plants. If anything the plants were helped by a product called Protect, an enzyme from nettles that helps keep the leaves closed and also safe from excessive summer heat. Look here another Marroneto Brunello super charged with local knowledge, confidence, bones and ability. There was stress from heat and thankfully early September brought rain so that the fruit could swell, hang on and wait for the harvest on September 27th. Fruit is developed, rippling with poly-phenolic grip and ripped with musculature. 31,000 bottles. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Il Marroneto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Madonna delle Grazie 2021

A vintage sandwiched between two of established structure at harvest time and described by Jacopo Mori as one of finesse and equilibrium. The Madonna delle Grazie selection has so much in common with the Brunello but what separates this wine is more than just a matter of concentration and mouthfeel. Usually power extends from finesse and elegance but in 2021 all the fruit and then everything in barrel was very close in character. Quality too and so the grape selection was made easier, resulting in a Selezione the team held with full confidence in their choices. The 2021 delivers fruit with many levels of violet perfumes of multifarious quality as a by product of small berries with higher ratio of skins.“ A distinction that makes this wine different” explains Jacopo Mori. Purity incarnate and from the protégé and next generation, absolute truth spoken. 9,500 bottles. Drink 2028-2036. Tasted November 2025

Il Palazzone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Must say the aromatic presence of this 2021 sangiovese feels so familiar, sweetly herbal, comfortable and recognizable. The style expresses a consistency of the house, a sticking to choices for making wines in a very specific way. A sap of sangiovese blood run through with mineral and wood, looking to come together though that has not yet happened. A year should do the trick. Drink 2027-2030. Tasted November 2025

Il Palazzone Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Le Due Porte 2021

Recognizable moment here from the Vigna 2021 to connect with the classic Brunello label in a clear and present consistency of style. Exaggeration of sappy fruit, sweet herbals and liquified minerals all in one flavourful pool. Less anticipated structure than what might be necessary to live a really long life. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Very sangjovese, truly Il Poggione, verifiably vintage 2021. A most aromatic display, perfumes of red fruits and flowers, replays in flavours that only serve to accentuate the dream. Chewy and pulpy fruit make for an accessible, amenable and most well-rounded Brunello. No real reason to wait on these – Pour them in restaurants and dining rooms while other more austere 2021s work through their issues. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

L’Aietta Brunello di Montalcino DOC 2021

Campione: A 2021 Brunello that Francesco Mulinari will bottle two days from now and so it’s really quite a finished wine. Aged in Slavonian cask of 5.5, 10 and 11.5 hL with the oldest being 23 years of age. More fruit because of the prominence of vintage and no problems with the April frost because of elevation at 400m in Castelnuovo dell’Abate and nearly 500m at L’Aietta. Then again 10 percent was pulled away from the home vineyard for a selection called Selezione Alberelli. Drier season and hotter than 2019 but acidity is equal and the structure more powerful. This is a fabulous wine, already showing some experience and maturity yet protected and surely built to last in this state for seven-plus years. Zero marmalata, aged for 45 months and of an architectural soundness to equip this sangiovese for a long life to live. 14 percent alcohol and 1,392 bottles made. Drink 2027-2035.Tasted September 2025

La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The Brunello is essentially a 50-50 split between La Fortuna and Castelnuovo dell’Abate fruit through the 30 percent loss to April frost in ’21 means less quantity from the southern vineyards. Still the balance is struck between the two with acidity rising and striking like the Rosso and so the northeast makes a strong statement for the vintage. The signature of La Fortuna and a personality so inviting with each sip induing saliva to wish for another. This is sangiovese that travels up the sides of the plate and back on repeat. Wood is a factor, from Slavonian (27 hL) cask while notes are also floral from a Brunello unrequitedly clean and precise. Amazing balance for 15 percent alcohol. Drink 2027-2033.Tasted September 2025

La Gerla Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

At first recognizable as an existing link to many other Brunello di Montalcino but then distinctive, unique to house and location, but also vintage. More open and generous in perfume before retreating and tightening on the palate. Tannins are firm, a bit austere and also drying in a most traditional way. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

La Gerla Brunello di Montalcino DOCG La Pieve 2021

Quite a taut and for the vintage high acid example of 2021 Brunello. Ultra sangiovese, verifiable and true, a just and righteous way to express the variety in all its ancient Tuscan wisdom and high toned splendour. Cracker ’21, scintillant of lightning sangiovese strike, crisp and ready for food. Ragù or ragù? Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

La Lecciaia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

High acid launch for sangiovese to jump with excitability and attract immediate attention. This from a 2021 of syrup and sap, like many but it is the acidity that helps fruit proceed with great determination. Settles in nicely and precisely for pleasure and attraction of flavours before drying with some tannic austerity. A wine in three parts needing a few years to come together. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

La Lecciaia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Manapetra 2021

A much deeper and darker fruit expression of 2021 Brunello, rich in poly-phenolic properties, extract up there with the top end examples and fruit reaching away from the reds and into blacks and blues. Not as tannic as expected, nor does austerity make itself known. The extra substance will work to see this Vigna Brunello age for just about the same timeframe as the Brunello. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

La Magia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Certifiably La Magia, verifiably without a doubt and would wager a guess that scientific analysis should prove the specs on this 2021 Brunello to come from no place else. Scents and tastes like the house, the vines and fruit with unequivocal characteristic style. Crunchy and laden with the localized macchia, sweetened of its own volition and vertical as it always must be. As clean and clear as ever, a trusted sangiovese complete and poised at this appellative level. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

La Magia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Ciliegio 2021

Ciliegio is connected like a fraternal twin to La Magia’s classic Brunello, more than acting as an extension from one to another. Not so much a matter of style but instead intendment and pretty much the most matter of fact Etichetta Brunello in the whole of the territory. What happens in the vineyard and the cellar is obvious to its maker, unavoidable and so the wine is the vintage, and vice versa. Quality without compromise, no matter the yield. Drink 2028-2035. Tasted November 2025

Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Then there is this. Come with its fruit identified and recognized from place and size to match A Lorenzo Magnelli concept and method to create Brunello di Montalcino. Makes for a compact yet far from densely layered sangiovese of fruit so red you gotta wear shades. A rare Brunello of depth without weight and steadfastness and backbone without compaction or compression. There is elastic tension mind you and that is the crux of the vintage situation for a wine needing time to reach its intended and desired destination. Enduring yet inviting, supremely confident, exacting and finally promising. Drink 2029-2042. Tasted November 2025

Le Macioche – Famiglia Cotarella Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Dark fruit and enthusiastic perfume, yet in a way still closed while knowing so much lays in waiting. Richness incarnate with Balsamico and then a serious swath of tannic freight spreading across the palate. Strong mocker for 2021 Brunello, more than many and needing time. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino DOC 2021

Very little stress at Le Potazzine despite frost issues in the lower parts of Montalcino, heat and no rain through to August and hail on August 17th. Nothing at 500m in the west at Le Potazzine. Lucky, fortunate and blessed, which means Riserva could also be made. Picking began on September 26th – completely normal, whatever that is. Not a heavy crop, regular alcohol at 14 percent and very minimal sorting required. Ok the fruit is exemplary but the tannins – these are the quality you look for in sangiovese. Very youthful, reductive at this early stage and wound really tight, like a producer at midnight wondering if its will rain the night before the start of harvest. You can cut the tension with a Bistecca Fiorentina knife and so attention, attenzione, come back and try again in November. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted September 2025

Lisini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Ultra red fruit led sangiovese, pressed to express all availability from the ’21 vintage, including acidities soft and hard, making for a variegated affair. Tannins come up and break a bit with brittle tension. Time will help though this is not the estate’s most sound wine ever made. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Marchesi Frescobaldi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Castelgiocondo 2021

More of a “balanced vintage,” says winemaker Davide Bozzon, with a longer harvest from mid-September through to the early days of October. Comes from 20-30 blocks within the Castelgiocondo estate. There was a frost on the 8th-9th of April but the damage was minimal with thanks to vines at elevation above the frost line. Richness incarnate, as always these days with a red to black cherry set of notes from aromas through flavours and finishing with that knowable bitter pit note. Good acidity however with a low-ish pH in 2021, though always at Castelgiocondo where temperature excursions are greater than some other sectors of Montalcino. Average production is 350,000 bottles per year. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted September 2025

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Aromas and mouthfeel pack a stronger punch and the sangiovese shows firmer grip than many from 2021, leading this Classic Brunello label in two directions. The first with volumetric fruit blessed with nature’s sweets and the second by structural presence to take over in the interim years. After three or four the two will come together and then three or four more will be the best. Be patient and allow for this to come about. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Loreto 2021

Further along and out there in aromatic presence but also volume than the classic Brunello label which means the Loreto speaks truth to the Etichetta and Vigna ideal. Here a sangiovese exaggerative of riches, stronger mocker and more pressed fruit for success come from higher quality grapes. Chosen ones, layered with their supportive acidifies and a manifest to elevate the game. The mid point for the house and the one to serve as one decade turns over to the next. Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

Mastrojanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Schiena d’Asino 2021

A clear and present message is delivered by this top echelon Brunello with the most amusing Etichetta name in Montalcino. The donkey’s butt (or maybe saddle) is the most luxe and chic sangiovese of the three, each incrementally more suave than the last and the promise delivered this time is special indeed. Fruit is glorious, acidity sweet, sultry even and tannins are so bloody fine. Drink 2028-2035. Tasted November 2025

Máté Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The sort off red fruit that splits a mind between vintage and house, reminiscent or rather exemplary of both, one layered or stitched through the other. Also savoury, like two-tone liquorice, of waxy paraffin crayon and a sharp tang. Feels like having been here before, comfortable and yet keenly aware of the vivid style. Drink 2027-2030. Tasted November 2025

Máté Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Veltha 2021

The Vigna Veltha label takes refinement to another level, noted immediately in aromas gentle and inviting. A swirl of vintage fruit allowed to settle and fill up the palate with only what’s correct and without extraneous additives. The herbs, savoury bites, wood seasoning, tartaric acids and qualitative tannin are all there by association and for great purpose. The Brunello does what needs and delivers what wants. It works very well. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Molino di Sant’Antimo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Paolus 2021

Ever so noticeably reductive sangiovese, surely owing to its youth as a Brunello having been recently put to bottle. Challenging season for Molino di Sant’Antimo with 40 percent loss to the April frost and what was left was ripe red fruit with kicks of tang and super energy. Moderate alcohol, definite soil-driven chalkiness, salt and white pepper seasoning, harmonious and two years away from integrating. Don’t really notice the wood at all, save for another layer on the structure of the wine. No doubt sangiovese for sangiovese’s sake, a sense of Molino’s southeastern Montalcino location at the vortices where the Orcia and Ombrone rivers meet, just above them with a backdrop of forest, exposed soft tufo cliffs and the hill of Poggio di Sotto. Valeria is happy in the end because the vintage brought all of this diversity together. Potential is really promising and there is a moment when a Costanti Brunello is invoked, if only in the blink of an eye. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

With Annalisa and Patrizia Cencioni

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Patrizia Cencioni calls her 2021 a sample but it’s not a true campione because it was bottled in May and has settled more than three months. Therefore a finished wine and the same wine that will be released to the market. The frost vintage did not affect this sector because bud break is later and pruning can still take place just after Christmas. In any case there is a sense of wonder in this ’21 Brunello, of sangiovese seduction however demure that may be and a magical energy transmitted to the senses. Something stirs and in turn turns the screws of emotion, even if we can’t put a finger on exactly what that is. And it does not matter. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted September 2025

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Ofelio 2021

As with the Classico Brunello the Selezione is named a “sample” by Patrizia Cencioni even though it is a bottled and finished wine. Ofelio is named for the only Montalcinese who was there to help 20 year-old Patrizia Cencioni get things started back in 1987 and mainly comes from the three oldest vineyards, planted from 1987-1989. In the early days Paolo Vaggagini was the oenologist – Since 2018 it has been Valentino Chiarla. The first vintage of the label was 2018 and yet the Selezione produced in 2015 and 2016 (in the same way) were called 30 and 31, in honour of anniversary vintages. Next level richness, ripeness and concentration, also structural elements with a truly chalky, northeastern Montalcino elemental style. There is some leathery fruit with depth and breadth, vertically and horizontally, meeting at a shared axis. Surely a more traditional Brunello, aged only in 15 and 16 hL Slavonian cask. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted September 2025

Pian delle Vigne Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

When dusty is cool and liquid savoury elements pool, the result is a sangiovese just like this. Somewhere between crunch and chew, a middle ground food where correct and without risk is the order of the day. Delivers a vintage message if without exclamation and certainly without question. Perfectly fine. Drink 2027-2029. Tasted November 2025

Pietroso Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Either the vintage made for a sangiovese lower in alcohol than usual or the house adjusted picking and winemaking ever so slightly to make that happen. Or perhaps the work put in has offered up the perception of less boozy power. Either way the 2021 drinks with gentle distinction and who would not be seduced by this power of restraint and nurturing grip? A winner and still champion sangiovese for a place on the hill falling steeply to the south west where the sun falls with declension on vines as the warmth of the days descends. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Pinino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Good chew of sangiovese fruit in a way that most 2021 do not is the way of this fresh pressed fruit leather of a Brunello. Quick to make its point, also to finish and so drink this early. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Podere Brizio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The first thing you notice about southwesterly Brizio Brunello is the aromatic exoticism as compared to northerly Poggio Landi. The third is the difference in tannins, more plush, layered and mouth-filling. In between there is the seamlessness of transition from Mediterranean macchia perfumes to the silken texture. A youthful exuberance defines the character, wood needs to integrate in bottle and the future looks very promising. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Podere Le Ripi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Amore e Magia 2021

Devilishly perfumed by way of dangerously decadent aromas launch the theatrics that are this 2021 Brunello. A sangiovese risk taken and reward gifted to those who want natural but also territorial. The exciting nature of this ’21 brings more than simply grape and place to the glass – It represents possibility and promise, two things some traditional houses are consistent to provide while many others will be hit or miss. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Similar exoticism and sweetness of fruit though a clearer picture is painted with the classico Brunello label. Does not flirt with swarthy danger nor does there seem to be the same kind of risks involved. At the price it commands these are good things to please the buyer who wants a correct and elevated sangiovese experience. There is a fineness to this 2021 and a type of acidity second to none that serves to express for the kind of consumer buyer hooked on a feeling. Poggio Antico “you got me thirsty for another cup of wine.” Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna I Poggi 2021

Aromatic depth is paramount to drawing one in for a magical, impressionable and experiential sangiovese ride. Expectation from a cru vineyard as important as I Poggi must not only be respected but also elevated – This has been accomplished and the result in 2021 is simply extraordinary. What isn’t seductive and rewarding about this sangiovese? Everything melts on the palate, all aspects coming aboard later are woven seamlessly together and the palate embrace does wonders for morale and well being. A spiritual retreat as Brunelo di Montalcino. Drink 2028-2035. Tasted November 2025

Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

To be honest this 2021 is extremely young and not nearly as forthright or giving to fully inuit what it will become. Then again the exemplary fruit in all its ripe and fleshy beauty knows to act submissive to backbone in a composition as upright and vertical as any. There is the temptation to see this ’21 as sublime but at this stage that would be saying or giving away far too much. For now there is plenty to appreciate and know that the finest days lay well ahead. Drink 2028-2038. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The 2021 Brunello reminds of the 2023 Rosso in the citrus aspect and finishing stone fruit bitters, although the fruit is darker, texture silkier and finish smoother. Lower yields and more concentration with longer (30 months) in botti make for a more elegant sangiovese expression. Length on the ’21 Brunello is excellent. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Renieri Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Correct, clean, well composed and structured sangiovese as 2021 Brunello. Hits essential vintage notes with a mix of the fruity and savoury, accented by sharpening acidity, salt and pepper seasoning. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Ruffino Greppone Mazzi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

The 2021 is really the first vintage with the finishing stamp off new winemaker Alberto Stella, 32 months in French and Slavonian botte and just recently bottled in July. Like the 2020 there is reserve and hesitation upon entry but the fruit is different from 2021, more on the red to black spectrum with an absence of the 2020 blues. The Balsamico and macchia character (derived from the land, including limestone and marl) are more like 2019 and so not only is ’21 a good combination of the two, it takes the best of each of the two previous vintages and uses their personality traits to the best advantage. Wood, inclusive of perceived sweet spices, really needs to settle and the tannins are suave. With vines now passing the 20 year mark the ceiling raises and 2021 will become a fine wine. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted September 2025

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Silky, suave, modernized, fruit captured at peak and truly sleek sangiovese. Flirts uncompromisingly with swarthy danger and works hard to play it clean, bringing something unique and also structured to a Brunello experience. Taste this and know there are no peers, certainly nothing replicative and then come to appreciate the soul within the style. Some will embrace the low level Brettanomyces and worryingly others will not. Drink 2027-2029. Tasted November 2025

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Piaggione 2021

The Etichetta Brunello is always a one of denominational kind, a singular experience in sangiovese and something expressive of planning, the journey and execution. The 2021 is noticeably primary to be honest and all the better for it because it means there is much to learn from many tastings over the years from a wine equipped to handle time. Loving the clarity and transparency of this anything but light ’21 instead viewed as a stealth Brunello with unlimited potential. Drink 2028-2036. Tasted November 2025

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Sorgente 2021

Of the Salicutti Brunello portfolio in Classico, Annata or Brunello (Etichetta), or however you wish to refer to them, it is the Sorgente that speaks in the clearest, most succinct and utterly concise characterful vernacular. A dialectical Salicutti language once understood to the greatest degree allowable that will continually act in its extroverted way. The 2021 is endowed with a fine calcareous chalk swirling in centrifuge in the whirling whizz of devilishly and naturally formulated purest fruit imaginable. This is quietly and stealthily formidable as a sangiovese to represent itself. Great beauty and promise for decades to come. Bravi ragazzi di questa tenuta. Drink 2028-2044. Tasted November 2025

San Felice Campogiovanni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Just the third Brunello 2021 tasted for this first Anteprima day and already a thread is weaving through a style and effect to explain a vintage after early returns. Power and grip yes but in a controlled and vertical way, proper, correct and classic. As if this were a really warm vintage 20 or 25 years ago when not all were like that and so the celebrations came fast and with conviction. Campogiovanni does this with savour and Balsamico, but also wood spice and an early note of sottobosco. Good complexity here. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

San Guglielmo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

There are classic houses in Montalcino and there are newer discoveries descended down from historical properties, now in the hands of experienced youth. This is the distinction of Ilaria and Michele, hosts and messengers for 2021 sangiovese, now ten years into their journey. The 2021 marks another turning point, a move ever so forward again, with a better understanding of how care outside begets promise inside. The fruit feels like it truly belongs and the acidity is pitch perfect. Tonality glides with the treble highs and bass lows interconnected and layered as required. All in all there is balance and the proviso for backbone to carry the wine up, up and away. When will it come down? Nobody knows. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2025

Sanlorenzo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Bright and a great clarity with highest while also sweetest acidity for 2021 Brunello. Purity of sangiovese and the most croccante of all the ‘21s, never wavering or falling from its high-toned, scintillant and electric style. Exciting although there are many (Italians namely) who will question the lightness as being un-Brunello. Drink 2027-2030. Tasted November 2025

San Polino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Quiet and reticent nose, fruit lurking in shadows, not yet open for floral business. Feels like a full and substantial Brunello in waiting, glycerol and salty chalkiness run below. Needs a couple, maybe even a few years to rise. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted November 2025

San Polo Marilisa Allegrini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Bigger and broader shouldered Brunello for 2021, clear and present quality from a particular part of Montalcino above and aboard the concave bowl with valleys falling left and right below. Delivers the sensation of a muscular soil with skeletal elements breaking up the compaction to allow air and liquid nutrients into its fissures, to drink it up and fill its boots. This 2021 has bones and just needs a year or two for the fruit to flesh, rise and give. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

San Polo Marilisa Allegrini Brunello di MontalcinoDOCG Vignavecchia 2021

Intensity from the word go with old vines responsible for focus and even more evidenced by own gathering in assemblage. The aromatic presence is duly impressive, again with thanks to the experience of these plants and the matter concerns allowing them to speak without hinderance. The winemaker has succeeded in transmitting the information and emotion in a most necessary way. The finish does denote a pecorino woolliness that should subside after two or three years more time. Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

San Polo Marilisa Allegrini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Podernovi 2021

A mix of the herbal and herbaceous, an uncanny hemp note that repeats itself, followed by the original development of red cherry fruit. Together they occupy space if not in simultaneous or seamless fashion. Vignavecchia feels more in tune and attuned to its tethered parts while Podernovi is obviously a vineyard entity that needs even more settling time. Drink 2029-2034. Tasted November 2025

Sesti di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Crisp and grippy sangiovese with reddest of red citrus fruit and an aromatic waft of fresh roses. Crunchy too, tannic as well with some austerity quite proper for the style and effect. Does what needs for Brunello without overdone elements, not from maceration nor fermentation, nor by anything that has or will happen. Drink 2027-2030. Tasted November 2025

Sesti di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Magistra 2021

Magistra registers a much deeper resonance than the classic Brunello label, aromatically plush juxtaposed against a low-toned intention. Sappy and syrupy, yet to sate and unresolved at this early stage, finishing with seriously grippy tannin in relative austerity. Confounding, especially as compared to the restraint noted in the classic label. Drink 2028-2031. Tasted November 2025

Sesti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Composed, admittedly a bit closed and yet fully collected Brunello of extreme youth. Far from opening and what feels like a minimum four years necessary to see that happen. The silken fruit lays low, not as an agitated bubble but in a gentle simmer, never rolling or roiling but just a pop here and there. Purity of sangiovese incarnate comes from a classic ’21 of true learned meets modern vibes, but giving off an aura of old soul. Would choose to wait three years before seeing what is not only possible, but coming upon a place in Montalcino that will surely feel like home. Drink 2029-2040. Tasted November 2025

Talenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Quite open and immediately generous for a type of gratification you won’t need to stand in line for. Suave and sleek through light on its feet and sneaky of structure to look ahead and enjoy a solid 10 year run. Admittedly one year further in bottle will ever so slightly soften the prickling of sharp acidity and tannic austerity. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2025

Talenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Piero 40esima Vendemmia 2021

Special “40th harvest” edition for the Etichetta label as an extension of the first, connected with as much kinship as any for Brunello di Montalcino. What is noticed more readily is the backbone, verticality of structure and requiem for time to assimilate and integrate the grippy early stage events of this sangiovese. For now it remains in a moment of tension and austerity, but that will pass and what comes next will be years of primary delight. Drink 2028-2039. Tasted November 2025

Tassi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Fruit forward and open sangiovese for 2021, with soft acidity and tannin, all in synch and ready to please. A 2021 for early drinking, no hurdles or locked doors, window just about wide open. Creamy mid-palate unlike many from the vintage. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Tassi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Colombaiolo 2021

Deeper aromatic inhalant of exaggerated sangiovese character to speak in a clear and forcefully prompt message. Tight winding wind of acidity around the fruit and tannins taut but also with the feeling of being tart. Unique Brunello 2021 perspective and a wine worth watching, especially through its first five years. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Tenuta Buon Tempo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Hard to know just what each vintage save from the extreme ones are want to do for each and every nook of Montalcino. This however is a thought that can apply after a season like 2021 and one moment of nosing TBT’s classic label will tell you the southeast near below Castelnuovo dell’Abate has fared extremely well. As floral and mineral as any, dark fruit in the cherry spectrum pure and proper, so bloody sangiovese. Just enough glycerol to effect great mouthfeel and then backbone to extend length. Wood needs some time to melt in because the vanilla is noticeable, as are some spices, though they will all dissolve within given two years further in bottle. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2025

Tenuta San Giorgio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021 Ciampoleto

Relatively speaking there is quiet and coolness in the opening aromatic salvo of Collemassari’s sister Brunello to Poggio di Sotto upwards on a semi-shared hill. Time in the glass opens the window and so that same give in bottle will do the same. There is a beautiful swirl of elements in the San Giorgio but also a getable quality just around the corner. Lovely and amenable wine with natural sweetness run all the way through. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Tenute Donna Olga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

From a group of Brunello labels that include Clos degli Amodeo, Poggiotondo and Pietranera, here from four hectares on the southwestern side of the Montalcino hill. A harmonic single vineyard expression of sangiovese with elevation and Mediterranean macchia running through its veins. Sweetly savoury and crispy or croccante, balance well delineated between fruit and acidity, a note of Balsamico and relatively moderate tannin. Well made, correct and purposed for early consumption. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Certainly lighter and brighter than the three cru/Riserva 2021s, less wood and red fruit so kind and hospitable. Like a bowl of cherries and blood orange with top ranking acidity and intensity for a long run ahead. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigneto Poggio Doria 2021

Only old casks are used, lately the wood of choice has been Pauscha (Austrian) and the vessels are acquired from other producers. First vintage of Doria was 2004, here 17 years later and mon dieu how full, substantial and concentrated this shows to be. As chewy and mouth-filling as they come from a style that suits the high quality of southeastern Montalcino fruit. Consulting oenologist is Andrea Politi. Drink 2027-2036.Tasted September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Manachiara 2021

A cru Brunello that could be a Riserva (and there was one in 2012, although it was the Poggio Doria) and while there are so many tannic moments happening in this highly macerated Brunello there is also a Bordeaux quality stemming from incredible ripeness matched by a grand style of oak aging. Not new mind you, of various sized casks between 20 and 80 hL, all working in extraction to deepen colour and give this sangiovese serious depth. There is more lift in this 2021 with big fruit and also fuel, though the wine is incredibly youthful and far from integrated. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted September 2025

Terre Nere Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Perfumed as always, wood not yet resolved, nor should that be expected from a Brunello that needs the bottle. As all sangiovese do and 2021 is no exception, not for this estate moving from strength to strength. The back palate really picks up on the pull, grip and hold of tannin built into the fabric of a finely spun textural wine. There is some austerity here, throwback in nature for a ’21 of ripeness but also presenting a risk-reward prospect. Wait three years to see the results. Drink 2028-2034. Tasted November 2025

Tiezzi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Agitative profundity of viscous swirl marks a sangiovese of ambition to be a force of reckoning for the 2021 vintage. There feels to be a whole lot of everything in this Brunello, gone for broke, pressed for success, macerated long to eek out all that is possible. Overdone is one way to look at it, playing its cards and showing the full hand another. Tough sledding and not sure there will be a great future here. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted November 2025

Tommasi Casisano Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

In Italy location determines results in sangiovese for as much as any combination of grape with place to effect the character of its wines. Here the commonality with some other 2021 Brunello delivers spice, inclusive of cinnamon heart on the nose. Wood is part of this fixed and quantified matter, working with località to create the recognized consequence. A positive one in attributable personality not specific to this vintage but to wines made here as a general rule. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025.

Uccelliera Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

To understand this sangiovese from Andrea Cortonesi is to first recognize agriculture, followed by game. What begins in the field translates into the cantina for a consistency of style bred out of the argumentation of intention. The structural matters are always followed, as they are with 2021 and those who do not understand these Brunello are focused on the now when they should be using imagination and the powers of deduction to consider the future. Know this. There is fruit, classically attributed and only as ripe as the vintage allows. Acids are localized and the wine rises, slowly, effortlessly and without hurry. Wait for it. Drink 2028-2039. Tasted November 2025

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

There is a natural sweetness in the fruit of this 2021 Brunello standing out and seducing with its easy returns. A layered effect come from three distinct locations together interspersed and so you feel the variegation, particularly in the textural fabric. Length is impressive as the wine lingers in its palate glide. A terrific preparation for tasting the single site wines to come. Drink 2026-2029. Tasted November 2025

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna del Lago 2021

The focus on site is essential to the future of Montalcino and there is an argument to be made for single vineyard blocks located right where the cellar processes the grapes. Vigna del Lago is that place, the vineyard around the lake on the northeast side of Momntalcino’s hill. A warm grey clay place where the sangiovese is stealth, mineral and floral. This driest recent vintage with essential harvest time rain brings out the best for a Vigna sangiovese more vertical than normal. This combination of seduction and backbone raises the bar and ceiling. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2025

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Poggio al Granchio 2021

If at first the aromatics in this single vineyard Brunello may seem to have no connection to the estate’s other Vigna sangiovese, well in some sense that would be the case. The verdancy here, an evergreen note and warmer site’s feel of the land’s green pastures does define the scents. Then again from a textural angle the wines surely have much in common. The sangiovese connects with the palate and shows no hurry to depart, in fact it coats and lingers long after the liquid is gone. This is a signature of the house, a chemical process of connection that helps the taster to recall character and style. This example introduces spice and older soul identity for they who are able to intuit and feel that link to the past. Drink 2028-2036. Tasted November 2025

Villa Poggio Salvi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Spicy, cinnamon hearts aroma straight off the top. Wood at the fore and down to the sangiovese core, more spices marking territory and springing the darker cherry character. Really woody Brunello, chalky and grainy, needing time. Drink 2027-2029. Tasted November 2025

Villa Poggio Salvi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Pomona 2021

Taut as it gets for 2021 Brunello, wood spice and tannin run amok, creating a drying and austere sensation marking the second half of the experience. Old school is the understatement here. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

Voliero Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2021

Firm and agricultural sangiovese, a wine born of the land, of Balsamico, verdant macchia and surely from smaller, somewhat less juicy berries raised at elevation. Plenty of sun and lack of water delivers a sangiovese of austerity and tannic freight. Missing some grace and generosity although there is no denying the impressive structure and stature. Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Gualto 2020

Energy and exuberance from a Riserva for 2020 that raises the bar for appellative excitement. Impressive capture and preservation of acidity for the vintage, a fact of facet that many estates faced a challenge to perform and here the effort is no small feat. This without any compromise to fruit and so the composition is an impressive one. Well done team, bravissimo. Last tasted November 2025

Traditional, normal and uneventful vintage, “a wine for people to drink, easy to understand,” in the words of winemaker Sergio Cantini. Once again stylistic consistency is inherent in the character of Camigliano’s sangiovese yet here the smaller sized cask (25 and 30 hL) inject their will into Riserva. Adds to the presence of vanilla, lavender and an accentuation of red berry fruit sweetness. Silky and spiced, full of glycerol and a smoothness throughout. The wood needs two more years to fully melt in and resolve. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted September 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2021

Just amazing to taste Riserva 2021 in the same sitting as both La Casaccia and Montosoli 2021 for three Brunello bottled back in May. Normally Riserva is tasted a year later and so this is a very special opportunity, but keep in mind there was no Riserva made from 2020. From Vigna Vecchia Mercatale inclusive of original plantings from 1987 (Francesco Ripaccioli’s vintage) and the place most connected to his grandfather, the BBS 11 (Biondi-Santi) clone and plants grafted onto old rootstock. A remarkable expression from 2021 with perhaps the most exuberance from the fruit and the sheer sweetness of the acidity. “My idea for Riserva is not one extra year,” says Francesco Ripaccioli, also “it’s a matter of a different vineyard.” From 2021 Vigna Vecchia Mercatale is the stuff of dreams that will live for two decades, likely more. Drink 2029-2042. Tasted September 2025

Capanna Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

If there will be any Brunello Capanna that will benefit the most from the optical sorter introduced in 2023 by the son of Patrizio Cencioni and fourth generation winemaker Amadeo Cencioni, it will indeed be Riserva. For now the 2020 remains a sangiovese sorted and selected by Patrizio and his five decades of local experience. A vintage more than deserving and yes the qualities of concentration and poly-phenolic impression are worthy. Burnished gloss and brilliance elevate fruit on the shoulders of bountiful verticality built on acidity and backbone. Feels soft though is anything but and few Brunello are quite this seductive. There can potentially be 7,000-8,000 bottles of Riserva produced, on average, although most vintages only see three to four. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Still in a reactive state and showing minor reduction expressive of verdancy and pricks of tension. Requires movement, swirl and agitation to release the aromatic possessions ahead of a specific sangiovese’s appurtenances. This 2020 Riserva is not a big Brunello but rather a graceful example in no hurry to shed its baby fat ahead of opening the window high and wide. Take you time and settle in. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2025

Caprili Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Ad Alberto 2020

Good to see the variety and diversity in Riserva 2020 with this example being a much awaited one. Slick and sleek without any gratuity or excess whatsoever. Finding this to be understated and should anyone find it light and without musculature, well good, please and thank you. Leave the other “style” to the rest. There are many who will appreciate the refinement, lack of flash or decoration. Who actually prefers massive, overly pressed or indeed, even precious? Choose wisely Brunello lovers. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Carpineto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Classic for the house in Riserva with this mix of fruit maturity, dusty macchia, effect of elevation, high acidity and syrupy texture settled upon the palate. The acids keep the energy flowing and the fruit in a paused situation so that it will not decline or descend into leathery chewiness. All is well for the time being. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Corte dei Venti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Donna Elena 2020

Maturing Riserva well ahead of schedule. Fruit passing over into secondary life from a sangiovese needing to be consumed sooner rather than later. That said there are many who will love a Brunello with the feel and eyes of age, though they might prefer it to be one with at least 10 years post vintage. Tasted November 2025

Corte Pavone Loacker Wine Estates Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Anemone al Sole 2020

An expression of aromatic volume and especially grip, notable and profound as Riserva clearly designed with exaggerated riches in fruit concentration. Must be considered in a specific to Riserva light, of deep impression and understanding. Found to be slightly more mature than expected for a not yet five year-old Brunello though the backbone is vertical and potential remains intact. The tannic thrush of truth is confirmation of that fact. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2025

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Even in Riserva the 2020s are not yet ready and still recognizably tight, with this from Donatella Cinelli Colombini being exemplary to explain the situation. Tannins persist in their pulled taut winding around original material, while texture swells with a depth composed of red ochre fruit, wood nurture and sweet acidity. The extra aging and choice of barrels has come to create true Riserva style for a wine that will join the ranks and live into Casato Prime Donne infamy. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted September 2025

Elia Palazzesi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Floral, red rose freshness and spice components in the generosity of an aromatized beginning. A sangiovese of singular persona, palate presence and an experience that shows more nature than nurture. There is a persistent grain of tannic intention to keep the wine from advancing further and fruit freshness is not put into question. There are Brunello of responsible disposition and this would that in Riserva form. Ready to drink some bottles and will hold for some time yet. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2025

Fanti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Vigna le Macchiarelle 2020

Should be noted and put out there how the 2020 Riserva to a sangiovese are showing some maturity – It’s simply a matter of vintage. These are not Brunello of extreme freshness and immovable structure, but instead the kind to consider drinking sooner rather than later. Yes the 2020s, inclusive of this will linger gently, gliding in the gusty Tramontana for a few years, but the best days are already here and the processeses have begun. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Fattoria dei Barbi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Freshest and most high toned of the Riserva tased thus far. Just picked red roses bouquet, also ranunculus and a sweet savoury element perfectly aligned. Croccante to a degree that’s not just anticipated but more so warranted to deliver an experience of excitability and longevity. Super smart and crafty Brunello Riserva of classicism and character. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted November 2025

Il Marroneto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Is this this first Marroneto Riserva? You better believe it and anything you thought what understood about a Brunello by Il Marroneto becomes secondary to what’s in this glass. Everything is the same except aging in botti is 54 months instead of 42 and “it’s a particular wine,” says Iacopo Mori. “It requires a little bit of passion.” The fruit darkens, the violets become candied and the tannins bear their teeth in ten times that of those from red fruited 2021. The colour is almost not to be believed and still i’s character of Il Marroneto is clearly preserved. Yes this is solo sangiovese, measuring the highest extract for the variety that has likely ever occurred at the estate. “The monster,” spoken by Alessandro Mori in 2023 when tasted from barrel and related once again by son Iacopo in 2025. There has never been anything like this and the sottobosco and concentration make one wish for fresh morels in the Spring. The tannins need four years to resolve and then those fungi will pair abidingly with this monster. Only four months in bottle, still tense and nervous and yet let the people choose what they want to do and when they want to drink. Drink 2029-2039. Tasted November 2025

Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Vigna Paganelli 2020

Richness accumulated and conclusive, of fruit at the height of a duality, 90 percent fresh and juicy, the rest concentrated and leathery. These feelings noted in aromas and also flavours, pulpy and of a stone fruit style relating to a grand collection of blocks distilled down into Riserva. Sangiovese meanders and connections with every part of the palate, missing nothing, delivering everything. Some drying tannic moments suggest waiting another year or two. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

La Magia Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

A Riserva of experience with leathery fruit aromas suggestive of fleshy if slightly dried stone (plum) fruit. A matter of vintage more than anything else, also the prune note associated with the movement of air and time. Still there is a high toned aspect in the character, along with grip in the tannic profile and so there is still some work to be done. Chewy and then crispy at the finish, a dichotomy wrapped inside a paradox. Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Le Chiuse Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Diecianni 2016

This singular Riserva is best tasted with the producer, perhaps in a way and for reasons that exceed any other in the whole of Montalcino. This because aging is slower, incremental and purposeful. Would not say today that the aromatics are closed, but neither are they aching to speak. Some wines do not need to shout, nor even announce their arrival and this continues to enter the world with a quiet presence. When the sangiovese takes up residence on the palate it does so with the poised demeanour of one that belongs, sharing space and creating an intimacy with its host. A remarkable connection when you consider it’s only wine but some Brunello are marked by such a mien. The Diecianni is one such near perfect bottle. Last tasted November 2025

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

Molino di Sant’Antimo Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

The vineyard where Riserva comes from is littered with marne, stones left behind by an ocean many millennia ago, bestrewing the grey clay with limestone and river stones that all combine for a seriously unique example of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva. A place where a river emptied into the sea and that alone tells so much about the nature and potential of this wine. A sangiovese of confluence, commitment and confidence, also clarity and palate response. Fruit is clearly darker than the Classico, but also more so than the coming 2021 vintage, here into a black raspberry hue, still transparent but not the red lightning of 2021. The finish moves into black cherry with a vague hint of stone and so much elemental-mineral longing that will be there on the finish for 10 years or more. Costanti and Le Chiuse would come to mind, especially in the way higher skin to juice ratio from smallest berries sees the transition from Classico to Riserva. Drink 2027-2036. Tasted November 2025

Marchesi Frescobaldi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Castelgiocondo Ripa al Convento 2020

Single vineyard for an early, concentrated and powerful vintage because of the hot and dry summer. No small barrels, only large cask mainly used, of 90-100 hL, really large. South exposure, two separate picks to bring in this smaller amount of fruit, one of silt that brings the essential oil and the other a salty aspect that delivers the architecture. The Galestro from flysch is surely responsible for that saline streak out of a single block that’s all stones at the surface with full draining capacity no matter how much it rains. The roots will always need to burrow deep to access water and the vines respond in kind, delivering a savoury sangiovese of low ph (3.4), high acidity and salty tang. More akin to Tenuta Perano in Gaiole as compared to the larger production Castelgiocondo Brunello. Average production is 15,000-20,000 bottles, on the higher side for 2021. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted September 2025

Northeast Montalcino at Patrizia Cencioni

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 123 2020

The 2020 Riserva (along with the 2021 Brunelli) are the first wines to finish for three months in newly acquired 40 hL concrete vats. No increase in total aging time but three months less in cask. Why 123? Because on the map the vineyards are simply 1,2,3 and they are the oldest plantings, from 1988 and 1989. The stoniest places, 1.2 hectares total, high in calcareous material mixed into the base of argilla. Also higher solar radiation which makes for a quicker to ripen set of circumstances and on average 0.3 to 0.5 higher degree of alcohol. More texture and chew than any of the Classico or Selezione Brunelli, layer upon layer integrated through many layers of fruit and tannin, a mille-feuille lasagna of a sangiovese from the most delicately pressed way. Full yet airy, grippy while elegant and characteristically impressive. Production is maximum 5,000 bottles. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted September 2025

Pietroso Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Nothing mature about this 2020 Riserva but with great immediacy it does come barreling forth in aromas and across the palate. Some sangiovese are quieter and others announce their assertive arrival. Impressive fruit layers crashing like waves on a rocky shore, relentless in their pursuit for commotion. Riserva’s fullness of concentration and sturdy carriage transporting character comes to define a family and their holdings. This is admittedly a big Brunello Riserva and also one found in balance for bottls to be consumed over a lengthy and extended period of time. Drink 2027-2035. Tasted November 2025

Podere Brizio Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A year will effect a marked difference for Brizio’s classic Brunello. Today running positively true from a vintage of a cool Spring, followed by a hot summer. “Easier than 2021,” tells Lorenzo Bernini, “and more difficult than 2019. The most normal vintage in recent memory.” In the end the tannins are just a bit “raw.” Last tasted November 2025

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

Podere Brizio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Bosco Alto 2020

The Bosco Alto (upper or high forest) comes from the vineyard abutting those woods and so Riserva that ages longer (48 months in Botti Grandi) is refreshed by the forest. This foils the wood with positivity and harmony developing ways, as do the inclusion of ripe stems in the fermentation process. Brings a sweetness to the profile, an encouragement of natural fruit elements to rise above the wood and the tannin, almost surprisingly so. Though longer time spent in oak could result in the requiem for more time in bottle, in this case the wine acts nearly ready and aims to deliver near immediate gratification. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2025

Podere Le Ripi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Lupi e Sirene 2020

Brash, blatant and blunt force sangiovese strike on the senses with Brunello Riserva. Volatility in its most natural, unadulterated and unkempt fashion, undisguised and unapologetic for how a Montalcino Brunello will come about. The fact here is how the tannins are intact, not brittle nor in any danger of cracking. Yet the style is ultra specific and unpolluted by public opinion. Vividly presented for all to choose. Drink 2028-2032. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Brighter as Riserva for 2020, beauty incarnate, of red rose hue and transparent like few others. No detectable wood on the nose and in many ways so different than the estate’s Brunello of just 10 years ago. The evolution of style but more importantly disposition is welcomed with open arms. Some may not see the shift as currently correct for the denomination, but who could or would not embrace this level of quality and elegance? Having tasted the 2001 in 2025 there is a similarity, if only in delicacy but the discernment is fodder for understanding. Drink 2028-2035. Tasted November 2025

Poggio di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

In Riserva the perforce notions of sangiovese in purezza and aromatic intensity are manifested in ways the classic Brunello is not. The extra layers, levels and manifestations are all a bit vivid when youth descries timing and temperament. Many ‘20s are already showing maturity but this, not even close and in fact the reductive and redacted elements lead fruit on the palate in a waxy and unresolved state. Would wait three or four years before opening bottles and considering passing any judgement. Drink 2028-2035. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Fruit comes from the northern part of Montosoli over a concave bowl of a vineyard filled with argilla, limestone and schist, manifested as Galestro. The geogolgy is Formazione Santa Fiora, the description essentially (like Mastrojanni). Increased power and depth from Riserva for 2020, aged 48 months in Botti Grandi and coming away with many layers of fruit and tannin. Five years old and still the wood is very much settling and integrating to accomplish before fruit can stand out. The uncanny note of almond comes from Riserva, unique to lands at and also near Montosoli, like cherry stone concentrated and almost becoming marzipan. Sweetly volatile right there up on the crest between beauty and danger. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Renieri Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Fine aromatic sangiovese swirl with red stone fruit accented by herbs, five spice and citrus. Not the most complicated or complex Riserva and yet acidity ranks high to raise the profile and put this in touch with food on the table. Crunchy 2020, ready to pour and please. Kudos to a team neither trying to overdo or ask too much of a vintage. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Salicutti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Teatro 2020

The Salicutti paradox is vividly represented in the Riserva 2020, a wine closer in style and effect to the Brunello than either Piaggione or Sorgente. Here from the wild casks, of natural fruit and its volatile accents. Unbridled, non-manipulated and unadulterated, left to its own devices, wooly and unabashedly itself. Tannins are fine and important but Drink 2027-2032. Tasted November 2025

Sesti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Phenomena 2020

Be in no hurry to gather thoughts on this Riserva. Take a moment, give it time and wait for the right moment to begin making comments and decisions. The aromas flow forth measured, slowly and gracefully, carefully considered from a pitch of selected red fruit seasoned with citrus zest. Just enough tart edginess to accent the bleed of sangiovese swirled into a natural pool of acidity, tannin and mood. For 2020 the effect is quietly impressive and yet could not have been easy to deliver. But it succeeds because a wine of humility can only come from out of the clutches of respect. Riserva is a mix of luminous skies and contentment. Drink 2028-2036. Tasted November 2025

Talenti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Pian Di Conte 2020

A reductive element locks in freshness and keeps the 2020 Riserva from extending the proverbial olive branch. Not yet anyway and for the vintage there are both local and Mediterranean scents in the somewhat restrictive aromas. A Sant’Angelo in Colle herbaceous notation mixed with macchia brought in by far way winds that denote something singular. Crunchy Riserva, freschissimo, red stone fruit surrounded by tannin, dominated even and years away from settling. Drink 2028-2033. Tasted November 2025

Tenuta San Giorgio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Ugolforte 2020

Fruit and wood are both providers of the spice in a lustrous and glossy Riserva. Of course this could only come from sangiovese, also Montalcino and to be honest the lower part of the hill occupied by Poggio di Sotto. The fruit is accepted by citrus and a red peppery spice specific to this wine. Impressive binate for the estate. Drink 2027-2031. Tasted November 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

A Riserva bottled in June of 2025 with the heaviest set of fruit and fuel, not to mention the grandest wallop of tannins imaginable for a Montalcino Brunello Riserva. Biggest, of deepest depths and years from resolving structural parts keeping fruit down, hidden away, undisturbed. Three months in bottle is far from the time needed to have any real inkling what’s in this glass. Then again there is some lift and rise to the 2021, red fruit freshness and great potential laid ahead. Keep looking at 2018, allow 2019 to keep settling, (there is no 2020 Riserva) and then return for 2021 way forward in 2028. Drink 2028-2036.Tasted September 2025

Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2020

Rich in poly-phenolic presence, red citrus and glycerol for veritable and verifiable Riserva style. This 2020 has gone deep into the well to gather, accumulate and concentrate fruit, a necessity considering the verdant bites and especially tension alongside. Feels like Vigna Poggio al Granchio plays an important role in Riserva, especially in 2020. A sleek example, complex and so near to the time when it will be evident that the invitation should be opened. Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Argiano

Brunello di Montalcino DOCG – Older Vintages

Aminta Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Fruit mainly from vineyards planted at the turn of the (20th to 21st) century by the previous owner when the farm was called Poggio Castellare. There is no questioning the quality of the fruit and the part of Montalcino where it’s grown. 3,000 bottles produced. Last tasted November 2025

Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Tenuta “Greppo” 2020

They were very different climatic vintages but aromatically speaking there is a kinship between Rosso 2023 and Brunello 2020, which is to say a Biondi-Santi-ness that can’t be ignored, or denied. That and a physiological ripeness of heritage and tradition, as if this were made out of a vintage of a hot summer sometime 25 to 35 years ago. In other words a vintage that by let’s say 1985 standards would have been considered hot. This makes 2020 the kind of Brunello that makes one long for the past, not to return but to experience something from a time when things were more naive, less stressful and at a time when summer seemed to last forever. Not perfectly ripe or come from something easy, but relatively speaking a sangiovese of great pleasure and one that will age gracefully for potentially 30 years. An old soul sangiovese can do this. Drink 2026-2041. Tasted November 2025

With Cosimo Squarcia, Castello di Tricerchi

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Pinch of TCA. A three parcel Brunello, contiguous with one higher in limestone and one more defined by its red soil. The picking rolls through the three from east to west, the second and third ripening later than the first. Has come to a fine place and truthfully the 2020 is now ready to drink. Last tasted November 2025. 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

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG A.D. 1441 2020

Single vineyard sangiovese, a cru Brunello from Piedmontazine styling spent six months under a submerged (wet) cap. Tasted from two bottles, one opened yesterday and one this morning, the first more expressive and complex, the second fresher and feeling like a different vintage. You can choose which one you want, to drink the wine young, or at the end of the decade, as you wish, for one or another different experience altogether. Last tasted November 2025

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. Terrific work from the Squarcia family. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2024

Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Nastagio 2020

Travel back one year, not as 2020 Riserva tasted in 2025 but rather Vigna, a Nastagio held back as if it were a matter of the former. In a way it is exactly that, an extra year in bottle before the market can get a hold of its treasures, namely of increased aromatic volume, of perfumes specific to vintage. There are many reasons to wait on these Brunelli, especially from 2020 because the extra year of aging has done wonders to develop and even exaggerate their charms. Case in point 2020 Nastagio, a fine sangiovese with essential acids and yet wood still a prominent factor, here beginning to truly open for the first time. Drink 2027-2034. Tasted November 2025

Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino DOCG – LOT. 1 2020

Newest label in the Col d’Orca portfolio with next generation Santiago Marrone in the design mix for Lot. 1, Etichetta style. Not too dissimilar to the classic label if perhaps a bit more stoic and vertical. Higher acid profile and red citrus intensity as well – To be honest the sensation is more of a food wine that was influenced by a lover of riesling. What that has to do with sangiovese is up to you to interpret. but it is what it is. Drink 2026-2031. Tasted November 2025

Giodo Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG 2020

It seems like winemaker Riccardo Ferrari is extremely proud of his work with Brunello di Montalcino 2020, a very different wine from a truly apposite vintage. This when there was only one label and so all the Brunello fruit came here – This will change with a second label (Prètto) in 2021. A fast evolution happening, neither in reduction nor oxidation but in the way the fruit is showing, so floral and exotic at this stage. Tannins remain grippy and the wine finishes with a phenolic presence. Last tasted November 2025

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

Gorelli Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Clarity, finesse, focus and transparency, all English words to describe a Gorelli sangiovese yet none exacting enough to translate in Italian to say what you want to say. In any case a Brunello from 2020 that hits the correct notes and in this vintage with a true sense of località, whether that be defined as Canalicchio or something akin to Vigna del Lago. In any case there is a northeastern sensibility and an evergreen herbal aspect with true clay soil terroir. Still young and yet to integrate all of its Slavonian botti, finishing with a ton of chocolate. Last tasted September 2025

Welcome to one of the first and only reductive Brunelli and this from a wine 50 in during Benvenuto’s annual Montalcino affair. High toned sangiovese yet still tight and yet to unwind. Not yet ready for aromas to leap and bound from the glass, hiding back the fun and the fight. Some Brunello express this kind of tension on the nose and this would be a high and mighty example of such an animal. 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. Quite pure and also of a tannic intensity choosing not to relent. 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, 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 twice, November 2024

Il Marroneto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Weather like 2022 and character like 2021 defines the dichotomy of Il Marroneto’s 2020 Brunello. Now settled one further year in bottle and frankly so much pleasure to be had at this early stage of its tenure. Purity of fruit and no walls to climb, nor hoops to jump through. “My objective is to have the same quality in every vintage,” says Iacopo. “Not the same wine, the same quality.” These are unbelievable tannins, suave yet finely grainy and working, working to develop and be ready to change when the time is right and the requiem to mature is necessary. Marroneto is a place to spend time with family and this 2020 really takes that to heart, not for the first time but in a new or rather next way. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Il Marroneto Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Madonna delle Grazie 2020

Talk about the passion and the purity but with Madonna delle Grazie also the formidable assets of structural freight that in the current state do not want to relent. Then again in 2020 the difference between Brunello and Madonna delle Grazie is the first time the quality and stage presence of the two seem to be inching closer together. Meanwhile the natural sweetness of fruit makes this feel to be an amazingly elegant wine. Could there be a worry that separating the two will get harder and harder? No because the ’23 and ’24 vintages will see a larger chasm and going forward this will simply be a good problem to have. Drink this MdG as soon as you wish. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2025

L’Aietta Brunello di Montalcino DOC 2020

Classico Brunello is 70 percent Castelnuovo dell’Abate fruit plus the total production at the Alberello L’Aietta vines. Purely and expressly sangiovese with fine, tension-filled, implosive and instructive tannin. You may consider and call it old school but that would be simplifying the existential question. L’Aietta is an old soul in modern sangiovese, classic and forward thinking, knowing, experienced and looking straight ahead. So bloody proper and the feeling just speaks to the land, maker and what must be will be. Drink 2026-2032.Tasted September 2025

L’Aietta Brunello di Montalcino DOC Alberelli 2020

Just 10 percent of the yield from L’Aietta’s Alberello vines are put into the 300 bottle production of the “Selezione Alberelli.” For Francesco Mulinari the normal Brunello sees a tartaric acidity number of 5.8 to 6.1 g/L and yet the Alberelli vines reach 6.4, with a lowest of the low Brunello pH of 3.25. Virtually unheard of and he’s certain it is the sandstone (Arenaria) soils that deliver this effect. A stoic, not yet static and surely poised sangiovese that may have no peers in the whole of Montalcino. Once again that sense of maturity and purpose, experience, acumen and reason with a look to the future. Tannic chain and freight are both serious yet inviting and coupled with the acidity the aging potential is endless. Drink 2028-2038.Tasted September 2025

La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A particular vintage with summer heat and harvest rain that made picking challenging and timing was everything. This fruit first came in early from Castelnuovo dell’Abate and then late post rains from that southern vineyard along with the harvest at La Fortuna. The result is elastic concentration while the overall profile maintains the presence of higher acidity. This is because the northeast can keep that aspect of structure going even while patience is exercised. The energy does not match 2019 and yet the savour in macchia and Balsamico exceeds that previous vintage. There is some liquorice and tar with a deeper resonance. Keep in mind no Riserva was made and so that fruit mixed in makes for a different expression of the Brunello. Drink 2025-2029.Tasted September 2025

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino DOC 2020

When you put your nose into 2020 Brunello you truly do sigh and say “this smells like Le Potazzine.” Which means classic, northwestern Montalcinese, timeless, reminding of 2016 and other democratic vintages that came before. Now in a moment like a scene in movie you can never forget that will repeat in both mind and imagination forever. This is Brunello. This is Le Potazzine. No Riserva in 2020. Last tasted September 2025

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

Molino di Sant’Antimo Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Paolus 2020

Tasting Brunello 2020 and 2021 side by side reveals the polarization of two vintages, each unique and separated by their potential to transmit diversity but also because the more recent one is so youthful. You wonder if this 2020 was as tight and erudite one year ago and the answer is surely yes, but also no. The vintage is saltier, more like the Rosso 2023 and the seasoning shows less (yet still present) white pepper as compared to the Brunello 2021. You can see the appreciation for something like a Fuligni Brunello in Valeria’s classic style, abiding by her vineyard yet doing so in as clean and pure a way as could be possible. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted November 2025

La Squadra Canadese at Patrizia Cencioni

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Patrizia Cencioni started to do spontaneous fermentations in 2020. The roses, fennel and spices perfume reminds of the 2023 Rosso di Montalcino and here there too is a sense of blood orange. This is quite a serious Brunello, layered an structured, yet to shed it’s baby fat, fully flesh out and my goodness it makes for a mouthful. Last tasted September 2025

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

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Ofelio 2020

No shock that the Selezione 2020 is simply an exaggeration of the Classico Brunello’s riches, fruit more than anything but more than that there is texture, something you can really sit your teeth into, part rare meaty Fiorentina flesh and part plum leathery fruit. Impressive composure and architecture, strong, grippy, layered, fibrous and without pause. Easily two years away from full integration of the barrel and their effect upon the stature of the wine. Freedom will be blessed when it comes. Drink 2027-2032.Tasted September 2025

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

Just six to eight months into the opening window of opportunity and timing could not be better, especially with local salumi made in Buonconvento. Notable softening and settling, especially of tannins for a sangiovese entering a next phase. Will age as expected although in three or four years time fungi will surely become part of the profile. Last tasted November 2025

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

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Chiuso del Lupo 2020

The cru Brunello (acquired in 2016) for Poggio Landi, first vintage labeled as such and in terms aging it is made like a Riserva. The vineyard at 550m on Formazione Santa Fiora is due south of Montalcino, just south of and actually abutting Biondi-Santi. This is sangiovese so distinct, relative to location of course, far less affected by the aging in Botti Grandi to stand poised, focused and clearly finessed in its accomplished style. Very fine Brunello that is harvested later than Montosoli. “This is a soil I like,” says agronomist Lorenzo Bernini. “It took six or seven years and now the condition is great.” Drink 2027-2033. Tasted November 2025

Ruffino Greppone Mazzi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

A variable vintage in Montalcino and so every wine will exist in a state of its own accord. In this case Ruffinos’s acts cool and reserved, aromatically quiet though there is an early sense of blue fruit to complement the classic red character of south by southeast fruit. Sweetly savoury and of a macchia that brings mint to meet what really does taste like blue fruit. Most curious and potential feels high. Last tasted September 2025

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 2025-2029. Tasted November 2024

San Polino Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Helichrysum 2020

Deeply fruited of a spectrum more than merely red. Plummy in a way with good freshness and ample energy, drive and force. A sweetness of that stone fruit, ultra ripe and acidity of a similar fashion. Quite tart and then tension sets in, on the palate and through to a drying tannic finish. Nearly a matter of black cherry stone at the finish. Last tasted November 2025

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

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2020

When you taste 2020 Classico Brunello side by side with the lifted 2021 you see vintage variation straight away. Back a year for a dusty, Balsamico inflected and higher toned style which is surely a matter of how fruit came away and come about from 2020. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigneto Poggio Doria 2020

One of two cru, both being one-plus hectare plots that make 3,000-4,000 bottles per year. “Our idea is to make traditional Brunello” says Marco Paier and only old cask are used, of 20, 50 and 80 hL, with a small amount of passage in smaller barrel. Hard to find a more modern, polished and elegant sangiovese with liquid black forest caky generosity than Poggio Doria. The nose is quiet, demure, willing to allow the flavours and textures to do the talking. Hard not to think you could drink this right away. Drink 2025-2030.Tasted September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Manachiara 2020

Silvio Nardi was a businessman from Umbria who purchased Casale del Bosco in 1950, first vintage was 1954 and Manachiara was acquired in 1962. The first vintage of this cru-designate Montalcino sangiovese was 1995. I mean if you close your eyes you might imagine Right Bank Bordeaux with high level richness and concentration. Follow that up with full wood nurturing and notes of caramel, soy and so much umami. The tannins at this stage are hard an austere so let them settle and see what will come of the composition as a whole. Plenty of patience required. Drink 2027-2032.Tasted September 2025

Villa Le Prata Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Vescovo 2020

One of four single vineyard Le Prata Brunello only made when the combination of vineyard and vintage are right or for when a distinct expression separates from the Brunello. In this case a wild character replete with a feral note that is hard not to be explained other than some Brettanomyces captured within. A second taste also reveals some TCA. Tasted September 2025

With Federico Radi and Giampiero Bertolini, Biondi-Santi

Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

The smile in winemaker Federico Radi’s eyes tells you much of what you need to know for how he feels about the 2019 vintage. Though Riserva (like the Brunello) is released a year later than almost all others in Montalcino there is a feeling about this wine that speaks to immediate gratification it is curiously capable of providing. The acidity is tops for ’19, sweet and oscillating, coming at the palate in waves, fruit surfing its crests and crashing across with maximum flavour. After the rains of August 31 through September 2 the balancing of atmospheric conditions during a dry two weeks created ideal ripening conditions between September 10th and 15th. The only part of 2019 that needs more time in bottle for integration is wood, this being the second vintage after which new casks were beginning to replace some older ones in the cellar. In that sense there is some resurfacing on this sangiovese yet also harmony and consistency from Riserva, two aspects that will guarantee not only longevity but also an abiding to what Radi, Giampiero Bertolini and their teams desire. Demand as well, to speak for the vineyards and relate the long Biondi-Santi story. Drink 2027-2045. Tasted November 2025

Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Gualto 2019

Really come together, maybe even ahead of schedule, window open, not fully though just six more months will show all the cards. A special sangiovese from Camigliano in 2019 now and for 10 more years. Last tasted September 2025

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

La Squadra Canadese at Banfi

Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio all’Oro 2019

Not produced in every vintage, first made in 1985. Not far from the Castello Banfi, direction Montalcino, 20 hectares at 450m with the oldest part planted in the 1970s. Finest acidity of all the Banfi Brunello, fruit brighter and energy higher. A cold winter and plenty of April through May rains, followed by a dry and beautiful summer, ending with a later harvest. High quantity needed to be reduced and the final product is the most silky, glycerol sangiovese with suave tannin. The vineyard has now been re-planted with massal section of the best plants from the old vineyard. Will be released in October. Last tasted September 2025

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Unexpected but coming at 2019 for the first time and two years after its anteprima release there is this blood orange quality that reminds of 2013. Just the first stages of maturity are showing and this from the first vintage when natural ferments and Piedmontazine techniques were introduced by a young Tommaso Squarcia into his wines. A bit more wood here, certainly as compared to what begins to change with the 2020 vintage. Nevertheless welcome to another harmonious and elegant Castello Tricerchi vintage. A few new barrels for a vintage and period of transition. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Io Sono Donatella 2019

First vintage for “I am Donatella” was 2010, of fruit well considered in the vineyard and then wines resting in barrel that show themselves to be different.” A meaning that quips I am what I am and also a joke that “says we are able to do things and this is us.” The medieval study of gold and enamels from the Middle Ages marks the label for the unique sangiovese also made in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016. Two types of wood are used, medium-sized and also botte grande cask for this third Brunello aisle with the the fourth being Riserva. Sees a bit more than two years of aging before finishing in cement eggs. Exaggerated riches and Balsamico, refinement at the height of a Donatella sangiovese with more spice run through than all the other wines combined. An expression full and knowing exactly what it purports and wants to be. Drink 2026-2033. Tasted September 2025

Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

The initial assessment posted two years ago for the Franco Pacenti family’s 2019 was clearly spot on – The proof lies in the state we find it residing in today, free, clear, untouched, unmoved, non-plussed and so far from exhibiting any significant change. Drink this now, as you wish and also be confident the first stage of its life still has a minimum two years left before any sense of next phase maturity will set in. Last tasted November 2025

The vintage is a generous one, also easy as they come, that much we know. Some sangiovese come away clean, fruity and free, others dense and tannic. Then come the Brunello ‘19s that combine every element, or at least a plethora of possibilities to exact Annata in ways that are full, layered and balanced. Some may say the best estates are the ones that succeed in the most challenging vintages and France Pacenti is one of those, but true excellence comes from those who achieve their goals both ways. Allow to be intrigued and introduced by a Brunello di Montalcino so very whole and built for all the ways that these sangiovese are capable of expressing their territory. The past and the future connected, forged and for all the right reasons. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted November 2023

Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Rosildo 2019

Yes Brunelo 2019 persists in a primary state, as of course does Rosidlo as well but the Cru sangiovese also speaks so clearly for the Canalicchio area in northeast Montalcino. The fruit is so clearly from this place and yet not every producer who inhabits this location gets the most out of their Sangiovese like Pacenti’s success. Some press too much to turn out harder wines, others barrel up with darker expressions and at least one succeeds with similar distinction. The ’19 Rosildo provides proof of its success here in 2025. Last tasted November 2025

The Etiquetta Rosildo is an easy and understandable transference from Franco Pacenti’s Annata label in Brunello for the 2019 vintage. What separates this sangiovese more than anything are its hyperbole of perfumes, aromatic fruits and seasoning that jump from the glass so much stronger with heightened expression. Neither peppery nor spicy but more so the effect felt from smelling the roses and opening jars to see which fragrance your intuition tells to spice what dish you are preparing. And so yes what you have here is a Brunello of gastronomy, a wine the chef has prepared and it is a complex one. The tannins here are very taut and compact, the probability for ageing much higher and potential truly serious. Impressive ’19 this Rosildo, up there with the vintage’s best. Drink 2026-2037. Tasted November 2023

Franco Pacenti Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

From Brunello through Rosildo to Riserva and the thread between the three is unmistakable. Similar Grosso clone of sangiovese, red fruit marked by glycerol, suave texture, sweet acidity and fullness on the palate. The first two tiers are the best wines made by France Pacenti and Riserva joins the ranks although there is more volume and density in this top echelon Brunello. A serious inhalant and a wine that grabs hold of attention, without relenting and demands that you pay it the highest possible amount of heed. Silky, sleek and seductive with a chalky underlay that speaks to needing three years to come together as one. Hard to find greater fruit or potential as compared with Rosildo and yet at the end of a night there may just be a glass to two left in the bottle while the other Brunelli are poured out. Just because of a matter of structure in economies of scale. Hard to say which of the two will live longer, the one of focus or the one of elegance. The question is, which one is which? To be fair, Riserva in 2019 shows more grip. Drink 2027-2038. Tasted November 2025

Gorelli Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

“An annata più complessa,” insists Gabriele Gorelli and it would be fruitless to argue against the sentiment. Purity and sapidity walking hand in hand, red fruit so bloody consistent with all his Rosso and Brunello starting with this vintage, running through 2022 and all the ‘23s and ‘24s tasted from barrel. The consistency of style and effect is astonishing. The harmony between mouthfeel, acidity and fine tannin confirm the position and the advantage. Last tasted September 2025

Gorelli’s 2019 is unlike any other and while that can be said about many Montalcino Brunello in this case the clarity of that comment makes great and knowable sense. The aromas are particular, high casted, tonal, lifted and akin to scraping hard red fruit skins, getting their citrus musk under your nails and staying with you as you work through your day. Long lasting aromas part agricultural and part gastronomical. The Gorelli 2019 is also economical with neither gratuitous nor wasted moments. There is no distraction save for some botti texture that needs to melt a bit and find union with the excellent perfumes. The balsamic note late confirms the circle of sangiovese life to say longevity will be the right kind. Drink 2026-2034. Tasted November 2023

Gorelli Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

If the Classico Brunello is considered in complex terms than condor Riserva as an exaggeration of such riches. Riserva for Goreli must be taken seriously, not released just one day after the turn of the calendar and aged longer, held longer, kept through another season. This extra time helps all of us understand and comprehend what he is trying to accomplish and more importantly giving the wine its due. The tannins are still somewhat massive, certainly in control and doing what is necessary to earn their keep and fulfil their charge. Fruit can handle the naked truth and keep up with the structure. Last tasted September 2025

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

La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Riserva comes from all parts, including Le Quercia, a big oak tree marking the 40 year-old vineyard in Castelnuovo dell’Abate. A part of the steep block exposed south grows small, loose berries that serve the Riserva with a special quality. Sees three years in 27 hL Botti and one in barriques (new, 2nd and 3rd) for an old school concept made as a most modern sangiovese. Wood is a factor no doubt, as ideally is concentration. To handle that truth and the catalyst is top notch acidity, as you will find in all of La Fortuna’s wines. The first Riserva was 1999 and here 20 years later there is just something understood, experienced and mature about its ways. Drink 2025-2031.Tasted September 2025

La Fortuna Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Giobi 2019

Giobi for Gioberto, Angelo’s father’s nickname for a great man who passed away in 2023. First produced in 2010, a Selezione of just 1,500 bottles that will be carried on. Sees three years in tonneaux and en extra year in bottle before release. Now tasting the ’19 nearly two years later there is no decline of freshness, the selection was obviously prudent, cerebrally organized and the vineyards in Castelnuovo dell’Abate are the important source. Shows a father’s romantic connection to the place he obviously loved and his instincts were clearly on point. May not be the kind of Brunello now in fashion but we should all love and appreciate it just the same. Last tasted September 2025

Etichetta labeled 2019 Giobi is a fine step forward and up for La Fortuna, fruit of a similar if surely richer ilk. You can really feel the extra levels and layers of constituent parts that form, build and mold this sangiovese into the full and substantial edifice it is. Should drink well for a decade and a half from now. Drink 2026-2035. Tasted November 2023

With le donne of Le Potazzine

Le Potazzine Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOC 2019

Riserva must be something different. End stop. One more year in wood and one step up in concentration is still the same wine, but not at Le Potazzine. And so 2019 follows 2015, 2011, 2006 and 2004, with 2021 the next up. These are the seasons that delivered something other. All these parts are together as one but the wine has only been in bottle for nine months and the tannins are less than 2021 so there is a minimum 15 months left before the 2019 even considers becoming a Brunello. There can be little apprehension in saying 2019 will be one of the longer lived Riserva for Le Potazzine. Drink 2028-2040. Tasted September 2025

Campione: 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 2028-2040. Tasted November 2024

Patrizia Cencioni Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 123 2019

Everything that 2020 is, so too is 2019 but the vintage also brings in an extra element of seriously sweet and seductive acidity. This represents the magical addition to elevate the entire game of Brunello Riserva and shows Patrizia Cencioni’s ’19 holding a card that many others do not have. Expresses fruit in a gregarious while also haute sangiovese way for something extra and special. The cask aging plays a major role, namely in how spiced the wine has become and time will soften the edginess, however tension is something that can’t be denied, avoided or wished for this wine to be without. Last tasted September 2025

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

Podere Brizio Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Bosco Alto 2019

With Brunello di Montalcino there is always the understood concept of sangiovese given an extra year in bottle and there then is the effect of a vintage like 2019. This to see a Brizio Brunello (Riserva or otherwise) come to its peak performance. The time is now coming upon this Riserva, to be enjoyed, prefreably with a chef’s deft touch put into a plate of Tagliatelle with a ragù of wild boar. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Terrific moment to revisit Dievole’s 2019 in Poggio Landi, just two days after having tasted through 2021 and 2020 in Montalcino. Right in the middle of the open window right now, perfumes at peak, middle weight and structure set at the precise halfway mark of the wine’s best performance. Last tasted November 2025

A bright, airy and cool Brunello for 2019, not surprising considering the northwesterly localitá. Still there is next level richness for the estate and a sign of what the future will bring when vintages are warm and fruit achieves top phenolic ripeness. As here with a red fruit scintillant but acids so fresh and ripe they really tie the sangiovese threads together. Essential style and effect if simple but all that makes this a really fine Brunello, one to relish and really want to drink. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted November 2023

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Chiuso del Lupo 2019

A Brunello aged 38 months with fruit from the vineyard on the road to Montalcino’s southern areas although the località is quite close to the hill. It actually lies next to Biondi-Santi on the local name for the marl and limestone geology called Formazione Santa Fiora. There is freshness in 2019, more than 2020 to come and this is the difference between the two vintages for Poggio Landi. Drink or hold five more years easy. Drink 2025-2030. Tasted November 2025

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Perhaps not the freshness of 2020 but in Riserva that idea is not quite as essential in defining the personality of this kind of wine. That said the acidity from 2019 is impressive, showing no signs of dissipating, nor will it as long as you keep bottles of this wine. The character feels very much in line with Brunello 2020 although the muscles flex more in Riserva 2019. Showing with poise and focus today. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted November 2025

Ruffino Greppone Mazzi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

Remarkably open and generous aromas lead into juicy, succulent and icy berry flavours like a dry sangiovese granita. There is some grip and firmness in the tannin to complement and thus complete the picture. Would not orate on this being the most complex Brunello ever made, but to say it is fitting, proper and representative of Brunello di Montalcino would be speaking the truth. Last tasted September 2025

Greppone Mazzi is in fine form from 2019 with about as much cherry red fruit capture as ever before. A haute couture of Brunello from Ruffino and their eastern Montalcino estate where warm days and nights for days on end add up to so much sun accumulation for ripe and ready Brunello. No lack of flavour and texture here, nor acidity and austere tannin neither. Needs time, food and the best situation. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted November 2025

Ruffino Greppone Mazzi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

From a plot of 3.2 hectares called Greppone Grande, a single vineyard at 420m that makes approximately 4,000 bottles. This vintage spent 36-plus months in 25 hL cask. Recently bottled and so a full year later than most 2019 Riserva in Montalcino, settled and mature for a sangiovese pretty much ready to go. Winemaker Alberto will reduce the aging amount to 24 (in wood) starting with the 2025 vintage. Red fruit as with the Brunello, consistent from one to the next though obviously oak influence noted and while the wine is ready to drink it will be needing time to melt in. Liquid chalky, concentration to handle the wood and a creamy mid-palate. Tastes like sangiovese and Brunello though again there is a fullness of barrel dominating this wine. Drink 2025-2029.Tasted September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2019

Riserva literally means it only qualifies for that appellation in a year deemed worthy of the esteem. “A true Riserva” says Marco Paiaer and while tasting 2021 side by side only reveals an immense set of tannin in a formidably structured Bruello – Well 2019 is no shrinking violet. Deep, dark, full, rich and layered with the most compact elements and while there is some light showing in the dark sky, there still need to be more passing of time to get to the crux of this wine. Last tasted September 2025

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

Villa Le Prata Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2019

A blend of the four vineyards of a total three hectares on the four hectare Villa Le Prata estate. A full on natural sangiovese sweetness rich in everything, including macchia, Balsamico and minerals. Layered, balanced and about as substantial as you could hope for in a Brunello not qualified as anything but what it is. Silky, non-gratuitous glycerin, joyous and structured for drinking soon to slightly later on. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2025

Villa Le Prata Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Massimo 2019

Massimo as a vineyard creates sangiovese highest in poly-phenolic properties and there is no mistaking the botanical character moving into a comport of structure with some obvious and in control tannin. The layers and intersection of parts with notable verticality and backbone make for a 2019 with more grip than many a Vigna Brunello. Length is exceptional and the restraint is key to seeing a great future ahead. Drink 2026-2032. Tasted September 2025

Castello Tricerchi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Drinking at peak right in the heart of its intended and promised window, wood melted in, chocolate shed of its dark austerity and fruit persistent in its captured freshness. Three years left but the next 18 months will be this ’18’s best. Last tasted November 2025

Maturity and acumen increase, improve and travel forward from vintage to vintage for a Montalcino producer that is surely on the cusp of something special. The work put in and humility expressed will only keep the train on the track for sangiovese to occupy the minds and hearts of all who know. Within the framework of a peppery reductive 2018 the fruit here expands and oscillates in swells on repeat though each and every wave stops short of crashing upon a tannic shore. For the first time after tasting 30 Annata the sweetness of acidity really stands above and without tart edginess. Grande. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG “Late Release” 2018

A late release 2018 of 3,000 bottles “to have something special for clients” says Violante Gardini, with just a tweak on the bottom part of the label to indicate the extra aging. Born different with certain vines delivering fruit kept separate and not destined for the original 2018 Brunello, nor for Prime Donne or Riserva. In the end it is a “Selezione,” an oft used term in Italian wine and so not written on the label – but that is essentially what this is. A one-off, at least until now, more wood felt now well integrated into a softened, smooth and seductive elixir. A natural sweetness that the Brunello does not necessarily express and really quite easy to drink. Last tasted September 2025

Gorelli Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2018

Though there was some question as to how “light” 2018 was as a vintage, Gorelli says there is a real similarity with 2024 which received a full consensus on its lightness. That said there is some grip and substance to his Brunello which only goes to show how he makes his wines and it’s a good thing he does it this way. Any more extraction and push would have resulted in a shove of jam and greenness, two aspects obviously wishing to be avoided. Instead there is charm and restraint with wood filling in any holes there might have been. Now calming and coming into a good and cool place, with ample natural sweetness. Last tasted September 2025

Serious aromatic concentration yet in a most elastic and expressive way there arrives the immediacy of Gorelli’s Annata. The reality continues on the palate for a quantifiably gregarious and rich sangiovese of layers upon layers of fruit and structure. Not a matter of acidity so much as a wine in which that integration is both gracious and invisible. What a beautiful 2018 Annata. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted November 2022

Edoardo Losappio, Villa Le Prata

Villa Le Prata Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna Le Prata 2018

Single vineyard Brunello known as the “hare” in its first year produced by winemaker Edoardo Losappio, on the right side of the cypress tree road up to the gate planted by massal selection to sangiovese of the thinnest skinned-grapes. They must be in top condition and age to a particular profile after two years to be chosen as one to be bottled as a single vineyard wine. Most aromatic sangiovese, of local Balsamico, as in the oils expressed when you run your fingers through herbs, whether they be rosemary, thyme or sage. Also the uncanny aroma of blood orange, a sweet citrus scenting mixed with Le Prata’s herbal plenitude. Something special for the vintage. Drink 2025-2031. Tasted September 2025

Villa Le Prata Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Vigna San Prospero 2018

One of the four single vineyard (Vigna) wines produced when the vintage and quality are right, here from the first vintage when the concept was introduced and Riserva was cast away. More red and orange citrus from Prospero, exiled rightful duke of Milan and a master magician. Not here, not exiled like Riserva but instead this perfectly liquid chalky sangiovese that has matured, settled and come ready to be beautiful. Quite fine, its tension filed away and pleasant drinking in current fine form. Drink 2026-2030. Tasted September 2025

Poggio Landi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2016

Dio mio the aromatic freshness of 2016 is remarkable, of purple fruit that seems to speak to the northeast sector at Torrenieri as much as anything else. Flavours are beginning to mature though acidity keeps the energy and faith very much alive. This earlier example of a Poggio Land does well to foreshadow the future for what is possible from their combined vineyards near Montosoli, at Torrenieri and Chiuso del Lupo. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Elia Palazzesi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2015

A lovely sway of spice in the perfume of a 10 year-old Brunello from a 10 ha estate, the wine macerated for 25 days in steel and aged 30 months in Botti Grandi. It’s classic and clean, traditional and pure, wood so sweet and silk threaded through fruit now passing uninterrupted past the portal to secondary life. All is settling in this elegant sangiovese that feels like it came out yesterday but is now a half generation away. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

La Serena Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Gemini 2015

The Gemini are off course twins, as in the winemaker and his brother, architect and designer of the cellar. This Gemini as a 10 year-old Riserva is quite fresh and spirited with truly purple fruit and for the appellative level found to be right where you would wish a maturing, but far from old Brunello to be. A treat with vibrancy, vital acidity and a cool herbal, almost dry amaro streak running through. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted November 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2012

Older vintage, now well into secondary character with ample freshness persistent in the aromas. Sweetness abounds, naturally so and while age is apparent you feel a cool vintage in the mint, sweet herbs and absence of fungi notes. An educated guess would be 2014 or 2013 for this aged Brunello. Truly elegant and stylish at this age. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted blind at Tenute Silvio Nardi, September 2025

Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2010

No doubt the child of one of Montalcino’s warmer vintages though not what should be considered or remembered as “hot.” Showing a bricking maturity for sure but the core of the wine exhibits fullness and the extraction of the day. Also the wood and ample warmth not yet fully cooled down, perhaps needing to fully but no matter because it’s all about cover weather comfort. There is a brown sugar caramelized feeling, balanced between fruit acquiring a leathery chew and tannins softening into their next position. Flavours are pure gastronomical pleasure and texture truly satisfies. Acidity as well with the finish going long and deep. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2025

Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2007

Rainy spring, hot summer and 10 year-old plants at the time that could begin to show the real identity of single vineyard Brunello. A vintage that began under the guidance of Carlo Ferrini and finished by Valerie Lavigne still present and making the wines today. A sangiovese that would have shown maturity from the start and has impossibly maintained its state of being through to 18 years later. The nose is persistently fresh, with great nuance and some heat, the palate expressive of sweet volatility and a liquid confluence of soils. Far from a perfect wine but with its inherent flaws their is grace and longevity under pressure. Flawed no more because all has been resolved and forgiven. Drink 2025-2028. Tasted September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 2001

Well into this Brunello’s tenure with shoe polish, soy, tiramisu, Tia Maria and caramel in a very mature Classico. Just has to be a warmest of warm vintages, perhaps younger than you think because the tannin is up front with grip and tension holding on. Likely 2007 and possibly 2004.Tasted blind at Tenute Silvio Nardi, September 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOCG 1988

Knowably older than the previous Classico Brunello tasted blind and here a more youthful expression with fresh red fruit right there on the floral front. A bit dusty with a local forest, Casale del Bosco macchia that really comes through at the 20-25 year stage. Just what you expect and wish for from a Brunello going back to another era. Really salty. The guess is 1998 or 2000.Tasted blind at Tenute Silvio Nardi, September 2025

Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 1983

Nearly 42 years after the 1983 harvest and the aromatics are not merely effusive but in a word explosive. This inclusive of a fruit freshness that by all means and matters of practicality should not be there. Every bottle of Biondi-Santi at the focal point where the crest is displayed is marked by the words Marca and Propria. Brand and trademark of propriety and when you taste something like this you simply say proper. Of heritage and character, persistence and longevity. Tannins are obviously no longer present, nor do they need to be because the acidity lingering is simply magical. As are perfumes of flowers and more notable the classic sottobosco of Montalcino. This feels like a dream and one not wished to wake from, but to let it linger, with cranberry and a feeling of blood orange spiked by spices and saffron, the finish vaguely salty, almost like caramel chocolate. This much might be said to 1983 Riserva. “I’m in so deep. You know I’m such a fool for you. You got me wrapped around your finger.” Drink 2025-2028. Tasted November 2025

Tenute Silvio Nardi Brunello di Montalcino DOC 1979

Wow, holy umami Batman. The aromas are so tertiary and curious it ’s almost impossible to dream just how far back this Brunello goes. Likely from the 90s and perhaps early in that decade. The guess could very well be 1975 or a vintage when it rained incessantly and there is blood orange here, even saffron, which suggest botrytis. Give it 10 more minutes and the Porcino soup begins to emerge. Tasted blind at Tenute Silvio Nardi, September 2025

Bernardino Sani, Argiano

Toscana IGT and Other Wines

Castello Tricerchi Sangiovese Luli’o 2024, Toscana IGT

First harvest of sangiovese off of the youngest vines in the lowest part of the vineyard. The grapes that would otherwise be green harvested and still are by others who “waste” fruit raised with great effort through hard-fought seasons. Simple winemaking results in 13 percent alcohol, a Rosso di Rosso di Montalcino, juicy and authentic, proper to the greatest degree. Natural and glou-glou. RdRdM. Drink 2025-2026. Tasted November 2025

Giodo La Quinta 2023, Toscana Sangiovese IGT

The Montalcinese IGT now in its sixth year aged in big cask and amphora, the twain split just above half and half. In some sense a “second wine” for Giodo with the grapes not destined to participate in the Brunello. That said they come from a classified Brunello vineyard and so La Quinta is most definitely a choice. The name is the fifth vineyard plate assigned by proprietor and oenologist Carlo Ferrini and thus the name. Clocks in at half a degree less than the Brunello (and now also the Rosso) with the light shone on reddest sangiovese imaginable for one of Montalcino’s brightest Rosso styled wines. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted November 2025

Le Potazzine Sangiovese 2024, Toscana IGT

A vintage with outlandish quantity and so first an August green harvest for dropping fruit, without making Rosé because “we have the best grapes in the world,” says Viola Gorelli. “Why would we make anything else.” Spicy nose, cinnamon stick and the juicy feeling that fresh sangiovese will give. This is what you want from a young entry into Montalcino before you consider what Rosso will bring followed by where Brunello can go. Just recently bottled for 6,200 bottles made. Perfect for a mix of the three. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted September 2025

Villa Le Prata Sangiovese Le Prata 2024, Toscana IGT

“The (sangiovese) is the more informal and easygoing wine we produce,” explains winemaker Eduardo, “made with 50 percent whole cluster on skins and carbonic maceration for one week and without sulphites,” but not so late that body and sweetness are the result. More in a Governo Toscano style, from two harvests two weeks apart with the second pick layered upon the first ferment. Aromas are just what you might expect from a sangiovese made this way; wild, woolly and dramatically fresh. Sangiovese made in the way the cool kids will want to drink at the highest level – Think Cigliano di Sopra in San Casciano. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted September 2025

Argiano Solengo 2023, Toscana Rosso IGT

“From the 2015 vintage we tried to go back to the days of Tachis for the Super Tuscan,” tells Bernardino Sani, “and to change the style.” Now 60 percent cabernet sauvignon, (20) cabernet franc and petit verdot with a small amount of sangiovese, with no merlot because it was lost to Peronospora and then the heatwave. Ages for 15 months in 50 per cent new Taransaud wood, some larger Garbellotto casks and a few used barriques. Finishes in cement before bottling. Sweet vanillin and fruit equally red to blue, herbal though not exactly minty, more like an essential oil of wild thyme or marjoram. A bit tight still, acidity quite sweet and a lift to the wine. All follows the original floral effect and in the end the palate experience is one a a truly silken and refined blend. 60,000-70,000 bottles annually. Drink 2026-2031.Tasted September 2025

Gorelli Sangiovese Brigo 2023, Toscana IGT

Young sangiovese, lifted and reductive, freshness with fruit that imagines the Tuscan corbezzolo fruit with its red acid twang. Evergreen note, Christmas Tree cool and verdant. Fresh but never aggressive, substantial enough and Montalcinese without infringing on Rosso or Brunello. Chalky finish suggests some tannic presence. More sapidity than most local sangiovese and finishing with cocoa despite never having spent a moment in wood. Drink 2026-2028. Tasted September 2025

L’Aietta Trebbiano Mania 2023

Skin-contact trebbiano, 25 days on the skins, aged in amphora. An experiment and maybe will be called Mania, goddess of the afterlife, but written right to left, like the Arameans. And this acts just like that, opposite of what you expect, of vivid aromas and a sweetness on the palate that keeps bitterness at bay. Crushable with a stone fruit profile that is so much more inviting and seductive than most wines of this ilk. Drink 2025-2027. Tasted September 2025

Carma 2021, Toscana IGT

New project in Radda in Chianti of builder Massimo Guarnacshelli, second vintage for only sangiovese grown above 600m of elevation. Across the road from Castello di Albola and Poggerino for a remarkable early effort just a bit pressed to eke out extra fruit from the high elevation vineyard. The vineyard has rights for Chianti Classico but for now father and daughter are bottling under IGT. There are some green tannins and yet the fruit and style remind of other Radda wines like Poggerino and Val delle Corti. The future looks very promising for this three hectare project and just 1,000 bottles currently made. Drink 2025-2027.Tasted September 2025

L’Aietta Spumante Rosé Metodo Classico Non Dosato 2012

Francesco Mulinari began to make sparkling in 2010 with this 2012 having spent 84 months on the lees. Colour is Rosato, in part because of some original skin contact and also obviously age having compounded the effect. Three reasons for starting the program, first to stop wasting fruit to green harvest and second because his mother Loretta didn’t drink red wine. The fruit is only from the 0.5 hectare plot in Castelnuovo dell’Abate in the lowest part of the vineyard. The result is still zero residual sugar. Apple skin, orange zest and east African spice, a Zanzibar or Madagascar exoticism. It’s all very intoxicating with a furious tang. Sweet Loretta Martin, “get back to where you once belong.” Drink 2025-2028. Tasted September 2025

L’Aietta Rosé Spumante Metodo Classico Non Dosato 2019

The 2019 is the first classic method sparkling wine that Francesco Mulinari used no white sugar but instead sangiovese juice is added after fermentation, raising the alcohol from 10 to 12 percent but also adding flavour. Just turned upside down a few minutes ago and so the nose is not perfectly clean but the high acidity and complexity are something special. A bit rough, tumble and acetic right now. Tasted September 2025

L’Aietta Senza Tempo III, Toscano Rosso IGT

A wine reward, a gratificante offered up by Francesco Mulinari called “Senza Tempo,” its meaning timeless and made form the best sangiovese, “the perpetual wine” made with vintages from 2014 through 2018. The next and fifth edition will hold some drops of ’14 and travel to 2019. A rare multi vintage Rosso from Montalcino and most unique because it pulls the best fruit away from Rosso, Brunello and Brunello Selezione. Only bottled in Magnum, 150 of them for this third edition. Going forward probably only 75, half of a barrique. Tastes like an aged Brunello, say 10 years old, secondary leather and carob notes joining the macchia and Amaro herbals. Chewy liquorice and herbal pesto. Drink 2025-2029. Tasted September 2025

Good to go!

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Montalcino morning

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Grande, Chianti Classico

Jun29

Tasting through 175 Chianti Classico DOCG from the last three vintages confirms the territory’s ability to consistently achieve another level of quality

Passport to Chianti Classico

In February I made the annual pilgrimage to Tuscany for the Chianti Classico Collection to taste through a few hundred examples of the local sangiovese, a perennial workload that is my pleasure and indeed, my privilege. Feel free to scroll down past the next few thousand words to read the reviews. I have been repeatedly fortunate to take in the renowned history, food, olive oil and vineyards but most importantly have been the forged relationships with so many producers and custodians of what is affectionately called the Gallo Nero. At this time travel for work and also pleasure remains unknowable and it will be this way, at least for the immediate future. All of us have to wait and see when the next visit can be possible, to again take in the hills and landscapes where Italy’s most important grape variety is grown. That is why the partners at WineAlign have joined virtual hands with the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico, Chairman Giovanni Manetti, the producers and sangiovese to orchestrate a different kind of sensory experience. They created an opportunity for the region’s wines to be delivered directly to the consumer’s doorstep. Two unique Chianti Classico mixed cases, each a masterclass in a box. A second set will follow in late summer/early fall.

The Passport cases are a culmination of years of learning, tasting and hard work. They are the first of their kind for WineAlign and the 12 wines chosen are foremost a decision made collectively after the critics each sat down to taste dozens of examples. The wines are also an extension of what new facets and nuances about Chianti Classico’s sangiovese John and I learned in Florence back in February. For me that continuing education goes back several years now. Since May of 2016 I have made nine visits to Chianti Classico and tasted more than 1,700 different wines. In February 2017 I was honoured as an official ambassador by the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico. I take my role as ambasciatore to heart and feel the profound weight of the title and the endearment. It is a great professional honour to speak, write and educate on behalf of the region but the work and the messaging from and for the farmers, producers and the land is a two-way street. The people who bottle Chianti Classico are shepherds of place and I, along with many others, act as messengers of their wines, but more importantly, their story. We all take this journey together. The sentiment is a shared one, the relationship symbiotic and the feeling entirely mutual. And so the Passport Cases are a product of much thought, purple teeth, blood, sweat and joyous sangiovese tears.

Since 1716 Chianti Classico has preserved the unique qualities of its native land and soils and it is the Black Rooster that protects the wines from all imitations.

Chianti Classico Consorzio President Giovanni Manetti

Sangiovese and the quality pyramid

Sangiovese. The grape that defines Chianti Classico. Other endemic grape varieties may or may not augment the wines; canaiolo, colorino, pugnitello, malvaisa nera and others. So too might cabernet sauvignon, merlot or syrah but at the heart and the crux (at a minimum 80 per cent to qualify for DOCG status) of the matter there is always the local and unwavering sangiovese. Then I would imagine many of you are wondering about the levels of appellation that make up the tiers of Chianti Classico’s DOCG pyramid. There are three, Chianti Classico DOCG, Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG and Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG. Each and every bottle that is made from 100 per cent grapes grown in the delineated Chianti Classico area is stamped with the Gallo Nero, a 304 year-old symbol of guaranteed quality for the territory. What separates the tiers is aging in barrel and bottle (12, 24 and 30 months minimum) but also thresholds for extract and alcohol. As a general rule the price rises as the pyramid is ascended but some Annata (as they are referred to) can be more expensive than Riserva and vice versa. Same goes for each of these levels in relation to Gran Selezione, but for the purposes of simplicity, for an estate that bottles one, expect the GS to be at the peak of importance and also cost the most. For others the traditional Riserva or perhaps a self declared cru rises to the top. Keep in mind that Chianti Classico is a region of vineyards farmed by single estates. You need to get to know them, one at a time. We all want to compare apples to apples but one producer’s silver may be another’s gold.

PDO Olive Oil is a guarantee of quality

Partnerships also travel across commodity lines and one of Italy’s most symbiotic affairs lies within the joint ventures of Chianti Classico DOCG and Olio DOP Chianti Classico. The two are inextricably linked, not just by territory but by a shared passion of estates. Winemaker and Olive oil producer are in so many instances one in the same. While many consumers don’t know the difference between a PDO oil, an Italian extra virgin oil, and non-Italian or even non-extra virgin olive oils, there are profound reasons to care. Looking at price without understanding the real value of a PDP product is key to the message.

Start with preventative benefits and a healthy lifestyle. Two spoons a day of Italian extra virgin olive oil, or better still, PDO oil, can prevent serious illnesses. Some Italian doctors have proved that oleic acid creates an anti-inflammatory barrier that can prevent, for example, some forms of tumour from growing. The Food and Drugs Administration (USA), also maintains that oil is, to all intents and purposes, a “medicinal food”, if it contains at least 70 per cent of oleic acid: Italian extra virgin olive oil certainly does. But although this information is easily accessible to everyone though multiple means of communication, there is still a great deal of confusion and even ignorance surrounding the oil sector.

The first organized (and voluntary) Consortium of Extra Virgin olive oil produced in Chianti Classico dates back to 1975. From the beginning this structure defined strict regulations to obtain a traditional, fine quality product. In the year 2000 oil produced in the Gallo Nero hills obtained European recognition with PDO certification, thanks to those very specific chemical and organoleptic features that link it inextricably to its terroir of origin. Twenty years on, PDO Chianti Classico olive oil is still a small niche production of very high quality.

Gallo Nero Lounge, Chianti Classico Collection 2020

Regulations and the 2019 harvest

The fruit must be processed within three days of harvesting, in temperature-controlled conditions. All PDO Chianti Classico oil is cold-extracted and the processing temperature may not exceed 27°C. Yields may vary from 2-3 kg per tree, depending on the number of olive trees per hectare (but it is actually much lower). As with sangiovese for DOCG wines PDO Chianti Classico must include at least 80 per cent of olives from the four main varieties grown in the production zone; frantoio, correggiolo, leccino and moraiolo. The year of the olive harvest must always be shown on the label. Lastly, it must correspond to certain chemical and organoleptic parameters which are an improvement on and/or more selective than those for non-PDO extra virgin olive oil.

In 2019 the total quantities were hugely affected due to the weather and compared to the previous year’s harvest PDO Chianti Classico suffered a 75 per cent loss of oil destined for certification and 50 per cent of non-certified extra virgin oil. Despite all this organoleptic qualities were high, showing the pleasant, piquant hints of fresh and aromatic herbs on the nose, typical of Chianti Classico PDO oil and the bitter olive/raw artichoke flavours with a spicy finish of rocket, chilli pepper and black pepper. All these features are typical of Gallo Nero PDO oil, and of the terroir, problematic for olive growing but generous in the complex sensations it offers.

Stazione Leopolda, Firenze

Come on up for sangiovese’s rising

When we look retrospectively back at the last seven vintages in Chianti Classico the upward trend in quality argues in favour of the law of increasing returns. Producers have invested time, money and hard work, small farms have moved from home-gardening to professional vignaioli and larger estates have ticketed block-specific projects to compliment commercial continuity. Chianti Classico’s agglomerated return is more than proportionate to investment. Any graph will show the rising, from market share through qualitative studies of ripeness, extract and balance, to critical praise across the board. Writers everywhere are on the bandwagon, circling the region with written hyperbole in recognition of the good becoming great with a kind of religious and spiritual belief.

Chianti Classico Ambassadors, 2020

Vintage reports

The 2013 vintage saw great variabilities, first from the weather, in spikes and storms, then in the resulting wines of which no two seemed the same. The “blood orange” vintage I like to call it and the first in recent memory to really speak of sangiovese’s great complexity, multiplicity and diversity. What followed might have ended things altogether and prevented the current streak from continuing. The 2014 growing season was fraught with challenge; inclement weather of frosts, rain and cool temperatures, not ideal to make impressive and strutting sangiovese, but producers hunkered down and their mettle tested, showed what experience, acumen and forward thinking could produce. Like 1998 and 2008 before, 2014 was and still is a vintage of sneaky structure.

Sommeliers of the Chianti Classico Collection

Then comes along the easy, breezy and close your eyes year that is 2015. Virtually no climate hurdles and wines that make themselves. Is ’15 one for the ages? In a word, no. Will these sangiovese drink beautifully and defend cellars everywhere from bottles snatched, their corks pulled and the wine spilled too early? In another word, yes. All wine regions need a 2015 in the throes of enigma and glory. That’s where 2016 fits in, after the calm and before the storm, or in the case of 2017, the fire. The 2016 vintage was about as perfect as it gets, allowing sangiovese to fully ripen at 600, 650 and even more meters above sea level, to turn vineyards in places like Radda, Ruffoli, Lamole and Monti into veritable Edens. The wines of 2016 are glorious and structured. They will live in infamy, respectfully, without grandstanding, low and slow in development, long into a sangiovese night. This is where Chianti Classico became the future.

John Szabo M.S., a.k.a. Il Professore

It may have rained some in the last months of 2016 but after the calendar turned there was no precipitation until the beginning of the second week in September. Imagine what the berries looked like on vines before those rains. Picture the desiccation, consider the sugars and know the unevenness of phenolic ripening. Once again the farmer’s imperative for digging deep to trust intuition became paramount to save the vintage. Patience encouraged those sangiovese clusters to swell and take advantage of three blissful weeks that followed. Warm by day, cool at night, phenolics hitting their peak. The sangiovese of 2017 are singular and in the most concentrated wines their tannins are really something, at times dire, aforementioned in terms like “so-called death squads.” At the base of the appellative pyramid they can be consumed early but as a general rule, the higher you climb, the wider the gap becomes and the longer you may need to allow for the structural components to settle in. A complete about face comes with 2018 in Chianti Classico of grace, understated beauty and ease of drink-ability. They are a fresh collective breath of sangiovese air, a break from adversity and a set of wines to enjoy in advance of another vintage that will bring yet another step up in quality and ultimately glory.

If nine were eight

In Chianti Classico we break the territory down by commune. Chianti Classico will always come first but in all of Toscana only it is possessive of such distinct communes. I am not alone in truly believing that the sangiovese changes from commune to commune. Even recently it may have been far too difficult to say that each commune has a specific set of characteristics, but with so much good wine on the market the qualifying of definitions is becoming clearer and easier to do. The sangiovese made by each producer are in fact singular and surely related to the soils, however complex they may be, within the boundaries of their commune.

Through to December 31st, 2018 there were nine communes. Greve in Chianti, Gaiole in Chianti, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Castellina in Chianti, Poggibonsi, San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Barberino Val d’Elsa and Tavarnelle Val di Pesa. On January 1, 2019 Barberino Tavarnelle became a new commune, thus reducing the total in Chianti Classico from nine to eight, by merging the municipalities of Barberino Val d’Elsa and Tavarnelle Val di Pesa. The joining is one of fourteen mergers of municipalities in Tuscany approved in recent years. These days of writing feature articles about a place within a commune inside a territory tells and potentially schools us about something highly profound. Riddles, mysteries and enigmas are now yielding to solutions, comprehension and understanding. The special nooks in Chianti Classico are geographically defined pockets where vineyards and villages align for organized, like-minded production and same-belief system marketing.

With Dario Cecchini and Nadia Fournier

The territory is commonly divided by commune but its tiers of structure do not end there. There lies within more specific sub-zones, zonazione, places of interest where microclimates and shared geologies bring land and producers together. Five of the nine Chianti Classico communes have their own Associazione Viticoltori or Vignaioli; Castellina in Chianti, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Gaiole in Chianti, Radda in Chianti and San Casciano Val di Pesa. San Donato in Poggio has also banded together within their commune of Barberino Tavarnelle. Greve is the notable exception because the precincts of Lamole, Montefioralle and Panzano in Chianti have each formed their own associations. These three exist inside the greater neighbourhood that is Greve in Chianti. Panzano may not be the only sub-zone of its kind but at this triennial level of the place within a place, within a place pyramid it is arguably the most unified and defined frazioni of all.

Chianti Classico Collection 2020, Stazione Leopolda, Firenze

The reviews

Which brings us to the wines. In February I tasted and reviewed the following 177 examples of sangiovese. Please feel free to advance forward to the DOCG level and vintage you wish to read about by right-clicking on their WineAlign-linked sub-headings.

Passport to Chianti Classico: Case #1

Passport to Chianti Classico: Case #2

Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 (31 Notes)

Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (50 notes)

Chianti Classico DOCG 2016 (13 notes)

Chianti Classico DOCG 2015 (2 notes)

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2017 (12 notes)

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 (32 notes)

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015 (6 notes)

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2014-2004 (5 notes)

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2017 (8 notes)

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2016 (16 notes)

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2015 (2 notes)

Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

Badia A Coltibuono Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 ($29.02)

Tasted with Roberto Stucchi from a tank sample ready to be bottled. Stucchi reminds of the 220mm of rain in August which causes a déja vu Gaiole reminiscence for me going back to August of 1995. A wet and auspicious start fasts forwards to a a happy ending. So fresh. Light yes but back up the truck and imbibe with reckless if joyous abandon. You just want to drink this while Roberto quips, “and present it as Grand Selezione.” Wink wink, nudge, nudge for the tongue-in-cheek gamay of sangiovese vintage in Chianti Classico. Shine sangiovese shine. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Bibbiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 (168286, $23.95)

The brightest Bibbiano to date is this 2018 from Tommaso, ripe to ripest and with an extended cappello sommerso feel to the glycerin fruit. Crunchy in as much as you could want, very Castellina (or at least Bibbiano’s two-pronged valley within) and perfectly positioned as a Chianti Classico sangiovese of character. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Cantine Bonacchi Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

Fresh sangiovese from Castelnuovo Berardenga and quite heady in its rich constitution with a wooly character and sneaky thick texture. There is a sour if supportive edging to the acidity and it rolls right along with the fruit. New version of old school if a label needed to be put on what this is. Still crazy after all these years. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

Buondonno Chianti Classico DOCG Podere Casavecchia Alla Piazza 2018

You need to consider the micro-climate of these terraced vineyards of Casavecchia alla Piazza in the heights of Castellina at the western limit of Panzano’s Conca d’Oro. ’Tis a weightless weightiness, a crafty way to compose sangiovese with energetic blood orange winter lightness of citrus being and to make for a wild ride in Chianti Classico expression. Big and invisible simultaneously while conversely stretched, elastic and regaling. You must taste this to not understanding but smile trying to do so. The only living boy in Chianti Classico. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2020

Carpineto Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 (356048, $19.95)

Classic Carpineto, savour in and out of every red fruit poured pore, sip and savour. Long as a Greve in Chianti summer’s day and so worthy of carrying across and through several winters. Keep warm with this comforting and soothing Chianti Classico. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

Castagnoli Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

Extreme brightness of Castellina in Chianti sangiovese in Castagnoli’s 2018, tightly wound and crunchy herb and earth crusted, tart and properly focused on both its intentions and the small lot crafting it purports to tell. Good story right here and one worth knowing. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted February 2020

Castellare Di Castellina Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 (970095, $24.95)

Solid work in 2018 from Castellina’s Castellare, fresh as you might desire and developed to a starting point that’s ready to enjoy as the words are spoken. Structure is somewhat sneaky, more so than initially realized. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Ama Chianti Classico DOCG Ama 2018 ($34.95)

Forget about launching points for 2018, Castello di Ama’s is the whole matter, all points 360 degrees on the compass covered, at the beginning, through the middle and extended at the end. More than just a fresh face there is a density of fruit-acid circling on the palate and then this slow simmering warmth developing late, later and latest. “I never, never wanted water once.” Quenching. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Querceto Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 ($24.95)

Quite the startling and striking sangiovese from Querceto’s Dudda Valley in Greve vineyards from 2018. Real savour over fruit attack, short perhaps of full glycerin though no slouch in terms of macerated texture. Just a touch, if properly volatile. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2020

Volpaia Chianti Classico DOCG Volpaia 2018 (953828, $28.95)

In terms of 2018 this from Volpaia is one of the harder vintage Annata to crack and in fact the traditional construct speaks to sangiovese’s need for time. A crunchy exterior protects the soft and layered interior to double down on suggestions that say wait five years before diving straight in. You of course can enter this Radda sanctum earlier but 2024 or 2025 will see the beginning of true glory. The worth will prepare, support and enrich the wait. Volpaia’s is truly one of the most structured Annata for the vintage. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2020

Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico DOCG Guado Alto 2018

Guado Alto is indeed a high level Annata and spoken in upwardly mobile tones for Greve sangiovese. Rich as ’18 can thrust upon fruit and then really wound acidity that strides and even sings baritone along. Big wine, very red and layered with the tops of them. The smallest and the the first of four Vicchiomaggio cru that provides for only 50 hL (6,000 bottles). Drink 2021-2025. Tasted February 2020

Coccia Giuliano/Castellinuzza E Piuca Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

Perfume of an ulterior sort, not just exotica but also something sappy, resinous, oozing even. Pine and more herbology than many this speaks to Lamole certainly but even more so altitude and all the Mediterranean shrubs that grow at altitude. Also speaks to wind and aromatics flying hither and thither. Such parochial stuff oh my. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted February 2020

Colle Bereto Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 ($31.95)

Radda perfume for sure and certain, but the most pertinent aspect to note and ultimately take away from Bernardo Bianchi’s 2018 is architecture. His is structured Annata that cries for patience and expects to be at best three years forward from Anteprima. The fruit content and variegated intermingling with the structural parts is elastic in its seamlessness so you can envision a ten year or more development before real secondary character interjects. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2020

Journalist taste at Chianti Classico Collection 2020

Famiglia Nunzi Conti Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 ($27.95)

Floral and candied aromas, rose petal and a liquid, San Casciano Galestro melted and stirred into red juice. Quite juicy and liquid chalky in fact. Simple, quite pretty and very drinkable straight away. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Fattoria Cigliano Di Sopra Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

From a place (San Casciano) that gifts perfume but in the most savoury of ways. There too is a deep red darkness to the fruit and here the full advantage of 2018 is taken into consideration. Everything here is done with acumen intention, including maceration, pressing and extraction. The redundancy effects the outcome, restricts the subtleties and brings immediate gratification. Fourth vintage for the estate’s young winemakers and expect two steps forward from 2019. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Fèlsina Chianti Classico DOCG Berardenga 2018 (730788, $29.95)

Fèlsina’s Berardenga is a fully developed 2018 with massive attack of the greatest generosities offered and with zero inhibition. Crunchy, Castelnuovo fluff-earthy and in a world where “you drink my wine, so why don’t you make your world mine.” Trouble moves away with a sip of this ’18, leaving a feeling of warmth and settled intensity. This will develop remarkable secondary attributes in only ways Fèlsina can. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2020

Le Miccine Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

Subtly aromatic, seemingly brushy, forested and mountainous in origin. Gaiole in fact, surrounded by olive groves and plenty of cinghiale housing woods. You can feel the wood and the woods in the way it smothers, exhales and reels you in. Very rich and highly irascible in its voracious meatiness. Singular expression to be sure. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted February 2020

Fattoria Di Luiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 ($24.50)

This is perhaps the most approachable, amenable and refreshing Luiano ever made by the unflappable Alessandro Palombo. Beautiful wine here made by the man with the mitts, the maestro from San Casciano. Fruit first, fulsome, flying and mouth-filling. What else needs to be said? Perhaps that this will live in a certain kind of infamy, to be opened in 2055 at which point Palumbo will taste, shrug and walk away. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted February 2020

Brogioni Maurizio Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

Big, deep and low-toned sangiovese is just this, having taken full vintage advantage for the great welling effect. Dark, purposed and attacking. Leaves everything on the table, securely weighted and fastened. From Greve. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Monte Bernardi Chianti Classico DOCG Retromarcia 2018

Let’s talk about the passion. Let us discuss the care, the careful consternation and the vineyard work that leads to something so effusive, effulgent and expressive. Let’s consider this southern Panzano perfume. Once we have exhausted all the shadowy hyperbole we can then begin to understand how Michael Schmelzer builds or rather stands back and watches as his sangiovese constructs itself. The present and the future are right here. Drink now, then and forever. Would love to see this in 15 years, or perhaps more. Drink 2020-2030. Tasted February 2020

Monteraponi Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

There can be no denial or denying the knowing, no lack of understanding in fully accepting a Radda height accessed, performed and used for full effect. Sangiovese knows how to make über plausible use of its hillside altitude and by association the forested surroundings, but in certain cases it requires a sanctimonious winemaking intuition and that right re dihere is the crux of Monteraponi’s situation. A corner of Radda expressed by Michele Braganti in ways no one else may try and as such, exercised as it must be. This is Chianti Classico for what it is. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2020

Podere Poggio Scalette Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

If ever a Poggio Scalette adapted to, extended from and celebrated a vintage it is this from 2018 that hyperbolizes the context. Richesse like never before or perhaps memory serves short and blinders allow for new beginnings at every time and turn. Big sangiovese for Ruffoli in Greve here from Jurji Fiore and one that speaks to what can happen at heights in warm times. A bit apposite to expectation and causing some wild thoughts. Need to re-visit this time and time again. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February 2020

Poggio Regini Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

Quite resinous and sappy sangiovese, reminding of Lamole but without the accompanying floral perfume. A touch beyond, on top of and reaching over the subtle line. Fine enough and better to drink this young. From Castellina in Chianti. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted February 2020

Riecine Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 ($28.95)

Fully conceived, attacked and modernized sangiovese in the brightest red fruit vein, of berry mixed with red lightning. Amazing Gaiole vineyard gives life to the 21st century. Fabulous acidity and freshness from the hands (or lack there) of Alesandro Campatelli. Structure creeps in and confirms without conforming to any static standard or typicality, in mixed levels of attack. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2020

Rocca Di Castagnoli Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 (222810, $19.95)

Full on attack from warm, ripe and concentrated 2018 fruit defines Rocca di Castagnoli’s 2018. This brings and delivers the whole lot of goods right from the top for immediate enjoyment. Total extraction to throw every iota of acidity and available tannin into the mix. Acts youthful and wise at the same time. Terrific three to five year Annata that expresses everything at once and all the time. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2020

Rocca Di Montegrossi Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 ($34.95)

Monti in Chianti is gathered, accumulated and condensed into this Annata with extreme prejudice. That which is left to the imagination in the work of Marco Ricasoli Firidolfi is sottosuolo, in the Galestro of his Gaiole vineyards. Not that the ’18 is less than intense because Marco’s sangiovese takes nothing for granted and leaves little behind on the canes, spurs and leaves of his vines. It’s all here in this Annata, boasting of great confidence and every rock that can be bled into sangiovese’s varietal lifeblood. Extreme tightness of acidity and structure for to speak of freshness, protracted towards potential. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February 2020

San Fabiano Calcinaia Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 (234308, $21.95)

Quite heady and excitable Castellina here in San Fabiano Calcinaia’s Annata out of 2018. Crunchy, classically rustic, in request of patience, time and the need to wait in bottle. Pretty traditional and fresh stuff right here for you who like what style of Chianti Classico you’ve known, seen and wish to continue drinking. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted February 2020

San Felice Chianti Classico DOCG 2018 (282996, $19.95)

The most extracted and distracting sangiovese comes from San Felice and in 2018 the fruit is met, matched and driven by the barrels from whence it came. What a full bodied, throttle and concentrated Annata this is, truly, unabashedly and completely. The hands of Leonardo Bellaccini go all out to brings even bigger parts for the all in example. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted February 2020

Tenuta Casenuove Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

From the southwest corner of Greve in Chianti, southwest of Montefioralle and close to Panzano. Modish and modern for 21st century sangiovese is just this, stylish, chic and highly motivated. Quite fully developed and felt red fruit of glycerin, pectin and mouthfeel but you want more and more. Impressive magnitude in bringing so much fruit into the mix. Not overtly high in acid or tannin so use this early and often. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted twice, February 2020

Terra Di Seta Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

Reductive and peppery stuff here from Kosher Chianti Classico producer Terra di Seta in Castelnuovo Berardenga. Quite representative for the capabilities of the commune in warmth, strength and early tension. The shell needs to crack before the charm may spill forth. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2020

Panzano

Vallone Di Cecione Chianti Classico DOCG 2018

Newfangled and old-school actionable in simultaneousness Panzano activity, an entanglement of classic sangiovese and colorino in a web of reductive meets candied shell beauty. Very tannic in a surprising turn away from the fast and furious fruit welling. Wait for the twain to be met. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted February 2020

Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

Bindi Sergardi Chianti Classico DOCG La Ghirlanda 2017

Such a pretty, focused and far from enigmatic 2017 is this comforting sangiovese, the floral and sweetly perfumed La Ghirlanda from Bindi Sergardi. Yes it’s an expression of Castelnuovo Berardenga but so much so a feeling of Mocenni, at least in great part. Also peppy, wryly and with a devilish smile, like an ironic Leonard Cohen song. “Is this what you wanted?” Not to worry, La Ghirlanda is not haunted by the ghost of you and me. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2020

Borgo La Stella Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

Warmth and altitude combine for Radda beauty in a modish sangiovese so much more fine than beast. The earliest onset of drinkable recognition comes straight from the charm of this well-made wine. Cracks the whip quickly to solicit structural notes for a fast interaction with fruit to find an immediate and insistent coefficient of existence. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2020

Borgo Scopeto Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (23325, $16.95)

The warmth and the development make this the most approachable and get me now sangiovese you ever did encounter. Well done for 2017 in that the fruit was allowed to develop its phenolics across a broad spectrum of high yield vineyard fruit. Solid reasoning and seasoning makes this work. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Ca’ Di Pesa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Burrone 2017

Quite wildly aromatic this from new and exciting Ca’ di Pesa with a deeper set of structural values than the initial fruitiness would have led you to believe. Just feels like a conglomerate bleed, full of Panzano Galestro, Alberese and even a streak of wispy Arenaria running through like dark cherry in its veins. Very impressive indeed. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2020

Cantalici Chianti Classico DOCG Baruffo 2017 (403733, $24.95)

Deep feelings from this Gaiole sense of sangiovese wonder. All that 2017 can gift is settling in with comfort, warmth and the R.E.M. subconsciousness of a Chianti Classico dream. Richly fruity, layered, dramatic and fine. Finest modern day Annata from the house in a vintage that makes the result even more impressive, poignant and important. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February 2020

Caparsa Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

In bottle from a tank sample and essentially a finished wine yet bottled. Picking started on September 19th. Quite heady for 2017, full of all the acids and Caparsa tannin that came of 2016. Lively sangiovese with drive, structure and one of the greater abilities to age. There’s a perpetual triangle of motion and precision that keeps the drive alive. An Annata in Radda that clearly benefited from the heat of the vintage. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2020

Tenuta Carobbio Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 ($33.60)

Tank sample – a finished wine but not yet bottled. The 2017 Annata from Carobbio comes as such a surprise, a complex equation identified with the sweetest tannins imaginable. Really quite unexpected, fresh and feels silky in the mouth, clearly one of the finer ’17 Annata’s produced. Structure’s candle may not hold up to the vintages that came before but that does not seem to matter. Don’t think too much, just drink this one and thank Dario Faccin for making it this way. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2020

Castelvecchi Chianti Classico DOCG Capotondo 2017

Classic Radda and savoury, dusty and quickly reached sangiovese for Capotondo and exacted as would have been expected. The traditional quotient is reached, breached and put into full effect. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

Casa Sola Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

From Barberino Tavarnelle. High tonality and dusty, reductive and closed young sangiovese. Pressed and picked early with heat and kept acidity though somewhat greenish tannins and not wholly formed phenols. Needs time and then not so much. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted February 2020

Casale Dello Sparviero Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (10358, $17.95)

Such a big and polished wine, like something out of reach neither in the immediate nor in the deep past. The barrel is everything and yet nothing at all. Fruit swoons and hides behind the wood and waits in wings, static, without wings. Strong and not far from balsamic and cedar notes of the next stage to quickly come. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted February 2020

Casaloste Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

A subtle, quiet and reserved Annata from Panzano’s Casaloste, a bit in demure and not the 17s of many other. That said there is plenty of fruit traction and interaction. The warmth of the year is noticed, the pepperiness exaggerated and the acidity quite the same. Pretty big and boisterous. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted February 2020

Castelli Del Grevepesa Chianti Classico DOCG Clemente VII 2017

All sorts of fruit collects and weighs down in this attacking sangiovese, of tart raspberry, strawberries red and green, currants and a spice masala that speaks to sources here, there and everywhere. Savoury dried nuts, meats and cures make this complex if a bit all over the place. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Castello Della Paneretta Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 ($24.00)

San Donato is Poggio orange, hematic and of a specific tang and that makes for a notably distinct and obvious sangiovese. This aromatic recognizability is comforting and conditions the palate to accept the reality that one need’s to pair this wide open red so that it and all feel supported. Fresh pasta ands cinghiale would do right. Such a proper version of ’17 for the frazione. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Albola Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (339937, $19.95)

Albola’s 2017 is one of the deepest sangiovese expressions, more flavourful than aromatic, fully formed, developed and realized. That means the vines, vintage and veins run deep in Radda’s blood and the feeling is of deep concentration. Nothing is left on the table. It’s all in the glass. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Gabbiano Chianti Classico DOCG Cavaliere d’Oro 2017 (219808, $18.95)

If the all-purpose Chianti Classico is what you seek from 2017 and for immediate gratification than you have arrived and that can be pronounced unequivocally. This is a Mercatale-San Casciano in Val di Pesa beeline straight to the right place. Crisp, clean, fresh and elastic fruit speaks of the grand time and place. Warm and inviting with a concrete freshness that does what needs. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Radda Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 ($22.95)

Quite bright and effusive in 2017 there’s a feeling of the gentle and the comforting in this from the Castello di Radda. The liquid chalky texture is a bit distracting while the wine strolls uncaringly along. A bit aloof and unremarkable but surely no offence meant or taken. Happy is a glass in hand. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Verrazzano Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 ($30.45)

Such a unique aromatic expression here from Castello di Verrazzano and the pattern is becoming a thing of great consistent beauty. The judgement is sound if nearly spot on from a challenge and so the structure supporting makes for a resounding drink of sangiovese speciality. Very impressive for the year. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2020

Castello Monterinaldi Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (383604, $19.95)

The bulk of the juice ferments and ages in concrete vats and a mere 20 per cent sees time in old barrels. A house that travels from strength to strength says so much about the supporting cast of characters that have elevated the game over these last three vintages. Just as this has happened you wonder what will come next. In the meantime this ’17 walks lightly, speaks confidently and pours a charming glass of deliciousness. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Tenuta Cinciano Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

Pretty wine here from Cinciano, ripe and really acting out the vineyard play of multi-faceted sangiovese coming together for a seamless estate expression. No holes, plenty of charm and more than what is needed from varietal, vintage and place. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Conti Capponi/Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 ($31.78)

Hard to imagine how a 2017 Chianti Classico can raise the bar across all its constituent parts as this from Conti Cappone is able to effect. The level of primary meeting intellectual notability is well, notable. Fruit rises up to meet acidity and acidity to rise for the challenge of sweet tannin., The bond and the chain is unbreakable. In Annata. No less. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2020

Dievole La Vendemmia Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 ($23.95)

A sweet and salty liqueur from Dievole’s 2017 with all the layers that great modern aging vessels can gift. A highly skilled effectuation and subsequent result gives this Annata such a drinkable and amenable feeling. Very polished and chic wine right here. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Fattoria Di Valiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (354019, $19.95)

A wide array of fruit qualities come together with hope, dreams and anticipation. Along with the pressing also comes a reductive and slightly baritone note thats speaks to the style as it repeatedly goes out, seeking love. It will find some, in time and for a few good drinking years. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted February 2020

Fattorie Melini Chianti Classico DOCG Granaio 2017 (395145, $19.95)

Candied florals, a sour note with hard-pressed fruit and brittle tannins. Plenty of wood and a tough nut to crack. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Lamole

Fontodi Chianti Classico DOCG Filetta Di Lamole 2017 ($36.95)

Un unmistakeable moment begins right away with I Parfumi di Lamole, forging an immediate connection by way of aromatic emissions from the always suave and conversely strengthening Filetta from Fontodi. The vintage is both fortifying and also hyperbolizing for the frazione and with this stellar house’s ability it just comes out equal and right. So long and never dissipating. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted February 2020

Fontodi Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (933317, $39.95)

Equally if oppositely aromatic to the Filetta from Lamole and so properly judged, with wood less interested in taking over the project in this vintage. The production seems to have taken a step away and just allows the lightness of structure to mellow along with the litheness of being. Great decision making puts this in a league of its own. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2020

I Sodi Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (435123, $18.95)

Ripe and relatively pretty sangiovese from I Sodo, a touch pressed but within reason. Goes for all the marbles early and so that is when you must make use to pair, match, sip and enjoy. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (85209, $24.95)

Recently bottled and more than a pleasant surprise because 2017 is a vintage that you had to make exaggerated adjustments then wait to see if the chances taken would lead to positive results. For Il Molino di Grace the proof is in the depth of fruit expression but also in the consistency, or rather the torch taken and growth forward. The best 17s are those that adapted to challenge, adversity and were willing to change. In that way they resemble themselves and add new breath to the light that is sangiovese. Here Annata shows off idiosyncrasy, complexity and multiplicity. As fresh as 2017 can be with enough structure to keep moving forward. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February 2020

Il Poggiolino Chianti Classico DOCG Il Classico 2017

The savour and dustiness of sangiovese coupled with a challenge are on display from this deeply rendered wine. Il Poggiolino’s is not uncommon for the vintage and the fruit is dug in so deep, into ripeness and the earth. There’s surely a dried component, both fruit and herbs but also acids and tannins in their tight angles. Will settle a bit and drink well for three years. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2020

Isole E Olena Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (704346, $34.95)

The vintage sends sangiovese in so many directions, some into the well filled with simple fruit and others over the wall into ultra-savoury territory. Paolo di Marchi’s does both and more. There’s a freshness and a depth to the not so serious but oh so serious conflagration. What’s special is the supple and actionable structure, of acidity embracing and unproblematic tannin. Works like an Isole e Olena Annata should, with imaginary Riserva folded in, with all stones rendered and all points looking north. Drink 2022-2031. Tasted February 2020

Lamole Di Lamole Chianti Classico DOCG White Label 2017 (476317, $24.95)

A solidly constructed Annata from Lamole here with some advanced features that have it drinking well at exactly this juncture. Tart and rich in converse relationship but conjoined as required. Well made and a triumph for the estate. “Had to keep walking” to find the amazing. Sensei Lamole. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2020

Fattoria Le Masse Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

Very pretty wine again from Le Masse with greater acids and bigger tannins than many. That this was accomplished without too much consternation or pressed aggression is a true testament to all facets of the process. Commendable in many ways. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2020

L’erta Di Radda Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

A wild berry sangiovese if ever there was one from Radda and clearly a vintage matter coupled with the want of L’Erta to happen. So much fruit substance and not exactly a drive to age. Matters not in cases such as this. Crushable as a result. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted February 2020

Montefioralle Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

Expect Montefioralle to deliver something other at all times but especially from this. Expect the unexpected, the idiosyncratic and the unusual. Look out for the beauty from things even if you have little frame of reference. Then take in the Damson plum and the dusty tannins. Most of all don’t be shocked at the acidity that can only come from Lorenzo Sieni’s parochial sangiovese. Last tasted February 2020

Dry vintage, full fruit, deep red, almost out of cherry and into plum, better acidity than some of its ilk and says Lorenzo, “not greens tannins.” Agreed. Quite silky, almost glycerin and long. Well done Sieni, well done. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted September 2019

Monterotondo Chianti Classico DOCG Vigna Vaggiolata 2017

One of the tougher sangiovese nuts to crack, Gaiole or otherwise and yet this Vaggiolata vineyard Annata is so very brushy and bushy Chianti Classico. This maker is that kind and the heart is soft beneath the stony exterior. A perfect example of Chianti Classico needing time to enter the fields of agreeable and charming. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted February 2020

Podere Capaccia Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

Things turn brighter in a sangiovese like this from Radda, not so much lighter as one from which fruit can shine. Light in terms of tannin but sneaky enough to elevate and extend. More chew than crunch in a pressed fruit roll-up carnival of the heart ’17. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

Podere Cianfanelli Chianti Classico DOCG Cianfanello 2017

Quite a boat filled with sweet and herbal notes are part fruit and part tannin though less so in terms of acidity. A bit soft that way even while the grains keep things seized at present. Drying late in that way and not ready to say three words, like yes, now and integrate. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted February 2020

Podere La Cappella Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

A little bit of San Donato in Poggio goes a long way into defining a special sort of Chianti Classico with this by Podere La Cappella a prime example. The white Alberese is herein always a factor with the orange so deeply sensory and frankly distracting. In a good way to even better so think about fruit and acids as one with the strength to receive and work alongside structure. Rich 2017 here. Last tasted February 2020

Sangiovese with merlot in two and three year old botti and barriques, to be bottled in two weeks. Smells like Colombino stone, licked by rain with the fruit at its highest La Cappella promise. It’s never been this rich or full but sapidity will always streak through these wines. It reminds me of really high quality mencìa, in a way, piqued by toasty spice, juicy and ready for great meats and roasted vegetables. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted February 2019

Poggerino Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 ($26.75)

Almost always set at the centre of the heart, of richness and hematic depth. The warmth and development of Piero Lanza’s Radda sangiovese are never to be underestimated nor should there ever be shock from the accumulated results. They are made exactly as the vineyard and the vintage dictate. And they are in balance. This 2017 falls right into line. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2020

Poggio Al Sole Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

Tons of fruit and fruit pectin content in Poggio al Sole make for a delightful if quite sumptuous 2017. There is nothing light or lacking here and in the short term it’s a good a bet as you are likely to taste. Not all vintages and every estate need to provide structure. Seek, find and imbibe. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Fattoria Pomona Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

The way of Pomona is carefree and natural yet knowing and exacting. The Castellina in Chianti sangiovese here may seem at ease, mellow and even soft but it can bite if it so chooses. The fruit sources are wise, the chance they are afforded high and the way the slow build careens then slides is magic. Few Chianti Classico can do what this can. Get to know the plan. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2020

Francesca Semplici and Riccardo Nuti, Fattoria Montecchio

Fattoria Montecchio Chianti Classico DOCG ‘Primum Line’ 2017

From 95 per cent sangiovese with colorino, picked smartly over the course of September, if a bit variable the stacking and layering saves and fills, covers and extends so that the middle palate gains flesh and the tannins are ripe enough. Going strong. Last tasted February 2020

Spring frost has resulted in minuscule quantities from a very young vineyard (though 22 years of age). Pretty impressive for Annata, with enough freshness to balance the weight and the sheer presence of this wine. This is the Premium (Primum) alternative to the original and much larger production Chianti Classico DOCG. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2019

Quercia Al Poggio Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

Vineyard truths are spoken in a San Donato vernacular with exceptional grace and humility. This is a bit richer and pressing than might have been ideal so the tannins are somewhat brittle and drying but the overall togetherness is more than proper. Finds the ways to reach back for more when needed and to hold back when necessary. Mostly in balance as a result. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2020

Querciabella Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (728816, $48.95)

The Querciabella warmth and relative hedonism is on display in 2017 but knowing what a year or two can effect on this sangiovese is so essential to looking at them in their youth. This 2017 will turn into one of the finest of the territory for two most important reasons. A collection of grapes from more than one commune source and a stringent sorting process that pulls out then combines the best. The tannins are really fine here. Let it rest and look for the great relish between five and ten years on. Drink 2022-2031. Tasted February 2020

Renzo Marinai Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

Deep, hematic, rich and also ferric. This fully extracted and concentrated sangiovese brings it all up front, centred and with furious haste. Gives everything now and for all to want. Wants for nothing moving forward so use it, abuse it and don’t pause too much in case you are thinking to cellar and then reuse it. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Risotto, Caffe dell’Oro, Firenze

Ruffino Santedame Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (523076, $19.95)

The advantage in vintages like ’17 is clearly one enjoyed by larger estates because moving fruit around for cuvée speciality makes blending the crux of the matter. And so Ruffino’s is a well-managed, masterly arranged and all purpose Chianti Classico. This is a time to try Ruffino’s beautiful Annata. It will not disappoint. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

Val Delle Corti Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

Welcome to Roberto Bianchi’s wonderful world of sangiovese foraged, forged and formed by a cappello sommerso beginning. Creates a texture that captures Radda and the new Chianti Classico from out of the ashes of a hot vintage and a really old Piedmontese technique. Nowhere can locked in freshness and texture combine for such great effect. Dramatic and grounded, each with as much necessity as feeling and time will dictate. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February 2020

Vecchie Terre Di Montefili Chianti Classico DOCG 2017

Not so many reductive sangiovese in 2017 and those that are tend to be peppery with brittle tannin. Not the case in Vecchie Terre di Montefili’s as the shell protects freshness without compromise to safety. Aromatics therefore come through the cloud and talk in floral tones. This sits elevated at a lovely precipice but not so high as to extend volatility above and beyond the fruit. Organic, from Panzano and truth be told no other sangiovese smells as exotic as this. Just delicious and will age really well. A highlight of the year. Bravissimo. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted February 2020

Vignamaggio Chianti Classico DOCG Terre Di Prenzano 2017

The middle of the road is properly taken for a 2017 Annata of medium bodied notability. Hard to say what the winner is but going with fruit is a good bet. Acids and tannin are a bit soft and a bit hard, neither really winning or losing. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Villa Di Geggiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 ($35.95)

Truth be told this 2017 from Geggiano persists as a youthful and too early to call Annata. The particular Galestro and Alberese in these micro-climate championed western wing of Castelnuovo vineyards make for some of the communes most charming meets structured sangiovese. Why should the heat and the challenge effect anything otherwise. So much here, so many levels of Chianti Classico to unfurl. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted February 2020

Viticcio Chianti Classico DOCG 2017 (283580, $23.95)

Beautifully drinking 2017 Annata with a Montefioralle smile and charm. All the adjustments have been made so that acidity fully supports, surrounds and extends the fruit. Some tannin at the finish but thankfully quick and not the point that matters most. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2020

Giulia Bernini, Bindi Sergardi

Chianti Classico DOCG 2016

Bindi Sergardi Chianti Classico DOCG Ser Gardo 2016

The newer of the two Bindi Sergardi Annata is Ser Gardo, taken from vineyards on the producer’s I Colli Estate. Dedicated to Niccolò Sergardi, a.k.a. Sir Gardo, Governor of the city of Siena (1530) and guardian of the city. I Colli gives way to the IGT (Achille) and this Chianti Classico off of stony, calcium carbonate soils rich in Alberese. Epitomizes the Bindi Sergardi-Castelnuovo Berardenga cherries and roses freshness. If lighter then great, if sneaky structured even better and it is those roses (mixed with nasturtium) in an imagined spice that comes from chewing on fresh petals. Ripe, 2016 and intensely satisfying. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

Caparsa Chianti Classico DOCG 2016

Caparsa, name of the estate and the main house. One hundred per cent sangiovese aged mainly in cement. A straight ahead and crunchy Annata with a noblesse and a natural accountability that speaks in Paolo Cianferoni’s body language. Still a touch aggressive and yet the acid-tannin structure is quite impressive. Also tasted from a bottle open four days ago and truth be told the difference is negligible at most. Last tasted February 2020

Lovely glycerin and elastic sangiovese not without a generous component from barrel. A touch of greenish tannin from that wood but plenty of fruit to swallow it up, or at least will do so in time. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted September 2019

Tenuta Carobbio Chianti Classico DOCG 2016 ($33.60)

Stop in here for a rest and exult in the near perfect grace, charm and collective soul in the heart of an Annata. To say that the Novarese family and Dario Faccin should feel the greatest sangiovese reward from this appellation would be a grand understatement. This version of Panzano and Chainti Classico DOCG is what it is, what it can and must be. Should be. Has to be. Richly glorious and confidently understated. The cleanest sangiovese and the one that speaks most succinctly of the land. These are the reasons why Carobbio is the most underrated, but for how long? This ’16 will see proof to that and so much more. Drink 2021-2031. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Bossi Chianti Classico DOCG C. Berardenga 2016 (994608, $22.95)

The push-pull of conversion takes richesse and melts it into firm grip for sensations only a ’16 of such style can drift. The cherries of Chianti Classico are so magnified in maceration and liqueur, so much so this may just be the dictionary entry. Wild and so full of energy as if this were not Annata and yet not quite Riserva. Wow from this wine. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted February 2020

Castello Monterinaldi Chianti Classico DOCG Dall’Anno Mille 2016 (383604, $19.95)

Five months in there is really not a huge amount of movement to speak of save for a rise in energy that indicates this Annata is coming out of its slumber. It also means that six more months should really see it blossom, flower and sing. Last tasted February 2020

A huge leap in quality for the Radda producer, clearly a sign of work put in the vineyard and steps towards making the right, correct and delicious local sangiovese. A really textural wine and of really fine acidity. Molta buona. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted September 2019

Castello Monterinaldi Chianti Classico DOCG Vigneto Boscone 2016

The single vineyard at the top of the hill at 450m is the Alberese dominant site for this stunning sangiovese of concrete and barrel, but the treatment is just about as hands off as it gets. The vineyard was planted in 1988 and these 28 year-old vines at the time are surely in their prime. Yes time is important but the actionable gestures are already playing with our emotions and tugging on our heartstrings. Such a focused wine. As a reminder there is no Gran Selezione produced at Monterinaldi and so think about the isolated cru in the best vineyard making this wine. Just think about it. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Fattoria di Valiano Chianti Classico DOCG Poggio Teo 2016 (250563, $17.95)

A solid Annata in 2016, fruit already moving forward in development, acidity hanging strong and tannins melting in. One of the more silky, creamy and chocolatey of Chianti Classico. Well-made to be sure and offering plenty of maximum consumer friendly pleasure. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2020

Il Barlettaio Chianti Classico DOCG 2016

Quite an extracted and well-pressed 2016 from Il Bartellaio that has steamed straight ahead and come into drinking window view. Take this and use it now for best results. Solid sangiovese to clear the senses and begin anew. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted February 2020

Lornano Chianti Classico DOCG 2016 (211599, $18.95)

Lornano is one of those Chianti Classico estates that requires patience, both from its makers and its buyers. The soils and the compounding elévage work insist that the wines remain in bottle before revealing their charms. This 2016 is exactly one of those wines that speak to the manifesto. The fruit is here and the possibilities are long and endless. Wait to embrace them. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February 2020

Losi Querciavalle Chianti Classico DOCG 2016 ($19.95)

Talk about time. Losi’s sangiovese demands it, insists it be granted and brings beauty when we are properly listening. The Alberese remains in charge and the fruit is aching, waiting, nearly ready to bust out. So crunchy and chewy in simultaneous rumination, so cherry hematic and full of vintage wealth. One of the estate’s best Annata to date. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February 2020

Piemaggio Chianti Classico DOCG Le Fioraie 2016 ($29.99)

A remarkably rich and layered 2016 from Piemaggio, full on with impressively concentrated fruit. The cherry ooze and chocolate melt are unrelenting, coating the palate with each subsequent sip. Leaves a mark in many coats. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

Tenuta Perano Chianti Classico DOCG 2016 (10360, $24.95)

The white and grey clay plus fine decomposed Galestro soil mixes with great 2016 promise for one of Gaiole and the greater territory’s most polished ’16s. Almost too good to be true and in just Frescobaldi’s second vintage. Almost feels like a peak has been reached so the question is, how far can this property go. Sky’s the limit? Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Villa A Sesta Chianti Classico DOCG Il Palei 2016 ($23.99)

Lovely wine from the kids at Catelnuovo’s Villa a Sesta in 2016 with so much grace and beauty. Not that this has been lacking before but this takes a wonderful step forward. Helps to wait another year to taste the pure cherries and the fine liqueur. Has really integrated and is ready to roll. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

Chianti Classico DOCG 2015

Castell’in Villa Chianti Classico DOCG 2015

The wait is almost over and the opportunity nearly upon us to seek and find what grace comes from Castell’in Villa’s Annata 2015. There are few peers that require this much attention to detail and patience but it is the Principessa Coralia Pignatelli della Leonessa who demands that she ands also we do this. The estate gifts sangiovese from so many plots, blocks and micro-climates and yet we still must wait for these parts to come together. They are and in rhyme will only slide in for the ultimate glide, in time from fruit, herbs, wood and in the fineness of what lives. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2020

Pruneto Chianti Classico DOCG 2015

Developed dried fruit resides in Radda space, oxidative and old-school. A charmer with a very specific style. Know what it is. Spice all over the finish, both from wood and in that dried drupe. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted February 2020

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2017

Buondonno Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Casavecchia Alla Piazza 2017

Gabriele Buondonno’s 2017 is what you might refer to as a tour de force, a recklessly controlled gangly and gregarious mulch of ripe fruit and massively structured maintenance. That it maintains its poise is remarkable considering the heft and the fortitude. Warm spot where these vines grow and so there was no avoiding the sun in this torching vintage. So young and far from innocent, fruit so priceless and anything but precious. Let it ride for a while. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted February 2020

Castellare Di Castellina Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2017 (508507, $29.95)

So much cherry and so little time. Not the biggest expression of Castellina though surely one of the most effulgent there is. Rich in the faux sugary ways of sangiovese from warmth and in youth. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2017 (705335, $40.00)

Quite reductive for a sangiovese from Volpaia and so indicative of what the land requests, matched be the efforts of the team. A liquid white pepper pique is so unique, so interesting and so much the catalyst to create the lift and the character. The possibilities for changes through the aging process are of a stronger potential here than from so many 17s, though time remains for the results to be seen. Real length from this high altitude sangiovese purports to promise that Volpaia’s ’17 Riserva is in true Radda form and charm. Drink 2022-2031. Tasted February 2020

Fattoria Di Fèlsina Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Rància 2017 ($55.75)

Few Riserva can seem so far away and yet so close to within reach. Rancia would have survived the 2017 crazies as unscathed as any, of that there can be little doubt. Quite reductive and youthfully challenging the matter here is one of no holds barred and options yet unexplored. The mild astringency is perfectly normal and Rancia Riserva will find its way out. Bank on it. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2020

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2017 ($29.95)

Only from the upper vineyards closest to the cellar, one of the more pristine Riservas, of freshness, purity and clarity that Molino di Grace sangiovese did not used to show, but changes have led to this. You don’t think about the transitions or the structure because they just present themselves effortlessly and seamlessly. A remarkably fresh ’17 that was picked late, on time and best decisions were made in the cellar. Last tasted February 2020

Wow ’17 Riserva could handle waiting until 2021 to be released. So grippy, such acidity, so much concentration and while quality is exceptional still the vintage quantities are so low. A number in and around 40 per cent of normal. Wooly tannins, so in control and very fine. Remember there was also a frost in May that decimated the vines, followed by three months of intense heat. Vineyard management and the most pragmatic, accepting and realistic team in place made sure to do everything right. “Corretta” to the nth degree. As is this organic and biodynamic Riserva. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted September 2019

Luiano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2017 ($39.95)

Luiano’s ’17 Riserva is a bad boy, a troubled youth of rebellion and great strength, its frontal cerebral cortex not yet fully formed. Massive attack of fruit and tannin, not to mention natural acidity of another mother. Really wants to see you and be with you, ‘but it takes so long my Lord.“ Hmmn my lord. What a formidable San Casciano Riserva, still full of innocence, searching for its elegance. May turn out to be one of the best. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted February 2020

Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Marchese Antinori 2017 (512384, $49.95)

Quite reductive and yet relenting for an Antinori Riserva with a dollop of cream silkening the formidable fruit and its shellac of structure. This is ’17 at the height of warmth and everything else that makes the vintage one of great interest, To some the tannins could be seen as unrelenting and more than challenging for balance. That they are yet when they give in the fruit should be at its peak. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted February 2020

Monte Bernardi Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2017

“I’m happy with our 17s but I don’t know that i would classify them as Monte Bernardi wines, in fact Retromarcia was missing 50 per cent of its fruit due to frost.” The honesty of Michael Schmelzer. That said it’s as delicate and pretty as it gets for the vintage and while a bit of an anti-Riserva so to speak, I have to beg to disagree because the mild swarthiness is very recognizable, comforting and always lends to energy and excitement in the wines, especially when they are young. What wan’t necessarily noted in Monte Bernardi’s Annata that shows in Riserva is the silky and elastic woolliness of the texture and the coating tannins. This is a most unique expression of Panzano and the vintage, a coagulated, hematic and crunchy earth-driven sangiovese with some of the finest varietal tannins around. Crisp and taut, fresh and promising with a long future laid out ahead. If Monte Bernardi is what you seek, this will satisfy your every desires, and your means. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2020

Poggerino Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Bugialla 2017 ($45.00)

Another hefty and balanced piece of Radda sangiovese heaven here from the Bugialla label, a Poggerino sign of true reality and success. A Riserva of the land, of the vineyards and of specific blocks, rows and vines. What tannins these are, demanding, of a time, certainly a vintage and a place. Make ‘em as they are given to you, That’s what winemakers like Piero Lanza do. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted February 2020

Riecine Chianti Classic Riserva DOCG 2017

Such a fine liquid intensity with deeply sensorial acidity makes Riecine’s 2017 an unmistakably dramatic one. You have to appreciate the lightning fruit matched against the savoury herbal Gaiole backdrop and the sheer luminosity that brightens the fruit. This is a formidable Riserva but for reasons not usually noted. In a world and a class of its very own. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted February 2020

Rocca Delle Macìe Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Famiglia Zingarelli 2017 (930966, $24.95)

Rich and so developed, a Riserva for the people and one to hang an early hat on. So many have to wait but the Zingarelli is telling you the time is now to seek enjoyment. While the unapproachable ones work their way through trials and troubles this Famiglia will welcome you to the table. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Rocca Di Castagnoli Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Poggio A Frati 2017 (23358, $32.95)

Poggio a’ Frati is consistently layered with all its categorical character, beginning in the soil and finishing in the glass. Never overbearing and always filled to the tang in prim brim with ever-bearing berries. Quite tannic this 2017, less than ready, impressively structured and fashioned in a Gran(d) way of design. Could easily slide appellative categories, up, down, side to side. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2020

With the brothers Boscu Bianchi Bandinelli

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016

Cantalici Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Baruffo 2016 (541078, $32.95)

Ahh, that Gaiole essence. The hills, the bush, the things that grow, all the scents and perfumes. All found tucked under the arm and laid beneath the skin of this glorious sangiovese. Carlo Cantalici is surely proud of this 2016 and he has pressed his fortune for a ticket to longevity. The wine is almost ready, almost but not quite. “Under my thumb, the girl who once had me down.” Won’t be for long.. soon the change will have come and it’s down to Baruffo. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted February 2020

Capannelle Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016

Few Chianti Classico Riserva exhibit this combination of heft and also hard to get demure. Mildly smoky and with a tar-roses-char like some nebbiolo and more so because of the gangly wood spice and tannic thrush. Big wine with years to go before the herbs and the grains relent. The fruit needs to be patient and hope holds for that to happen. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted February 2020

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Caparsino 2016

If you can’t smell and taste the Galestro soil specific to Carparsa’s corner of Radda than you may need to heed a bit more attention. There’s an elegance and a fortitude mixed with a fine sour cherry that makes this singular, specific and a wine that mimics the place. Very structured, acids sharp, pointed and fine, linearity sure and trustworthy. Clean, finessed and definite with all the organic, natural and compost plusses kept in mind. Carries all the necessary bones and attributes to arrive at a seven year mark up to double that time. Inimitable saltiness that’s not really noted anywhere else. Last tasted February 2020

From Paolo Cianferoni on a 12ha Radda estate at 450m. A citrus note lines the aromatic front, almost white grapefruit but also bleeding red, of pomegranate and red currant. Lovely mid palate, pure and purely ’16, with purest Radda acidity and chaste laser focus. Great attention to detail in the vineyard is more than apparent, translating with utmost unalloyed and unsullied clarity straight down through the glass. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted September 2019

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Doccio A Matteo 2016

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

Carpineto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 (47118, $29.95)

The classic Carpineto way, done in the vein of ancients with a look to the future. There’s a high tone running amok with a toast of the fruit and a plum maceration deeper down. High level acidity and “you can’t disguise” the type of work done here. Tell me lies? Not so much. The truth in clarity of a Carpineto CCR is always spoken. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted February 2020

Casa Emma Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016

A San Donato in Poggio vernacular comes closer into view with this Riserva from Paolo Paffi. The orange is studded with aromatics and the local limestone runs through every vein. It also bleeds from every pore before talking tannins and the probabilities for a long future. Tightly structured wine here, compact, versatile and voracious in its virtuous pursuit to eat, drink, sleep and extoll the vintage. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Castello Della Paneretta Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016

Castello di Paneretta strives for clarity and purity from a gorgeous vintage that could have allowed for more depth and density. The decision to stay clear of overdone and overwrought is a beautiful thing and so much pleasure is our fortune. Lithe, open, fragrant and sumptuous. A Riserva reserved strictly for drinking. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Bossi Berardo Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 (113316, $38.95)

A Riserva from Bossi is one that makes so much sense in what we’ve come to expect from the appellation, that is sweetly rendered fruit, spice primarily oak derived and great punch. A crunchy Riserva this is, taut, tight, tannic and worthy of time. Give it that and more. The fruit is 2016 after all and from the great wide open Castelnuovo Berardenga space. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 (719864, $34.95)

Great godly perfume, San Donato to the nth degree, welling and simultaneously rising. The glass is full no matter the quality of the contents, the texture filling and seamless, the extension forever forward. What you have is the portal into Il Poggio and know this. That Riserva and that Gran Selezione can and must be extraordinary and off the charts. The launching point here seems plenty great enough for all combined and concerned. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Verrazzano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 ($49.60)

Deep Riserva from Verrazzano in 2016, full of all things driven, ambitious and tonal. Volatile at this stage because of a reductiveness multiplied by fruit liqueur that can’t help but rage. Really needs to settle and become itself. For now there’s angst and intensity. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted February 2020

Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Agostino Petri 2016 (993360, $29.95)

The appellative category is looked at, considered, scrutinized and a decision on its stereotype lands here. Petri is the cornerstone and the exactitude, especially for Greve in that it just acts in ways you expect there to always be. Earthy crunch, crusted fruit, herbs, Amaro and sweet tannins. Drink this early. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

Colle Bereto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 ($41.95)

You really do need to pay a visit to Colle Bereto’s slice of the amphitheatre pie in their sector of Radda in Chianti because the soil, expositions and micro-climate beg for this response. How else to try and understand the tenderness and desire multiplied for such high level and full-bodied result. Few if any combine richness with elegance, mid-level volatility with down to earth sensibility. Clear and animal magnetic together. It’s remarkable. Drink 2022-2032. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Gabbiano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 (216309, $24.95)

Come and get me is the quick, early and olive branch extension from Castello di Gabbiano’s ’16 Riserva with all the Mercatele in Val di Pesa confluence that can be jam packed into one voluptuous bottle of sangiovese. Plenty of stuffing and deep red flavours, into plums and a clafouti full of softened berries. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Monterinaldi Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Dall’Anno Mille 2016

The Riserva is a highly refined wine but it is not wood that makes it this way. Concrete is the order of the way that wines are refined, with some old barrels and some amphora. No it is the vineyards the cause this Riserva to act so polished and stylish with so many herbal and woodsy hints it flashes before your nose, brain, taste and eyes. As a reminder there is no Gran Selezione produced at Monterinaldi and so think about the Riserva as being the wine of best selection and has always been this way. Hard to find a reason to change. Perhaps soon from another set of parameters (including concrete eggs and amphora) and vines. Last tasted February 2020

Lovely vintage in Riserva form for Daniele Ciampi, of fruit sweetly developed, ripe and effusive. Full extract, tang and force all combine to grip the palate and keep it all swimming upstream. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted September 2019

Castello Monterinaldi Chianti Classico DOCG Amphora 2016

From a tank sample. The in process sangiovese with no name that includes quite a compliment of concrete eggs and amphora raised fruit. Fermentation as with the others one year in concrete vats and then to the new vessels which could become the Monterinaldi answer to Gran Selezione. The fruit sources are part Boscone and part Riserva sites that are in the middle of the hill below the borgo. Same silk texture, same stylish classicism and yet the brushy, fennel savour is somewhat lost. Same but different and in this opinion completely worthy of the Gran Selezione appellation. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2020

Conti Capponi/Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 ($43.95)

Still a youthful, closed and reductive 2016 in Riserva form there is a whole helluva lot going on in Capponi’s wine. Wooly, swarthy, volatile, uninhibited and nearly exhibitionist from all there is to nose and in showing its natural self. There’s something of a missive vernacular far from soft spoken in how this acts like whole bunches redacted in unstoppable fermentation. Like a waterfall rush of flavours, textures so wild and so free. What have you done here Sebastiano? Gotta give in and try, put some away and see if you can figure out the reasons why. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2020

Famiglia Cecchi Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Villa Cerna 2016 (14200, $29.95)

Proper, rich and savoury, very soil driven Riserva, ubiquitous in that it speaks for a large set of parcels and remains focused. Chewy with fully developed fruit sets, some dried sweetly in leather jackets, some perfectly ripe and yet to advance. A verdant note mixes in. All there, layered and at times disparate but complex as needed. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

Fattoria Montecchio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016

Fashioned from 95 per cent sangiovese with a richness that reaches peak San Donato. Elevates so much so it speaks to layering, variegation and intention. Warm, inviting and alleviates any concerns about nervousness or undue tension. So carefully extracted, crafted and exacted. A house in flux of experimentation and the pushing of boundaries moves from strength to strength. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted February 2020

Il Palagio Di Panzano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 ($39.95)

A warm and fuzzy Panzano feeling felt straight away, humid, spicy, Galestro instructed. Some pretty serious tannin, weight, magnitude and a considerably deep impression. Quality with high acid notes acting as a foil to the formidable thing of it all. Bigger that ’15 in so many respects. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted February 2020

Istine Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Levigne 2016

Levigne from Angela Fronti delivers a duality that talks in a vernacular made of more than a commune. The concept is Gaiole meets Radda and each has its say though their mingle and intersectionality layering clouds the distinction in the way you’d hope they would. There’s a softness and a brut strength behind the exterior that tells something conceptual and educational is happening. Forget light, bright and easy. Bring on the ambition, the execution and the swagger. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted February 2020

Le Fonti Di Panzano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 (282921, $44.95)

The full compliment fills Le Fonti’s 2016, led by a purity of vintage fruit second to none and a fineness of aromatic spice that repeats with delicate bite after you taste and let it linger. So subtle and balanced, danced with agility and poise. A wonderfully understated and stealthily structured 2016. Remarkably delicate. Truly. 20 years easy. It’s the good shit from Guido Vitali. Drink 2021-2034. Tasted February 2020

Ormanni Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Borro Del Diavolo 2016 (435149, $44.00)

So you say you want a feeling for how things once were, how there was a time when steeping in tradition made for comfort, understanding and nobility. So you want to taste sangiovese with the intuition of ancients but you want crisp, clean and pure. So look to Ormanni, dual commune citizen, Poggibonsi meets Barberino Tavarnelle soil and climate. Big and gracious this is, magnanimous and generous too. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted February 2020

Podere Capaccia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016

The bright light and fresh face of Capaccia is something exceptional, exciting and new. So much fruit and rose petal emits from the nose and while comparing sangiovese to other important grape varieties is neither necessary or my style I have to say that the Premier Cru (Nuits-Saint-Georges) feeling of this fruit can be imagined in pinot noir terms. Rarely do I feel the need to do this but this Riserva takes me there and then comes home. Huge stride forward for the estate. Drink 2022-2032. Tasted February 2020

Poggio Torselli Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 ($29.95)

Just what you might, would and will expect from a 2016 Riserva in the hands of Poggio Torselli, leader for the modern San Casciano. Silken, sweet fruit filled, creamy, soft oak and mellow. A menthol note runs through and cools. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2020

Quercia Al Poggio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016

Surprising or not the ’16 Riserva from small batch Quercia al Poggio is a pretty heady and serious wine, reductive, rich and a tough nut to crack. Plenty of wood sheathing at this very stage brings texture, silken and quite creamy. A whole lot of everything that will require time. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted February 2020

Querciabella Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016

Querciabella is entrenched deep in its roots in that Riserva is a true extension of Classico, stylistically speaking. While there are moments of density and hedonism the grounded nature keeps it cool, calm and collected. The level of development is something that has begun but the low and slow process is born of a structural guarantee. Aging potential is really there. Drink 2021-2030. Tasted February 2020

Renzo Marinai Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016

Once again the same 90 sangiovese with 10 per cent cabernet sauvignon mix, an extra six months in bottle with some barriques. More of the same, an extension from the Annata and with great consistency. Two peas in a pod. Wood off the top, spice, spicy and full of sultry notes. So specific to place and its just understood. Crafty Riserva with sweet tannin and an effortless swagger. Soft enough to begin drinking well in late Spring 2020. In Riserva the notation is a big wine, of big oak and with big plans that will take quite some time to unfold. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted September 2019 and February 2020

Rocca Delle Macìe Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Ser Gioveto 2016 (974964, $28.95)

Some Riserva need time and some are so fresh they beg to be had. Sergioveto is one unto itself, of a moniker that says I am a clone and a different sort of sangiovese. In fact the herbal and dried fruit notes mixes with graphite and incense make for a distinct Castellina affair. Drink this early and often for best results. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

San Felice Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Il Grigio 2016 (716266, $29.95)

A Leonardo Bellacini sangiovese will always seek top ripeness and first rate barrel and so no shocker here. Reached the expected heights with 2016 fruit carefully crafted for best results. Leo did not press matters or go too far despite the vintage temptation and a really fine wine has been made. Classic, pristine and enticing. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted February 2020

Terreno Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016

Greve is the source and Terreno’s gorgeous fruit comes from a Right Bank spot that warmed to the task in 2016. The silkiness and quality glycerin texture is so inviting and truth be told, born of fruit so pure and true. A highly polished wine with so much upside. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted February 2020

Villa A Sesta Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016

Rich and high acid Castelnuovo Berardenga ’16 from Villa a Sesta, warming, caring and smooth. No fruit has been missed or harmed in making this lush and lightly spiced Riserva. Real quality and clarity with just a hint of local savour. Makes this the real deal. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2020

Viticcio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016 (599308, $31.95)

Montefioralle savour and development covers the phenolically parochial fruit for Viticcio’s well made 2016. Pressed for success, showing its full plume and locally developed flavours. Very much a sangiovese with a sense of place. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Paolo Cianferoni, Caparsa

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Caparsino 2015

Warm, inviting, broad shouldered but on the leaner side of muscular. Rich liqueur, fine tannins and here sharp acids. Crunchy Alberese and Galestro earthiness and real savoury as a textural ideal. Just drinking right well in the here and now. Use it up while waiting for the great 16s. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Lornano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Le Bandite 2015 (230672, $24.95)

Anyone who knows the Lornano oeuvre knows that looking at a 2015 Riserva so soon in its life is like looking at a stopped clock. Gets you thinking about wanting to leave. The zeppelin walls of tannic fortitude, faux reduction and rock led solid elemental credit are far from paying out. In this neck of the Castellina woods they make Alberese sangiovese the way they used to do. In five years time we’ll be able to say “I can hear it calling me back home.” Drink 2023-2031. Tasted February 2020

Losi Querciavalle Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015 ($24.95)

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

Lunch, Terre di Seta

Terra Di Seta Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Pellegrini Della Seta 2015

A Kosher Chianti Classico Riserva made from 95 per cent sangiovese with cabernet sauvignon. Aged in tonneaux and barriques, half new. A smoky touch and very silky texture. A selection of grapes as opposed to the cru of the Gran Selezione. The first vintage was 2010 and while there persists the style of peppery reduction there too is a smoothness and a mentholated note to what happens when fruit hits wood. Sangivoese with agreeability, age ability and certainly a step up for the table when the category needs to be employed. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted February 2020

Villa Di Geggiano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015

Now to introduce you to the Boscu Bianchi Bandinelli brothers, Alessandro and Andrea, two men who covet, own and articulate their western wing of Castelnuovo terroir. As custodians of these classic southern Chianti Classico Alberese and Galestro vineyards they have come to understand their nuance and their specialities. So, Riserva from 2015 now comes to its beginning having needed every bit of the extra two years in bottle it has received. Yes this Geggiano ’15 Riserva still needs time and if you abide by the premise it will come alive, surmise and in turn, surprise. In fact it will make a lasting impression and stay with you forever. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted February 2020

Villa Trasqua Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Fanatico 2015

Villa Trasqua Riserva comes into its own no less than five years after vintage so the window of opportunity for pleasure seeking is really just now opening. The glimpse into what it can be reveals a recent school of stylistic thought, rich and extracted, full of concentrated sangiovese with a savoury edge. This ’15 is one of the warmest yet, resolute and resilient to keep moving with energy and constant speed. Riserva in the marathon, not the sprint. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted February 2020

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2014-2004

Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Caparsino 2014

The quercetina vintage, from which vines protected themselves with flavinoid, anti-oxidant properties in response to solar radiation and changing weather. The crystals that form in the wines and on the corks are harmless and do not alter aromas or flavours and Paolo tells the world they are there. Funny because it was a cold and wet vintage. The Caparsa style, cool excitability, finesse and structure are here in the way they will be in ’16 albeit with more cool thoughts. Under appreciated and undervalued. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February 2020

Caparsa, Radda in Chianti

Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Caparsa Doccio A Matteo 2012

Lovely bit of development from a vintage of great fortitude and possibility though seemingly only recently softened. Now smooth tannin and yet so, so very sangiovese. The red fruit carries a liquorice note not noted in later wines and here the complexities are blooming, changing and renewing their vows. Lovely look back and easy on the volatility scale. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Ama Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2007 (1500ml, $115.00)

There is a depth here and a development that says ’07 will not last another fortnight though while it acts this way it will continue delving in the sort of secondary truffled and porcini notes that dole great pleasure. Solid start right here to a 13 year-old Riserva that is simply a treat to behold, wonder and nod in agreement at the 2020 Chianti Classico Collection. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted February 2020

Poggerino Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Bugialla 2007

A warm vintage and Piero Lanza would say “similar to 2015,” higher in extract and well-developed phenolics. Has aged really well, the secondary notes fine and so closely recalling a dried strawberry mind. Acids are very persistent and strengthen the drying tannin and the longevity of this wine. Won’t travel another 13 years but should linger nicely for a few more. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2020

Poggerino Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Bugialla 2004

While 2004 has aged considerably as compared to 2007 the style and character are so different you would almost think they are not linked at all. Deeper, stronger and of a plum fruit way, with balsamic and lightly truffled notes. More wood, wood spice and a brown butter nuttiness. The palate is staying alive with a Tuscan flavour that was the order of that time and eventually leaves the door open for a Raddese character 10 years forward to take its place. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted February 2020

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2017

Castello Di Ama Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG San Lorenzo 2017 ($48.95)

The first of the so-called death squads to be released, a.k.a 2017 Gran Selezione is this from Castello di Ama, collective soil of top estate Gaiole fruit and fully recognizing the soul from whence and where is came. Quintessentially Castello di Ama and full of all the warmth and succulence in the way that fruit can act out of such a heat-scorched and arid season. Crunchy and dusty, plenty of macerating plums and no lack of wishful tannin. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Fonterutoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2017 ($75)

So apposite to the Fonterutoli Annata “normale” in that the tonality is high, mighty and still rising. More crisp notes, feathered ripeness and a liqueur that seeps, steeps and spills. Some might feel it hot, others bothered and here the sentiment is like indoor winter comfort. That must be the idea; farmhouse dining room, hearth alight, hearty fare, company, sangiovese to the maximum degree. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Fonterutoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vicoregio 36 2017

Of the Fonterutoli Gran Selezione Vicoregio 36 is the biggest, baddest and most tannic beast of them all. The fruit seems worthy and task equal though time is of that essence in understanding. Such a wild ride and yet so like 2017 to make that happen. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Fonterutoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Badiola 2017

Badiola is an entirely new way to investigate Gran Selezione in that it hits all the high notes. Tripping the acidity light fantastic and sweet tannic grains of mighty proportion. Where the fruit is at is anyone’s guess but let’s assume it will emerge when the lights begin to dim. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Querceto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Il Picchio 2017 (938738, $49.00)

Il Pichio 2017 is a fully formed, rich endeavour of concentrated fruit and a bastion of structure. Delivers all the necessary goods to develop, pivot, morph and turn into something secondary that will be no less interesting to behold. Watch it unfold and behold the pleasure. Top styling, balance and wonder that captures, subdues and puts a vintage in its place. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2020

Volpaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Coltassala 2017 ($84.00)

Volpaia’s Coltassala is a really concentrated Gran Selezione and one of the vintage’s early risers. That tells us it will go to bed equally early and slumber for quite some time. The architectural wonders of Radda heights are acclimatizing as we speak but will not open up the shutters and the doors for years it seems. A full compliment of ready and willing fruit is there but kept and suppressed. The emergence will be a vintage exceptionality and live that way for longer than the average ’17. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted February 2020

Conte Capponi/Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Bastignano 2017 ($74.95)

Magnificent and magnanimous perfume emanates from Bastignano 2017 in ways never noted, nosed or thought to be needed. Jackie Wilson Gran Selezione. A wine that can “step up and face the world.” Listen. The roses and violets mix with that ’17 savour and the dried notes match the fresh ones step for step. “Your love keeps lifting me higher and higher.” Drink 2022-2030. Tasted February 2020

Querceto Di Castellina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Sei 2017 ($57.95)

Querceto di Castellina’s varietal Gran Selezione sangiovese is the work of oenologist Gioia Cresti (Carpineta Fontalpino) and agronomist Valerio Grella. Sei is the number six in Italian and there were many instances of this number coinciding with the production of their Gran Selezione. The (Belvedere) single-vineyard wine comes from a special selection of grapes in a vineyard area measuring 6.6 hectares with a density of 6,666 vines per hectare. The tonneaux barrels predominantly used hold 666 bottles of wine and family matriarch Laura was born on 6/6/46. Another wild and carefree Gran Selezione from the Castellina estate brings acidity to new sangiovese heights, to no surprise at 480m, with a tone not oft seen in this territory. Serious tang and seriously tart, fruit buzzing of currants and citrus everywhere. Will evolve into the most singular GS that can be next level imagined. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted February 2020

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2016

Bibbiano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Del Capannino 2016

Capannino’s side of the Bibbiano tracks makes Gran Selezione that dissolves like good dark chocolate on the tongue. Never relenting, piquing of energy and spice, here the land makes sangiovese buzz and pulse with drive and intensity. Rich and rendered, still a meaningful two to three years away from integration. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted February 2020

Bindi Sergardi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Mocenni ’89 2016

Mocenni takes all the advantage that 2016 can possibly pass its way and runs carefree into the wind. The fruit is pretty much as ripe as there can ever be in sangiovese struck by silver acidity and gold tannins, so you can imagine the result. This needs 10 years to fully unfurl, unwind and unfold. Please give it at least half that much time. Drink 2024-2034. Tasted February 2020

Cantalici Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2016 ($60.00)

Just a lovely smooth, acidity supported, chocolate and spice Gran Selezione with stage presence and drawn by an artist’s fine line. Great attitude here, a mix of the new and the old. Presents Gaiole to the world in beautiful hyperbole and with accredited distinction. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2020

Carpineto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2016

Classic Carpineto with big juicy fruit, high acidity and a dusty volatility that speaks to youth like few others of its ilk. Will settle and turn into something lengthy, characterful and fine. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted February 2020

Casa Emma Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2016

From San Donato in Poggio and some of the territory’s juiciest sangiovese is magnified and hyperbolized in Gran Selezione form. Plenty of wood though not overly suppressive of the fruit. Nice balance and spice to boot. The vineyard is a piece of heaven on a hill and Paolo Paffi’s touch is full of grace. Drink 2021-2030. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Verrazzano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Sassello 2016

The richest of Verrazzano’s wines is this Sassello and the story is a great one. One of history, progression and birds with great taste. Grapes gone from table wine to Annata through Riserva and now in Gran Selezione form grown at 480m. So much chocolate and wood derived spice. Thick and unctuous for the category and that’s really saying something. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted February 2020

Dievole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Disessina 2016

Vigna Dissesina occupies a Castelnuovo Berardenga world of high level fruit, acids and tannin encouraged and accumulated at the highest professional level around. All the necessities that resources can provide do what’s right necessary and abide by making high level Gran Selezione. All are here in this bottle. Exceptional wine with style, layering and class. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted February 2020

Fèlsina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Colonia 2016 ($208.99)

The consistency of Fèlsina in terms of well pretty much everything reaches the summit, apex and summit of this Colonia. Fruit, acidity, style and effect are all accessed in a similar way while barriques fatten and enrich this Gran Selezione to the point of bracing. Perhaps the most accumulation ever in a Colonia fills this 2016 with supreme fruit quality and a base of acidity that drives the engine. Massive tannic extension and energy of intensity. Huge wine with big plans and twenty years lay ahead. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted September 2019 and February 2020

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Il Margone 2016

Extremely youthful ’16 but the clarity of that vintage’s fruit can’t help but be up front and present. The accountability begins right here, with 2016s out of which fruit was allowed to stay fresh and yet in Gran Selezione form there has to be time. Allow for development and the accumulation of flesh, but also succulence. This sumptuous Margone comes replete without the old style of hammer on head mentality. It’s the new and elegant one. Tasting this offers a clear picture into how Iacopo Morganti has impressed his talents and his will onto the wines of this estate. Sip one here and there over the next 15 years and it will be as close as one gets to standing in these Panzano vineyards in a pair of the Grace’s shoes. Drink 2023-2036. Tasted February 2020

Le Fonti Di Panzano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2016

Begins at a point just exactly where the Riserva ’16 takes its leave and carries the torch of purity and delicacy. Efficacy too, efficiency for sure and an effusive level of strength that belies its lightness of being. Yes it takes richness in sangiovese from Panzano and this estate to another level but never forgets the heeded understatement it demands to pay forward. Another outstanding effort and worthy of 20 plus years in the cellar. Drink 2023-2035. Tasted February 2020

Principe Corsini/Villa Le Corti Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Zac 2016

The transition from 2015 to 2016 takes Zac out of the IGT realm and into the appellative one occupied by Gran Selezione at the top of the heap. This new position atop the pyramid is the right and apropos one as a legacy of love and respect. Extreme juiciness defines this Zac from Duccio Corsini’s Le Corti and the amount of kudos it deserves has everything to do with how it has been given every opportunity to shine. Succulent acids and grand red ripeness are what you want and hope for. That and a long life ahead. Grande Duccio. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted February 2020

Ricasoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Colledilà 2016 (293522, $59.95)

Of the three Ricasoli Gran Selezione Colledilà is the succulent and opulent one, of candied roses with spice and high quality, succinctly Gaiole acids. Sumptuous, unctuous and built for pleasure. Amore even. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted February 2020

Ricasoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Roncicone 2016

The Monti in Chianti artist formerly known as IGT is now a knight in shining Gran Selezione appellative armour. The 2016 vintage marks the launching point for one of Francesco Ricasoli’s sangiovese explorations and believe when it is said that one thousand years of Ricasoli thought have led to this. Roncicone is varietal strength embodied, also wisdom, methodology and in potion terms, herbolgy. Mixed an elemental Amaro with chewy red fruit in hyper-sangiovese reality. Ripe and concentrated, a tour de GS force. Single vineyard, proud and opulent. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted February 2020

Barone Ricasoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Ceniprimo 2016

As with the Roncicone, Ceniprimo moves from IGT to Gran Selezione in a catgory shift to peak pyramid appellative Chianti Classico that is, well, categorical. The dine first single terroir sangiovese exploration is the biggest of Ricasoli’s three and also the one submerged under the most amount of barrel. Gaiole and Monti are reasoned and seasoned in GS framing with richness and über smooth consistency. While surely a big big wine it too will silken and lengthen after enough time has elapsed. Sangiovese. It needs the bottle. Drink 2023-2035. Tasted February 2020

Rocca Delle Macìe Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Sergio Zingarelli 2016 ($122.95)

Sergio Zingarelli the Grand Selezione is the rock, the gentle giant, the patriarch of the company’s wines. As a Grand Selezione it allows its actions to speak for the rest of the portfolio to follow. It leads the estates; Macìe, Sant’Alphonso, Fizzano and La Tavelelle. In 2016 the sangiovese is so different and yet so Castellina in that red cherry fruit core teased by spice. Smells like roses and the feel in the mouth is swelling, rising like a tide increasing as it barrels in. In the scheme of timing it would be prudent to allow those waves in years to go out several times before looking for that window of Grand Selezione opportunity to begin. Drink 2024-2034. Tasted February 2020

Terra Di Seta Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vendemmia Assai 2016

Assai is the estate cru, of the oldest vines on the property and 100 per cent sangioevse aged only in tonneaux A step up in fruit quality handles the wood and the category (including the Kosher angle) with more energy and finesse. Also a reductive rubberiness that so reminds of South Africa. Quite the dark chocolate component though also vanilla in waves. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted February 2020

Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2015

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2015

The acumen, wisdom and also the persistent reduction are formidable in this incredibly concentrated wine. So Monsanto, so in delivery of San Donato in Poggio, so Laura Bianchi. Seemingly equipped with the needed stuffing in the way that 1968 managed to accrue over 50 years of travels. Here in Gran Selezione form the tendencies and the abilities are multiplied tenfold. Magnificent and magnanimous, the concentration is foiled by focus and precision, from all that has come before, moving into the present and then going forward with everything that occupies, in hopes and dreams. Drink 2025-2037. Tasted February 2020

Carpaccio at Terre di Seta

Terra Di Seta Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vendemmia Assai 2015

Assai is the estate cru, of the oldest vines on the property and 100 per cent sangioevse aged only in tonneaux. A hyperbole of dark fruit, strong wood adage and fully reasoned meets seasoned Gran Selezione with all the protective, resinous, wood-spiced and tacky tannic bite. Really needs to settle and mellow. A top Kosher expression of firm, big-bodied reds will satisfy a high end corner of a very specific market. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted February 2020

Good to go!

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WineAlign

Chianti Classico Fall 2018: September and November, 25 estates, 150 wines reviewed in 18,000 words

Feb9

Sangiovese is the future – Montefioralle, Greve in Chianti

The Chianti Classico Collection preview takes place this coming Monday at Stazione Leopolda in Firenze. There will be upwards of 200 producers on hand pouring their new Annata, Riserva and Gran Selezione in reserve. That means it must be time for me to publish all the wines I tasted in Chianti Classico in advance of this coming Anteprima.

In September and November of 2018 I paid visits to 25 Chianti Classico estates, tasted, assessed and reviewed 150 wines. I’ve published five articles on some of those visits, for the most part and in particular with respect to properties I had not previously visited. I also dropped two posts, one on the Chianti Classico website so succinctly translated into Italian by the Consorzio del Vino Chianti Classico’s Silvia Fiorentini. This was no simple or easy exercise for Silvia as any of you who know the meandering style of my prose. The second was in English, as I had originally composed, set up on Godello.

Related – as seen in Chianti Classico Magazine, translated into Italian – Il sogno Canadese del Chianti Classico abbraccia il più nobile dei Sangiovese Italiani

Castelnuovo Berardenga

Here are the 150 wines tasted and assessed in Chianti Classico September and November 2018, listed in alphabetical order.

Antinori

The many mind-bending architectural splendors of @marchesiantinori in @chianticlassico

Marchesi Antinori Villa Antinori 2017, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (SAQ, 12392574, $17.80, WineAlign)

All fruit and aromatics. Mostly trebbiano with malvasia. Simple, functional, direct and traditional. Emblematic of the family and the name Antinori. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted November 2018 marchesiantinori halpernwine markanthonyqc @AntinoriFamily @HalpernWin e @MarchesiAntinori @halpernwine

Antinori Pèppoli Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (606541, $19.95, WineAlign)

Not unlike the Villa Antinori in concept and white it is the red Peppoli Annata from the 1985-1987 purchased eponymous estate, it similarly acts as spokesperson, or export manager if you will. Roses and dried flower floral, light, fresh, from a vintage gifting more fruit than many. It’s a Mercatale Val di Pesa specificity albeit on the largest possible stage and size while straddling both the communes of San Casciano and Greve in Chianti. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted November 2018

Villa Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (512384, $29.95, WineAlign)

Not so much a vineyard/estate wine as an Antinori wine, based on selection. It’s sangiovese with a small percentage (10 per cent) of merlot. The majority of the grapes comes from the recently acquired Tenuta di Sansano estate. The Riserva is the artist simply known as “Villa” and is fruitier, juicier and less liqueur concentrated than many Riserva. It’s approachability is immediate with thanks to its freshness. Sweet and mild tannins are persistent. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted November 2018

Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (512384, $42.95, WineAlign)

Produced only from grapes that come from the Tignanello Estate. Here sangiovese with 10 per cent cabernet sauvignon, From second and third used barrels that came from Solaia and Tignanello IGT. A much bigger, broader further structured Riserva as compared to “Villa,” now with some ferric intensity and grip. Drink 2018-2021. Last tasted November 2018.

Antinori’s is a deep and satisfying Riserva with dark fruit taken from Mercatale Val di Pesa vineyards at the estate’s Tenuta Tignanello. It’s very juicy and forthright, readier than many though the acidity is quite strong. This is heavily influenced by wood spice and there is no turning away from its spikes and charms. Quite dark and intense, no doubt due to the vineyard location between the Greve and Pesa river valleys and between the two villages of Montefiridolfi and Santa Maria a Macerata. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted February 2018

Badia A Passignano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (384552, $49.95, WineAlign)

Instantly recognizable archetype of the continuum in Chianti Classico excellence and one of the original seven Gran Selezione. Badia a Passignano comes to life in 2015 with the generosity of fruit that not all in the top of the pyramid category will exhibit as best in show. The classically styled tenets of structure, acidities and tannins are qualified fine as fine can be. Purposefully produced to be this way, to dot every I, T and traditional Italian restaurant wine list. Very fine. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted November 2018

Barone Ricaosli, Gaiole in Chianti

Barone Ricasoli Torricella 2016, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Comprised of 80 per cent chardonnay with sauvignon blanc. In the past it was a blend that included malvasia, going back as far as 1927. Some oak aging, no malolactic, the sauvignon blanc enters just at the final stage of the final blend, after the chardonnay has rested for 10 months in tonneaux. Direct, lean, mineral, composed and in no way strict as a Gaiole chardonnay. And yet here it is. Reduction comes back to bring it full circle. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted September 2018 ricasoli1141 francescoricasoli churchillcellars @ricasoli_1141 @imbibersreport @ricasoli1141 @imbibersreport

Barone Ricasoli Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (3962, $23.95, WineAlign)

Barone Ricasoli Roncicone 2015, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

This is the next single-vineyard focused sangiovese in the Brolio portfolio and part of the new era, project and study intensification. Years of analysis, of soils and diversity of vineyards prepares us to look at various interpretations so that we may try to follow along and understand. This site is the marine deposit soil type with more presence of clay, richness of the organic earth and a big oak tree. And yet it’s a leaner expression, earthier, tannic and savoury. Not quite Alberese but the structure is chalkier, yet not in a purely calcareous way. Sharp, lifted and nearly explosive. Really needs time. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted September 201

Barone Ricasoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (942607, $59.95, WineAlign)

This is the flagship Chianti Classico established in 1997, always the man, the most important and expensive wine of the estate. It’s also the first to shun the Super Tuscan commodities, eschewed to establish a Chianti Classico at the top of the game. Pioneer for a place that was once and can forever be great, now travelling retroactively back to the future of fame. In this context it surely makes sense that it then moved forward into the Gran Selezione category going back to 2007, always priced near the top. This generous and mostly easy vintage brings together classic Brolio cherries and acidity with powerful, linear and soliciting 2015 tannins. Draws you in, ties you up and keeps you around for the long run. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted September 2018

Two soils of Bibbiano

Bibbiano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna Del Capannino 2013, DOCG Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $43.95, WineAlign)

Today Vigna Del Capannino 2013 is a powerful rider, a.k.a. the racer Gianni Bugno, 1990 overall winner ]and of nine stages at the Giro d’Italia plus four for the Tour de France. The interaction is forceful and the wine is deeply herbal, minty and with an amaro finish. Averna leads to tobacco with naturally curated and gifted elegance. Last tasted September 2018 bibbianowines lesommelierwine @bibbianowines @LeSommelierWine Bibbiano Chianti Classico Le Sommelier, Wine Agency

The Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna Del Capannino 2013 is monstrous, from ’58 and ’62 sangiovese grosso vines put in by Giulio Gambelli, then grafts from that material for masale propagation in 1999 and the 2000s. The departure from Brunello is here, a huge, muscular, dare it be said Bibbianaccio of the sangiovese Bibbiano family, in GS form, thick, tannic, brooding, exceptionally structured, robust and 15 years away from announcing its true plans. This bottle is subdued however slightly from a spot of TCA but not enough to warrant skipping on past. Wow. Drink 2021-2032. Tasted September 2017

Buondonno, Castellina in Chianti

Buondonno Rosato Podere Casavecchia Alla Piazza 2017, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Early picked, high acidity and surprisingly good phenolic Rosato with the highest level of tang albeit within balance. Full of red citrus, lime and grapefruit. Crazy good to drink. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted September 2018 #buondonno #buondonno #casavecchiaallapiazza

Buondonno Lèmme Lèmme, da Vecchie Viti Maritate 2016, Podere Casavecchia Alla Piazza, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

From an old bush vine vineyard planted in 1936 to many varieties; sangiovese, canaiolo, colorino, malvasia, trebbiano and many others forgotten, misplaced and unknown. Even the older folks are not entirely sure, if they ever were, and who today still refer to them asuva di rignano. Approximately 1000 bottles are made from this place in a wine that is tart, tight, tannic and high in ancient wisdom. A true blue field blend of acidity that wraps up exceptionally wise and naturally resonant black fruit and olive tapenade. It’s the Tuscan equivalent of old field blends, especially Californians like Ridge Vineyards but like an Etruscan version of such an idea. Goes into a ceramic tank, with porosity like oak but to preserve the fruit and not hinder it with spice. Just the grapes and nothing but the grapes. Piano, piano, lèmme, lèmme. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted September 2018

Buondonno Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Podere Casavecchia Alla Piazza, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Virtually sangiovese, perhaps a few points of canaiolo, maybe not. From what Gabriele considers a strange vintage because it’s 6.7 per cent acidity is something that hasn’t been seen in 25 years. But it’s also 15 per cent alcohol and so for this day and climate warming age, it emerges beautifully balanced. You’d never know it, the fruit standing firm upright and supremely confident. Sees time in a mix of botti, tonneaux and barriques, none of the vessels new. Brightest of cherries, linear direction, dry but sweet tannins. Purity of fruit is in the elite company of the territory, within the style. This will age for 20 years and become something calm, demurred and extraordinary. Drink 2020-2032. Last tasted September 2018

Gabriele Buondonno and Valeria Sodano bought the Castellina in Chianti farm known as Casavecchia alla Piazza in 1988, a plot that clearly appeared on the maps of the “Capitani di Parte Guelfa” in 1549 and is marked as the “place of Lionardo Buonarroti,” nephew to Michelangelo. Their Chianti Classico is 90 per cent sangiovese, plus merlot and syrah from a place Michelangelo once wrote to his uncle “I would rather have two barrels of Trebbiano than eight shirts.” Clearly pulled of of a special terroir, Buondonno’s organic Annata is pretty and purposed, with fresh tart strawberry and an intensity of acidity. It’s very long, unrelenting, showing some focus above and beyond. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted February 2018 #buondonno #buondonno

cabernet franc comparative where you’d least expect it ~ Toscana vs Niagara ~ #buondonno vs #interloper ~ #castellina vs #niagaraonthelake ~ @ravinevineyard

Buondonno Cabernet Franc Casavecchia Alla Piazza 2016, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Planted in 1999 in the Vigna di Sotto, the lower vineyard, from Guillaume, because merlot was ordered and they also sent 400 plants of cabernet franc. First vintage was 2015, here now in number two it’s beginning to express itself, however small the batch. It really is cabernet franc, a bit verdant, spicy, more spiced really, completely unlike sangiovese but clearly from this property, in Castellina but on the far western side of the Panzano Conca d’Oro. It’s chewy, chalky (in liquid form) and tannic. Needs a few years to come together. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted September 2018

Buondonno Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Podere Casavecchia Alla Piazza, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Sangiovese with a small amount of canaiolo, 25 days outdoors fermentation and then into a mix of botti, tonneaux and barriques, 10 per cent new. From the estate vineyards of Casavecchia, Sicelle and Sicellino. The latter planted in the 1970s with exposure to the North-East. This fruit from a cooler site will be essential to the assemblage going forward. Such an accomplished Riserva out of 2015, clearly designed to tell the Castellina-Panzano straddling story, with rich, structured fruit and a intention to travel far. Full, wise, stratified, variegated and weighty, in at 15.5 per cent. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted September 2018

Buondonno Bianco Alla Marta Podere Casavecchia Alla Piazza 2016, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Marta is Gabriele’s daughter and hers is essentially a skin-contact white, orange or amber wine if you prefer the nomenclature. The concept stems from Podere Casavecchia Alla Piazza’s goat cheese and the Buondonno goat cheese making master. Hers is clean as a whistle, with more trebbiano than malvasia, 10 days on the skins, qualifying as skin-contact so let’s keep it there and resist the temptation to call it orange. It’s beautifully and mildly tannic, full of acidity and dry as the desert. Light on the oxidation and volatile acidity. From vines planted in 1974, then 42 and now almost 45 years old. So proper and just right, really, truly, honestly, humbly and born of a person’s tremendous work ethic. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted September 2018

Podere Campriano, Greve in Chianti

Podere Campriano Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

From the sandy soils with great Galestro prevalence on the steep, east bank of the Greve River. Same soil profile as Montefioralle across on the west bank but the weather is so different; less humidity, more diurnal temperature fluctuations but also extreme conditions. Never easy to farm here and the wines are proficiently perfumed. Simple and never boring, of purity and nuance by land that can’t help but speak to all that it has to say. The texture is one of softness, caressing and really just pure speciality in delight. Finesse and delicasse. Drink 2018-2023. Tasted September 2018 poderecampriano @ElenaCampriano Elena Podere Campriano Lapini(Podere Campriano ) Elena Lapini

Podere Campriano Chianti Classico Riserva DOC Le Balze Di Montefioralle 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Varietal is the populist notion once again, as only a solo act, out of a purity by one hundred per cent sangiovese. From land once covered in forest, of a magically, or eerily a same soil profile as the other Greve in Chianti bank, sandy and rich in Galestro. The Riserva profile gives this more depth and even a certain next level of extraction, but it’s more about fruit-earth-rock layering and variegation. What comes from this side of the tracks is spice interwoven through dusty and bushy aromatics and then, the liquid palate texture derived from the rendering of that spice. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted September 2018

Podere Campriano Chianti Classico Riserva DOC Le Balze Di Montefioralle 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Just put to market, the vintage will surely have so much to say and that it in fact already does, with a combination of perfume and spice. Still dusty, with fennel and endemic herbs, teas and brushy plants. There’s a raspberry to dried currant fruitiness that ’14 doesn’t have, also more mid-palate flesh and overall juiciness. A different sort of structure, still with long capabilities but will likely go into a drier fruit profile after the seven year mark. Elena Lapini is a very busy agriturismo and viticoltore proprietor these days and if these most recent 100 per cent sangiovese from two sides of the Greve river tracks are any indication, she’ll be busier than ever before. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted September 2018

It is said let @chianticlassico be elegant and @poderecampriano obliged ~ #greveinchianti #montefioralle #altavalledellagreve #sangiovese #chianticlassicoriserva

Podere Campriano 80 (Ottonta) IGT Alta Valle delle Greve 2013, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

From Elena Lapini’s grandfather’s 1980 planted vines, a “table wine” that is 100 per cent sangiovese from those 35 year-old vines. It’s on the fruity spectrum while coming from roots burrowed deep into the Galestro. A serious, intense, wise and composed sangiovese, with more mid-palate liqueur and viscosity. This could technically be classified as Gran Selezione, like Carobbio’s Leone (as an example), but that just might confuse. And so by 2015 it may be labeled Riserva, a second Riserva. Or perhaps further down the road with a dozen archetypal others and come back to the appellation with a mention of Alta Greve in tow. Who’s to say? Drink 2019-2025. Tasted September 2018

Capannelle, Gaiole in Chianti

Capannelle Chardonnay Oro Bianco 2015, IGT Di Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Only made in stainless and only bottled in magnum format. Clean, stony, high acid and really classy from a house that has been making chardonnay since 1988 and this unoaked rendition since 1988. Extremely linear but what is most accomplished about it is texture and the lack of medicinal florality. I would never confuse this for Chablis but only because it’s so unlike anything else. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted September 2018 capannelle @Capannellewines

Capannelle Chardonnay 2015, IGT Di Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

The “traditional” chardonnay, aged for six months in 20 per cent new oak. Now thirty years into this white wine movement there is a concern and a professionalism so perfectly understood, that much is obvious. Someone back in the 1980s understood the rocks, the acidity and the potential for chardonnay in Gaiole. Not Bourgogne but Gaiole. Galestro raised chardonnay with a real elemental push, stretched phenols and acidities. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted September 2018

Capannelle Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

The aromatics on the ’14 Riserva are expressly Gaiole, of the Galestro, the dusty, stony vineyard, the altitude and the forest. It’s more than savoury but into frutta di bosco, wild herbs and evergreen. It really is a Gaiole scent, in the air, fresh and spirited. It will turn to balsamico and porcini, of that I am convinced. Texture is also zonazione specific, to these heavily wooded hills surrounding and protecting these vines. Texture is smooth, not silk but glycerin, light and nearly ethereal. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted September 2018

Capannelle Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2013, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

This first edition of Gran Selezione for Capannelle is an amzing combination of authenticity and polish, with Gaiole’s infamous acidity and herbology combining to deliver a promise of today and for the future. The estate produces no Annata because winemaker Simone has always felt that the acidity here would be over the top in the freshest wines of the year. This Gran Selezione confirms the ideology but the near future may change the plan. Meanwhile kudos for waiting before making Gran Selezione and matched to Tagliatelle con Funghi Porcini. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted September 2018

Capannelle Solare 2011, IGT Di Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Sangiovese (80 per cent) is blended with malvasia nera, bringing Gaiole’s altitude, acidity and dried herb scents along by the conduit of malvasia’s body and weight. Very Cappanelle, very Gaiole and very savoury in accent to really fine, evolved and ready to enjoy. A traditional blend of grapes that attempts to bridge the gap between regional Chianti Classico and Drink 2018-2022. Tasted September 2018

Cappanelle Solare 50 & 50 2015, IGT Di Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

The project goes back a few decades with Avignonesi in Montepulciano, blending their Cortona (La Selva) merlot (also used for Desiderio) with the sangiovese of Capennelle. It’s the softest wine of this estate, seemingly or at least perceptively set at 50 per cent acidity. It’s a joint venture between wineries that goes back 30 years and that’s not nothing. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted September 2018

Carpineta Fontalpino

Montaperti, Carpineta Fontalpino, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Fontalpino Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (275859, $24.95, WineAlign)

From Castelnuovo Berardenga in the hands of Filippo and Gioia Cresti. Their new direction is moving towards a cru project, truly and entirely. The Fontalpino Annata is sangiovese of the broadest expression and it’s a very fully rendered red fruit. So much promised, especially from 2015 and so much delivered. The wisdom and the understanding are wholly realized, recognized and welcomed. Sets us up for the cru 15s and 16s to come. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted November 2018 carpinetafontalpino gioiacresti filippocresti grape_brands #CarpinetaFontalpino GRAPEBRANDS @CarpinetaFontalpino Gioia Cresti Filippo Cresti

Fontalpino Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (275859, $24.95, WineAlign)

This Fontalpino is the best of both worlds Chianti Classico for the estate and here it comes smiling along with the biggest vintage breath of sigh, calm and release. It’s a bigger wine than ’15, felt in part that way because of its youth. Still the generosity and the confidence but certainly the wisdom. This broad estate expression is meant to be consumed early and as far as looking for early drinking Annata pleasure is concerned, Gioia and Filippo Cresti’s 2016 is one to make as much use of as is humanly possible. Drink 2019-2021. Tasted November 2018

Fontalpino Chianti Classico DOCG Montaperto 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

The cru that is Montaperto is higher in elevation and marked by a fit of pure Galestro on the edgy limestone side of soil. And so it’s a lightning red fruit red, of a style that is both place and grace. There is a certain way of it being so effusive and in its own way elegant. The finessed one of the three cru in an obvious display of itself. Pure, pretty and delicate. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted November 2018

Fontalpino Chianti Classico DOCG Montaperto 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

In Montaperto the finessed one you will note with great immediacy that 2016 is a perfectly ripened vintage, both for sweet fruit and more so from specialized cru-heady phenolics. All might be for naught were it not accompanied by the finest up reach in acidity. Here sangiovese is preached with utmost structure and ability. The accomplishment attains a level of clarity and transparency despite or perhaps in spite of the tactile habituation and architectural conditioning in its bones. Conclusion? Just gorgeous sangiovese juice of pure limestone expression. Drink 2020-2029. Tasted November 2018

Fontalpino Chianti Classico DOCG Dofana 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Comes from a combination of many soils; limestone, clay and tufo. There is a prevalence of all the Chianti Classico stones; Galestro and Alberese but it’s just the greatest confluence that makes for their grippiest sangiovese. And that said it’s magically delicate. The red berries darken but only because the framework of organized Castelnuovo design insists on taking the fruit deeper, into the fabric of the earth and it speaks to one word; cru. Such a structured sangiovese. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted November 2018

Fontalpino Chianti Classico DOCG Dofana 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

The variegation of soils; sand, clay, stone and tuff will have great effect on any sangiovese but see what delivers when you pull grapes from the Dofana cru and out of 2016. It’s a confluence of everything that matters, for tradition, land and the people who make the wine. The fruit is here right from the start and although the tannins are strong and sharp they are so refined and come equipped with fruit made available from the very beginning. Really direct sangiovese. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted November 2018

Filippo e Gioia Cresti

Fattoria Carpineta Fontalpino Do Ut Des 2013, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $39.95, WineAlign)

What “do they give” from this one-third each combination of sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon and merlot? As compared to the DOCG sangiovese there is more height, aerified nature and just plain attitude to the IGT. Sources are various vineyards around the estate which sit on the border between Chianti Classico and the Chianti Colli Senesi. In subsequent vintages the sangiovese will be dropped and replaced by petit verdot. Partly because it’s too important to take it away from the cru CCs but also because this IGT is and needs to be separated. It’s just different, darker, more of a liqueur, with less finesse and more ferric depth. The answer? “”I give and give.” Drink 2018-2020. Tasted November 2018

Castellinuzza E Piuca Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

From Greve in Chianti, the sangiovese di Lamole here is strong, youthful, firm and pure. Bright red fruit so typical of the frazione indicates limestone for cherries. Also a salumi of Mortadella and yes, that sort of connection is imaginable and possible. Very fresh with big acidity from the cool night air at 550m above sea level. The inclusion of 10 per cent canaiolo only accentuates the sapidity and the terraced sense of place. If it were a rider it would be Felice Gimondi, precocious and gregarious, a rookie who was a 1965 Tour de France winner in his first try. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted September 2018 castellinuzza.chianti.classico #castellinuzza @poderecastellinuzza

Castello Di Monsanto, Barberino Val d’Elsa

Castello Di Monsanto Chardonnay Collezione Dai Vigneti Di Monsanto 2016, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Planted first in 1976, one third of the fruit sees tonneaux and is then blended after seven months with the stainless portion. Quite rich, vaporous and viscous, intensely mineral. Very lemon, vehemently tangy, gold liquid chalky. Subversively Tuscan chardonnay. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted September 2018 castellomonsanto @castelmonsanto @castello.dimonsanto

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Annata of 90 per cent sangiovese with both canaiolo and colorino, traditional, loyal and streaked by the Galestro qualified off this ridge extended out of San Donato in Poggio. Juicy, fresh and forward, expressive of the vintage, not so muscular. Sangiovese like going home and crawling into the bed you slept in as a child. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted September 2018

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (719864, $34.95, WineAlign)

The blend is the same as the Annata (sangiovese with 10 per cent canaiolo and colorino combined) but the execution different. It begins in January, where lots are tasted blind and the process begins to decide which barrels will be destined into Riserva. Barriques are also used though like the Annata’s tonneaux, none are new. What separates this is more than fruit, it’s the exceptional and specific acidity. In here Galestro talks with effluent and affluent ability. No matter the modern glow there is always a timeless beauty so you can still place this in the oldest of sangiovese worlds, with the finer tannic talents showing through. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted September 2018

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Il Poggio 2013, Tuscany, Italy (719864, $85.00, WineAlign)

The cooler, cloudy vintage has been taking its time to emerge and 2018 is now live, in the present and in the flesh, ready for its time. This is confirmed by the grand artist known as Riserva from perhaps the most iconic hill in all of Chianti Classico. Still bright, effusive and not fully ready to let its tannin melt away. The sangiovese component is in the 90-95 per cent range, again with canaiolo and colorino coming around to complete the whole. The tension persists and the tannic structure in this “Selezione” is much tighter than the Annata or the first, non terroir specified Riserva. Still hard to believe how grippy this is. A soon to come epiphany with the 1968 helps to explain Il Poggio’s phenomenon. As a racer Monsanto’s Riserva 2013 is Marco Pantani, greatest climber of a generation, with so much grandiosity, potential and possibility, straight to the top of Il Poggio. Drink 2020-2030. Tasted September 2018

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Il Poggio 2001, Tuscany, Italy (719864, $85.00, WineAlign)

Fascinating 17 year look back into where sangiovese from this Barberino Val d’Elsa Galestro began and to where it has travelled. The acidity still rages and the sweetness of this fruit continues to burst and pop, one berry at a time. What a structured wine this was and persists to be, with a mid-palate coating to speak of time and place. Age has brought even more grip, certainly variegation, in hue and temper. Though these next seven years will be the very best, there will be at least 10 more after that out of which curiosity, interest and pleasure are all a guarantee. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted September 2018

50 years ago this #chianticlassico entered the world. Suffices to say 1968 was a pretty good year ~ @castellomonsanto

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Il Poggio 1968, Tuscany, Italy (719864, $85.00, WineAlign)

“A good, not an outstanding vintage, with some vines affected by botrytis,” explains Laura Bianchi, though truth be told she’s relating the information from stories and legends. You can taste it, in a sweetness that reminds of quince and apricot. Plums are dusted with white pepper, sherry drizzles over sugar plums and in the end, acidity continues to shine. It’s still a dramatic drop of sangiovese, with longevity preservation going back to the era (1962-1969) when the wines were aged in chestnut barrels. This at 50 years of age is so alive, time encapsulated, dew sweetened, ethereal. Drink 2018. Tasted September 2018

Castello di Querceto, Greve in Chianti

Gallo Nero, Castello di Querceto, Greve in Chianti

Castello Di Querceto Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (680496, $24.95, WineAlign)

Essentially sangiovese with a few percentage points of canaiolo and colorino. Aged in grandi botti, 1500L and 2000L. This is the epitome of the black raspberry-currant, dusty, high acid sangiovese. A traditional poster child for Chianti Classico Annata and for the generosity of the 2016 vintage. In the end it’s firm and grippy stuff. Last tasted September 2018 castellodiquerceto @CastQuerceto Castello di Querceto

Castello di Querceto’s Greve in Chianti 2016 is perfumed by just a lovely fresh fruit nose, a mixed bowl of berries, juices yet running, plump, swelling, dusty and sanguine. Certainly on the riper end of the spectrum and with a finishing moment of bitters. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted February 2018

Castello Di Querceto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (650754, $35.95, WineAlign)

Classically styled 2015, honest, pure and welling with extracted sangiovese depth. Acidity, grip and then tension all consistently woven from and beyond Annata, but it too is silky smooth,with a liquid liquorice ooze. Smooth bitter balsamic finish. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted September 2018

Castello Di Querceto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2014, Tuscany, Italy (938738, $47.95, WineAlign)

Il Pichio makes reference to the old name of the land housing the vineyard. It’s the same sourcing and winemaking for what was Riserva reinvented now as Gran Selezione. Big extraction, concentration and rendering, from low yields (700-900g per vine). Amazing consistency, old school, deeply hued, so very structured, conservative. The thread running through is as obvious as any, as sangiovese for Chianti Classico. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted September 2018

Castello Di Querceto Le Corte IGT Colli Delle Toscana Centrale 2012, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

From the 120 year-old vineyard planted by Alessandro Francois’ grandfather, this too is 100 per cent sangiovese with Querceto’s ultimate level of silky smooth consistency and deep purity. It’s a very perfumed sangiovese with tannins matching the texture though they are not shy to assert their power and grip. “Because the soil on this side of the valley is special,” he notes, but tough on the wines when they are still young. The seven or eight year mark is really the place to start. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted September 2018

Cecchi, Castellina in Chianti

Cecchi Chianti Classico DOCG Storia Di Famiglia 2015, Tuscany, Italy (540922, $17.95, WineAlign)

Fresh cherry and also dusty, plus savoury and accented with acidity. Variegated fruit, ripe, riper and approaching the maximum ripe, managed by adjustments necessary to find the balance. A developed tang unique to this accumulation. Keep the pasta pairing simple. Last tasted September 2018 famigliacecchi #FamigliaCecchi

It’s an amazing story in a glass this Storia di Famiglia. It’s a long family history with Chianti Classico roots as long as any and it shows. This ’15 is quite classico for the vintage with exceptional fruit and it takes every if full advantage of the year’s generosity. So much so the fruit is darkened to black, perhaps of raspberry but surely at optimum phenolics. There is a corresponding minor Bretty meets acetico notation but also the richness of reduced balsamic, tar and candied roses. It’s almost truffled and figgy, not quite, but it will go there in a year or two. Lots of interest and character for $18. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted April 2018

Cecchi Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Di Famiglia 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Profile very consistent to the Annata if ostensibly fortified by the extra time in large barrel. The similarity of varied ripenesses makes for a layering, like red cherry trifle with alacrity and high acidity. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted September 2018

Cecchi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Valore Di Famiglia 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

The consistency continues for the Famiglia story, from Storia Annata through Riserva and into Valore Gran Selezione. The fruit for all three Castellina in Chianti 2015s shows many layers of ripe stylistics and it it this Gran Selezione that shows the most evolution, leaning into a world where balsamico, fig, raisin and lifted aromatics live. The classicism here is noted, the tradition occupied and the conservatism understood. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted September 2018

Cecchi Villa Cerna Chianti Classico DOCG Primocolle 2015, Tuscany, Italy (573501, $19.95, WineAlign)

The aromatics dole out sweet sangiovese candy and also a rose petal potpourri with fruit not only bled from a uniform ripeness but also a soil-gifted freshness that can’t be denied. This is red fruit, marl lifted sangiovese, bright, lightning tart and extracted, though just rightly so. The palate brings an extra level of fresh, like biting into a peach or a red plum with ideal acidity. Lovely example of traditional Annata set in a modern world. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted September 2018

Cecchi Villa Cerna Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Primocolle 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Riserva from Villa Cerna is wildly lifted and edgy sangiovese climbing skyward with unresolved volatility. This high level of freshness and pulse is the conduit for red, red fruit not yet ready to be first to speak. This follows the trail blazed by the Annata but with the highest of acidities. It’s not typical for Riserva (if there is such a thing) but it is an example of one that needs a few years to settle into its tight, tart and energetic skin. Long finish confirms the plan. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted September 2018

Cecchi Villa Rosa Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

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

Tenuta Cinciano, Poggibonsi

Tenuta Cinciano Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

The Annata is 100 per cent sangiovese from 8-12 months in the largest of the estate’s Slavonian oak barrels. An estate who’s oenologist (Stefano Porcinai) who knows clonal selection as well as any in the territory having worked as lead on the Consorzio’s 2000 project. Not to mention training systems and rootstocks. Each vineyard is planted to the right clone matched to the soil and Cinciano has it all; sand, clay, marl, Galestro, marine fossil and sediment, Alberese. Rich red fruit so lifted, edged by blood orange, so red citrus, pomegranate and though wood is in play it’s really about florals and spice. So sharp and tight with plenty of fruit to match the introductory and important tannins. Last tasted September and October 2018 fattoriacinciano @fattoriadicinciano

Cinciano is 100 sangiovese from chalky Poggibonsi vineyards at 250-350m of elevation. Youthfully speaking this ’16 sits en retard, reductive and only seems to want to breathe as a deep inhalant of argilo sangiovese. This CC is an even bigger than the average, broader and scope encompassing expression to taste with an impressive ferric intensity. The potential is great. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted February 2018

Tenuta Cinciano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Riserva comes from the oldest vineyard, averaging 45 years old on soils of more Alberese stone than any other on the property, right in the middle belt, middle slope on a southern exposure. Structure and tannin support intense rich purple fruit but fruit with the great lightning streak and searing acidity of Alberese and what it means. It’s harvested later and with great confidence, made with completely different intention. This goes into smaller Slavonian barrels for longer but it is expressly a matter of expression on behalf of the vineyard. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted September 2018

Tenuta Cinciano Chianti Classico Selezione DOCG 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Only in 2014 the decision was made to use the oldest vineyard’s fruit to blend in with the best grapes to make this 100 per cent sangiovese Gran Selezione because there was not enough quantity to make the Riserva. Floral, mineral, a taste of grapes, sangiovese purity. It’s rich as Gran Selezione should be, with heavy fruit and fine tannin but the oak is merely a spice agent. The clonal selection meeting the later harvest brings a breadth, depth and broad shouldered set of tannin, aggressive but in control. Another unique wine with a connection to the sister and the brother. Same father and mother to be sure. Juicier, with morbido fruit and serious tannin. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted September 2018

Absolutely lovely, lively and pure sangiovese from Stefano and Andrea @fattoriacinciano ~ coming home with these beautiful @chianticlassico for sure!

Tenuta Cinciano Pietraforte 2012 IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

A blend of 40 per cent each merlot and cabernet sauvignon with sangiovese. Aged in French oak barriques and tonneaux, all new. Massive fruit accumulation, ripe and generous, wood all around but very much part of the package, some earthy Brettiness and huge acidity. Enormous wine that may need as much as five more years to settle. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted September 2018

Colle Bereto, Radda in Chianti

Colle Bereto Brut Rosé Vino Spumante di Qualita Metodo Classico, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

First disgorgement was November 2008, now 10 years later, this particular bottle was disgorged just two months ago. Skin is maintained with juice for only one night, from 100 per cent pinot noir. Having spent three years on lees this is rich, toasty, biscuit-riveting, red citrus, currant and fine aridity sparkling wine. Beautifully dry, direct and purposed. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted September 2018 colleberetowinery #collebereto @NokhrinWines Azienda Agricola Colle Bereto Azienda Agricola Colle Bereto

Colle Bereto Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $31.95, WineAlign)

From the vintage for which the “Dream Machine” is first used, where stems are kept intact and the tramoja (corkscrew) is no longer employed and stems are not disrupted, broken, or led to bitterness. So polished, full, extracted, silky and classy. Last tasted September 2018

From Radda in Chianti and one of Chianti Classico’s great young, forward thinking winemakers Bernardo Bianchi the wisdom is easily noted, deduced, accepted, considered and abided. Red fruit with an earth’s dusty, cracked crust allows for smells like fresh tiles and the just mixed mortar but that fruit is aching to burst forth. Very seamless for a young Chianti Classico, so this building will stand strong and last through the centuries, which in wine years equates to seven, maybe ten. Terrific sweet acidity, life-affriming sapidity and vitality. As good as young CC gets with the longest, pitch perfect tang in elongation, drift and persistence. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted at Anteprime Chianti Classico Collection, February 2017

Colle Bereto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

The highest quality of polished tannin receives sangiovese’s and more specifically Radda’s raddese acidity, from this shared amphitheatre of a valley for a Riserva silky smooth, integrated and blessed of a Colle Bereto liqueur. Forget Brunello di Montalcino for a while and concentrate on this haut level of sangiovese. Textbook fashion, Vuitton level quality. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted September 2018

Bernardo Bianchi @collebereto in #raddainchianti @chianticlassico

Colle Bereto Chianti Classico DOCG Gran Selezione 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $67.50, WineAlign)

The level of richness and further climb up the polished ladder eases onto a cloud with whispering tannin. The Dream Machine is the source of the tannin whisperer and we all listen with the greatest intent. Bernardo Bianchi is the messenger, interpreter and storyteller for this vineyard in the theatre’s warmest spot. The tannins stop here and take a rest. The most accomplished, polished and commercially, fashionable to accountable Chianti Classico. Drink 2020-2028. Last tasted September 2018

Colle Bereto’s is a Radda in Chianti single-vineyard expression from La Vigna del Convento which lies at the foot of the former Il Convento di Radda, now Casa Chianti Classico. The Galestro soil is surely the catalyst for this 23 year-old block. There is no substitute for the acumen and the hard work that develops such a wise and mature Gran Selezione. Firm, no shortage of virility, fine acidity, finer tannin and exceptional length. Drink 2020-2030. Tasted February 2018

Colle Bereto Pinot Noir Il Cénno 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Interesting how pinot noir translates from these Radda soils, as much parochial and territorial as it may try to be varietal. There is a wild berry meets feral posit tug that confirms the equality and the symbiosis. Generous and delicate, more so than the sangiovese from this estate, which may or not be a sign. Il Cénno. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted September 2018

Colle Bereto Merlot Il Tócco 2015, IGT Toscana Rosso, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

The first vintage was 2000, after making sangiovese from the vineyard, exclusively for Pinchiori in Firenze, then moving forward to celebrate a varietal other, a merlot. Now merlot is a different animal, softer, fruit sweeter and quite beautifully tender, finessed and lifted. Only the acidity of Radda separates it from itself, “such a mass of motion, do not know where it goes.” Here the most polished and effete merlot in the territory, perhaps or just because, cries Il Tócco, “I have the touch.” Drink 2018-2023. Tasted September 2018

Dievole, Castelnuovo Berardenga

Dievole Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (283101, $23.95, WineAlign)

This third vintage of fermenting in concrete egg tank presents fruit pulled off of vines nestled into a heavily forested property housing five singular sets of vineyards. Though officially part of the Castelnuovo Berardenga commune, Dievole has much in common with Radda because of the effect of those woods on the growing environment. Generosity is not in mimic of wide open space but due to atmospheric depth and breadth. This ’16 marks not just a return but a proclamation of prominence. Last Tasted September 2018 @dievole profilewinegroup @Dievole @ProfileWineGrp dievole Profile Wine Group

The Dievole Annata stands out for 2016 with the sweetest noted fruit, bright, ripe and pulsating. Wow and oh my has this got a bounce in its step. While certainly tart and intense it’s possessive of more pure joy than many, easily avoiding the trappings of over-extraction and over-pressing. Some may find this too electric but what reason could there be not to get excited by such an abundance of sangiovese energy? Drink 2019-2024. Tasted February 2018

Dievole Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Novocento 2015, Tuscany, Italy (213926, $37.95, WineAlign)

The generosity of sangiovese’s philanthropy is always inherent but not always respected. So, when a Riserva like this from Dievole is given its sun, all is good in Vagliagli, Castelnuovo Berardenga and Chianti Classico. This vintage and this wine celebrate time, timing, place and commune with style. It’s rich, almost opulently so and balanced, credibly so. It’s deep, elastically elongated so. Notice real fruit boasting of an ideologue’s honesty and traditional results in as much as you’d hope for and even expect. Exemplary is one thing but the steps towards new pioneering make Dievole an estate from which to use words like leader and benchmark. Hard not to see this as a top estate example for Annata. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted September 2018

Dievole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Disessina 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Dievole’s Castelnuovo Berardenga Gran Selezione takes the single-vineyard route to express the category. Disessina is the highest vineyard block where the soil turns to a Macigno (sandstone) base littered with soft rocks that lends the originality of a sensory perfume expressly written in a Dievole vernacular. Here the liquid rose petal aroma is rendered through the fine silty earth so that it’s both berry fruity and duff ethereal where delicious lives. The delicate world is an occupation somewhere between dream and reality. The most approachable meeting place is a Gran Selezione middle ground that more examples might want to explore so that greater understanding might exist on the market today. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted September 2018

Fèlsina

Bella mattina @felsinawines

Fèlsina Vino Spumante Di Qualità Brut Metodo Classico, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

This was reviewed before here although from a bottle disgorged a year earlier and from fruit primarily sourced out of 2014.

The sparkling program is taking flight, here from 60 per cent sangiovese, (20) chardonnay and (20) pinot noir. There is really no commercial reason to make this wine (only 9,000-12,000 bottles are produced) so it’s done just for fun, experimentation and learning. It’s a gingery and toasty sparkling wine, remarkably rich with thanks to a 2015 vintage that provided some pretty solid early ripening. The first vintage was essentially 2009, or mainly fruit from that initial attempt. This is 28 months on lees, disgorged in May 2018 and no dosage. Lemon squeeze over baked apples and toasted hazelnuts. Lovely of a certain style. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted November 2018 felsina_wines liffordgram @felsinawines @LiffordON @felsina @liffordwineandspirits

Fèlsina Vino Spumante Di Qualità Brut Metodo Classico 2012, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

The vintage was a forceful one although as an early harvested sparkling wine (the chardonnay especially, but even the sangiovese) it carries some ripeness and certainly acidity. The gingered notes are met with plenty of far eastern spice and a mild citrus bitterness. Again the toastiness is a major factor to bring energy and vigour into an arid sparkling wine’s environment of impression and tastiness. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted November 2018

Fèlsina Chardonnay I Sistri 2016, IGT Toscana, Italy (Agent, $41.99, WineAlign)

The first vintage was 1987, from chardonnay grafted onto Bolgheri trebbiano. “The sisters” refers to the ancient Egyptian instrument known as “sistro” which was agitated by a sound in echo of agriculture. There are 20,000 bottles produced, of and for sunshine, by history, with high level 2016 ripeness and a mellow acidity. Takes a step back from ’15 with more cellulose, unction and conjunctive character. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted November 2018

Chiara Leonini, Fèlsina

Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (730788, $39.99, WineAlign)

The ’16 continues to be a young and viscous sangiovese, rich in liquorice liqueur and 240,000 to 250,000 bottles are produced from all aspects of the estate. It’s a transparent remark on the Castelnuovo Berardenga varietal vernacular. Tasted November 2018

From the great wide Berardenga open Fèlsina’s is just the Annata to tell us how these snowflakes are all just a bit different from one another, each with a new vintage, redefined temper, starting from singular points of soil interest. The greatest purity and unbridled joy in Chianti Classico sangiovese is found in the young Annata and it is Fèlsina’s that tells a full story. The curative wisdom and variegated stratum as told by thick as thieves though stretched and elastic fruit is just amazing. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted February 2018

Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (230722, $38.95, WineAlign)

In 2016 the Riserva is a layered affair with plenty of salumi variegation, of fat and protein well integrated and as a meaty wine it truly expresses the musculature of the terroir. Sangiovese from Castelnuovo Beradenga is many things but it is never copied or emulated like this. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted November 2018

Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (230722, $38.95, WineAlign)

Once again I find Fèlsina’s 2015 sangiovese fresher than their ’16, or rather I should say that the ‘16s are possessive of so much structure that they will need more time in bottle than the transparent ‘15s. And yet here you will find the proof that 100 per cent sangiovese from Fèlsina’s Castelnuovo Berardenga soils need time and in fact solicit more patience than most. This combination of generous and gregarious fruit meeting formidable structure is a product of the commune, the micro-terroir and certainly the house style. The ’15 Riserva is recommended with the caveat to insist that a buyer be warned to exercise great restraint. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted November 2018

Fèlsina Fontalloro 2016, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $101.99, WineAlign)

Fontalloro is a two-headed Toscana red grape creature that comes from vineyards straddling the border between both the Chianti Classico and the Chianti Colli Senesi denominations. It combines sand, silty loam and river pebbles with the limestone and marl of Alberese and Galestro. Here 2016 is accessed with righteousness, purity and high tonality. The acidity is elevating and bright, making for red fruit that shines. Spicy tannins speak to its structure. Drink 2020-2029. Tasted November 2018

Fèlsina Fontalloro 2015, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $101.99, WineAlign)

The thematic is nearly complete, first for the argument that Fèlsina wines need more time in bottle than most in the territory but also how stylistically they are brighter in 2015. The red fruit from this Chianti Classico/Chianti Colli Senesi mash-up sings from and on behalf of the vintage. It’s a complete wine, from fruit and through acidity into its formidable structure. As for its place in the Super Tuscan-Gran Selezione discussion it’s really an apples to oranges subversion because of not being 100 per cent Classico fruit. Fontalloro stands firm, grippy, alone and should always be given its privacy and space. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted November 2018

Fèlsina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Colonia 2013, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $208.99, WineAlign)

How Colonia can not be looked upon and discussed as a pioneer would be beyond comprehension. The artist formerly known as IGT or Super Tuscan changed gears and re-joined the band back in 2009. This is the most Riserva of vintages and therefore a perfect sidle up to the Gran Selezione stage. It sings and plays its no wasted notes with confidence, clarity and sangiovese noise. It’s a huge wine with swagger and confidence, not to mention huge amounts of spicy beats. Not an easy wine to appreciate this young. As a rider it equates to Fausto Coppi, Campionissimo, L’Airone (The Heron), patient, calm, tranquil and able to climb uphill. State of grace. Drink 2021-2032. Tasted November 2018

Fattoria Di Fèlsina Chianti Classico DOCG Pagliarese 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Pagliarese is an older “brand,” from a time gone by, in an area close to Castel’inVilla. The land is 21 hectares (of Fèlsina’s 90) and was once under the consulting auspices of Giulio Gambelli. It was purchased by the Poggialli family in 1995 with the idea to bring the brand back to Chianti Classico prominence. This is the second vintage of the Chianti Classico, of 90 per cent sangiovese with canaiolo and mammolo. The soils are sandier so expect a simpler structure and fruit. It’s a beautiful example of straightforward CC with transparent red fruit. Approximately 20,000 bottles are made. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted November 2018

Fattoria Di Fèlsina Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Pagliarese 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Pagliarese is an older “brand,” from a time gone by, in an area close to Castel’inVilla. The land is 21 hecatares (of Fèlsina’s 90) and was once under the consulting auspices of Giulio Gambelli. It was purchased by the Poggialli family in 1995 with the idea to bring the brand back to Chianti Classico prominence. This is the first vintage of the new revival and in Riserva form takes the red fruit and magnifies its intensity. It’s classic 2015 from Fèlsina with brightness and intensity. Approximately 20,000 bottles are made. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted November 2018

Fontodi, Panzano in Chianti

Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico President Giovanni Manetti, Fontodi, Panzano in Chianti

Fontodi Meriggio 2017, Colli Toscana Centrale IGT, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

The last vintage from which amphora will play only a small role (20 per cent) because in 2018 the number will be 50. Some barrel aging delivers the texture but ultimately freshness and a respite from sun for a rest in the shade. This is the meaning of Merrigio, where the mind takes a break and rids itself of stress.“Everyone thinks sauvignon blanc should be a reductive wine,” says Giovanni Manetti, but it can be wine of complexity, from a vessel and a lees time that can give it richness, especially on the mid-palate. This grows at the bottom of the Conca d’Oro where warm days meet much cooler nights and that diurnal fluctuation delineates fresh developing abilities. From a hot and dry vintage and it’s fresh, popping, yellow fruit focused and with very mature, proper and dedicated acidity. I’ll take a bottle, in the shade. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted September and November 2018 #Fontodi rogersandcompanywines #fontodi @rogcowines Az. Agr. Fontodi

Fontodi Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (933317, $36.95, WineAlign)

More acidity, structure and body comes from Panzano and also a clean and distinct purity. Still working through its liquid chalk, no more than a year away from entering the next phase of its life. Last tasted September and November 2018

If balance were the ultimate end to all sangiovese means then one nose into this Annata 2015 tells us most of what we need to know. When Giovanni Manetti talks of 2015’s great acidity we may not have been able to inuit or ultimately know what he meant, at least as far as the peer into the collective lens of other wines. Through Manetti’s Panzano focus we now understand. The integration, inclusion and open-armed grande abbraccio of Fontodi’s 2015 talks of fineness, precision, elegance and soft-spoken power. There is the finest of sangiovese dust and the circling of tannic wagons enveloping optimized fruit and bringing the entire family in this wine together. It’s a great vintage for Fontodi. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted February 2018

Fontodi Chianti Classico Filetta Di Lamole DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $35.95, WineAlign)

From Giovanni Manetti’s cousin who has documentation that the family has been in Lamole since 1049. The vintage takes this old vines project to another level, with an inherent understanding of the natural order of Panzano translated over for things specific to Lamole. The Annata from Fontodi’s Conca d’Oro vineyards is cleaner, more easily understood, less dramatic, natural. Lamole is a clean funk that is bred from mountainous terroir, feral and wild. Last tasted September and November 2018

Lamole, though still wild west and yet underdeveloped is clearly the next important Chianti Classico sub-sub-zone terroir. With so much untapped potential it is Giovanni Manetti’s of Fontodi that speaks the earliest, clearest truth about such capabilities. Not that we want to see too quick an exploit of this unique micro-climate and geological wonder but the insatiable thirst of curiosity begs to know. What earth gets into, inside and beneath this sub-strata is dramatic and so bloody personal. It’s a thing of forest floor, rock interface, space and sky, all encompassing, with the filtered, dappled light of sangiovese all pervasive and ethereal. Great chalk and dust particles visible to the naked eye in those streaks of lightning acidity and fine tannin swirl to lightness of being. Though 2014 is a sangiovese of great brood, flavour and commercial appeal, now there is greater potential. This ’15 is perhaps the first Fontodi of Lamole that has crossed into the true reality of the territory. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted February 2018

Fontodi Dino IGT Toscana Centrale 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Here the sangiovese taken from the higher elevation section of the vineyard in the Conca d’Oro just below the village of Panzano. Named after Giovanni Manetti’s father, Dino is aged for a minimum nine months on skins in amphora and not just any but in the “orci,” with Fontodi clay made by the Manetti family. Dino is a reflection on life and the lessons learned through the generations and for Manetti it’s about a modern look using ancient tools. The polymer chain development of tannins is completely different, here with an early and on repeat cycle occurrence of oxygenation, along with several layers of protection. Such unique tannins and structure aboard great richness and yet intrinsically in proviso of necessary freshness. It’s so chewy and almost crunchy but in an airy nougat or savoury meringue meets panetone kind of way. Dino stands singular, sturdy and go it alone. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted November 2018

Fontodi Flaccianello della Pieve IGT Toscana Centrale 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $147.95, WineAlign)

A wine with its roots in 1981, amidst the birth of the Super Tuscans during strict regulatory times. First made as a breaking the rules reaction to be the finest wine from the estate. It could be a Chianti Classico, which is how it is made and de-classified the day before bottling. Born, raised and rebelling just before it goes out to the world. It will come back to the appellation, along with Percarlo, Tignanello, Cepparello, Fontalloro and many others, when the solution is agreed upon and the time is right. “I’m a dreamer,” says Giovanni Manetti. He’s not the only one but he is the one to imagine the possibilities and the changes. Flaccianello the 100 per cent sangiovese is the finessed, salty and sexy one although in 2015 there is no love lost between its vintage and its soul. The quality of the tannins are some of the best ever. Such a strong character for the pure IGT and although some 15s are overly generous, Fontodi’s are stronger, bolder, polymerized and in exhibition of greater intensity. Even Flaccianello needs much more time, however, beginning in 2013 the time in small barrels was reduced and here by 2015 it’s 18, no longer 24 months. Astringency be gone and fruit quality so high the result is a eureka one, with perfume in aromatics brought to the highest quality. Finally Giovanni, you are on to something. Drink 2021-2034. Tasted September and November 2018

The boys at Fontodi

Fontodi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Del Sorbo 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $85.95, WineAlign)

From the rocky parcel of 50 year-old vines, planted facing south by southwest. The fruit concentration is obvious, a rising tide of high quality consciousness that raises the bar for all. The tannins are exceptional in their tight-grained coiling, wound like fishing wire around a spool. Some of Fontodi’s darkest cherry fruit is here, along with real genuine leather and a chef’s purposely dehydrated fennel powder meant to foil and compliment a deeply rendered demi-glacé, slicking out from beneath the arrosto di cinghiale. The 2015 Vigna del Sorbo is a meaty wine, il corso principale del pasto. Drink 2021-2032. Tasted November 2018

Fontodi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Del Sorbo 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $85.95, WineAlign)

As a racer the ’14 Vigna del Sorbo might as well be Giuseppe (Beppe) Saronni, winner in 1978 of three stages in the Giro d’Italia, 24 overall and champion in 1979 and 1983. In 1982 he won the world cup with Paolo Rossi. Sorbo is a global sangiovese, the people’s “campione,” beloved sprinter, collaborator and legacy definer. Today the sangiovese from Fontodi’s Conca d’Oro vineyard smells like rabarbaro (rhubarb), black cherry and cut grass. Beautiful combination. Last tasted September 2018

The older vines are between 52 and 54 years old, the first vintage being 1985 and until 2011, contained some cabernet sauvignon, vines that have since been pulled out. The now site-specific, 100 per cent sangiovese Vigna del Sorbo may have been muscular in 2012 but no such hyperbole exists in 2014. The vintage determined this and despite the deep black cherry chalkiness the true spirit and stripped down honesty of sangiovese is in display. Purity has returned, floral like an artistically-rendered natural, realist and perpetual field of flowers in bloom, in installation, of violet light and rose-scented glass. I can imagine drinking this for decades, with its albarese-galestro saltiness and effortless concentration. Sometimes sangiovese never relents and at the same time never tires. Meraviglioso. Drink 2020-2038. Tasted September 2017

Fontodi Chianti Classico Riserva Vigna Del Sorbo 2004, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Carries 10 per cent cabernet sauvignon with the old vines sangiovese and at this 14 year stage it’s now into the denouement of its secondary character, a period that still has three to four years remaining. Umami ushered with no rush or rapid heart rate on the pulse of acidity begins its full swing, with mushroom and truffle on the horizon. The destination is still a matter of parts unknown further on down the road. Quite a firm vintage by tannin still leaving its grip on the plum meets wild strawberry fruit. Drink 2018-2028. Tasted September 2018

Fontodi Chianti Classico Riserva Vigna Del Sorbo 1993, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

The vines in 1993 would have been half the age they are now and this from a cooler, slightly wet but not too rainy a season. A slow-ripening vintage with high acidity. The wines were tight and rigid for many years and tannins mostly unrelenting. This from around the time that the vineyard was beginning to show how it would turn out something different every vintage and so a young Giovanni wanted it to be a single-vineyard wine. This is fresh with striking acidity during all stages of its enjoyment. It’s airiness shows at the very beginning and then returns full circle, upon and with linger at the finish. The earthiness runs through but also plays second to the liqueur and especially that acidity. The direct explanation comes from the maker himself. “The fresh finish (of the 1993 wine) should be the trademark of Chianti Classico wines.” Drink 2018-2024. Tasted November 2018

Isole e Olena, Barberino Val d’Elsa

Isole e Olena Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (704346, $34.95, WineAlign)

Was finally bottled in July, to be released in February. “I like 2016, it’s a very different vintage.” As usual there is 15 per cent canaiolo mixed in. Why Canaiolo? “Because it’s from here. And it’s a late ripening variety like sangiovese, and also not heavy and jammy like merlot.” Canaiolo is like sangiovese in that it must be selected and used in very particular ways. Paolo’s is actually a darker depth of fruit from 2016 while the spice is so much more sophisticated. There is so much wisdom now, more than even before and a calm, settling depth about this wine. Last tasted November 2018 #isoleeolena @HalpernWine #isoleeolena halpernwine Isole e Olena @halpernwine

Chianti Classico 2016 is composed of 80 per cent sangiovese, (15) canaiolo and (5) syrah, which since the 1980s has always held a spot, in fact it may have been as much as 10 two plus decades ago. Paolo de Marchi explains.”Syrah in my opinion, was really about thinking, about blending in an earlier ripening variety.” It also added colour, not for quality necessarily, but for pleasure. “If I were a consultant I don’t think I would recommend to plant it anymore.” But Paolo loves it, its bright acidity and lower pH, and loves the warmth. You can feel the liquid peppery hug from the combination of canaiolo and syrah in the constitution of this CC and now a new texture evolved from a traditional one, clearly passed on through generations. It is spoken in the clarity of this 2016, but it has taken decades to arrive here. Finessed, soft tannins and an effulgent acidity wrap fruit chewy and yet very crisp. Singular again and alone but quicker to please, at least for now. Perhaps it too will shut down in 2019. Perhaps not. Drink 2019-2028. Tasted February 2018

The Galestro of Isole e Olena, Barberino Val d’Elsa

Isole e Olena Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (704346, $34.95, WineAlign)

Confirms the spice that is so layered by Galestro and Alberese but also 15 per cent canaiolo. It’s sangiovese, place of origin, San Donato and the accumulation of grapes grown in this set of ridges in and around Olena. Certainly more of a sour-sapid note in this ’15, a higher tone and more effusion than ’16. At least in terms of Isole e Olena. Last tasted November 2018

Paolo de Marchi’s Annata is not exactly the most typical ’15 because of its unabashed sapidity, still a bit reductive out of origins in freshness incarnate, with acids burgeoning and expanding in the mouth. Liquorice and carob flavours climb on top of the lingering smell of balsam wood. Full and expansive, intense and bigger than many though a right-proper texture it most certainly delivers. “This is only one-third of the potential of the vintage,” says De Marchi about how it is showing a year and a half in, now imploding and beginning to shut down. This seems to be the trend in Paolo’s wines, fresh and vibrant just when and after being bottled, then protective of themselves before turning into something beautiful once again. This will develop into a decades long lived Chianti Classico. Drink 2020-2033. Tasted February 2018

Isole e Olena Cepparello 2015, IGT Toscana, Tuscany, Italy (25650, $108.95, WineAlign)

Many believe you can’t go home again and this 100 per cent sangiovese is one of the original locals, along with 11 (or more) Super Tuscans that in many ways are no longer, nor for arguments’ sake should be. As such Cepparello is one of the wines destined to lead a literary, intellectual or at least historical return that says you can go home again. Home to Chianti Classico and specifically here, Olena as part of San Donato. This is an exceptional Cepparello, seamless, blessed of pure, perfectly phenolic fruit, unblemished, stylish and with pitch perfect acidity. What else can be done here that is hoped for, wished for, dreamed of or wanted? Feels like home. Drink 2020-2032. Tasted November 2018

Isole e Olena Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2013, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Gran Selezione as a matter of assemblage. “It can come from one of two ideas in your heart but why don’t we take the experience of the Super Tuscan and shift the quality of the blend. To fix the ups and down of sangiovese?” The words of Paolo de Marchi. “What is Chianti Classico? It is the beauty and the transparency of the acidity. I’m trying to solve the idea of Gran Selezione myself. I don’t have answers yet.” He continues. “I’m not at war with anybody anymore, as long as there is quality.” So 2013 is simply that, 2013, exaggerated with great hyperbole from Paolo de Marchi’s world. It’s identifiable as such, perfectly sour in seamless connectivity to itself and then place from where it came. Intense and architectural structure. Last tasted November 2018

When the Gran Selezione 2013 was in the conception stage there was “the search to integrate the experience of Super-Tuscan into the research of sangiovese.” The acidity is even higher in this ’13 than the same vintage Cepparello, because of 90 per cent sangiovese. Something textural is ganache oozing, connected to an espresso-noted and tobacco waft, followed by such spice. This is a moist intense expression of GS, likely needing 10 years to settle in. Long and exciting, plugged in and pulsating. Drink 2022-2032. Tasted February 2018

Isole e Olena Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2010, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

According to Paolo de Marchi Gran Selezione “has to be a wine of Super Tuscan roots, set in a Chianti Classico setting.” Just a little bit more than 80 per cent sangiovese with cabernet sauvignon and syrah. The acidity and transparency is Chianti Classico while the gentler touch is in a way, not. This turns the entire Gran Selezione idea on its head. It’s the antithetical one, in opposition to what or where the category seems to be going but at the same time fully entrenched within the ideal and the rules. It’s a rich and complex liqueur, truly red cherry and new leather, truly high-toned and truly a matter made by a master of assemblage. Truly Gran Selezione. From and for a moving target, out of vineyards and through the cellar. At least in terms of today. The enigma, the past and the future. Puts the question before the answer. Last tasted November 2018

Isole E Olena Gran Selezione 2010 graces a factor in which “the blend lifts up the quality,” a noble venture or undertaking that balances the angles and trips into light. The reductive one is, as per the firm and grippy vintage, tannic and taut, wound still in the present, with the carob and the savour. The minty one, in a way, and with graphite and creosote. Very sapid, tight and intense. The most brooding of the four (’15, ’13 this and ’06). Drink 2021-2030. Tasted February 2018

Istine

Walking on Alberese with Angela Fronti in her @istine_raddainchianti and #cavarchione Gaiole in Chianti vineyards ~ #chianticlassico #vignaistine #vignacavarchione

Istine Chianti Classico Vigna Istine 2015, DOCG, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

That this Vigna Istine is so different than what comes later out of 2016 shows how this particular site will offer up the most diversity, complexity and multiplicity over a stretch of vintages. Here from 2015 the flowers are in full bloom and the acidity stretching upwards with lift and light. It’s a lovely insight into the beauty of edgy volatility when managed so right. Love how this walks an edge of danger to form a liaison between vineyard, through maker to glass. Last tasted September 2018

Istine Chianti Classico is made by Angela Fronti out of vineyards set quite high between 480 and 550m, on the road that runs from Radda to Castellina in Chianti. From a great variegation of soils; Alberese, marly limestone, Galestro and some light presence of quartz. A rich red limestone ruby sangiovese is the result, collecting to a mild but notable unctuous liqueur, manageable acidity and tannin. This sharp and correct CC is lovely, well made, so proper. Drink 2017-2020. Tasted September 2017 istine_raddainchianti angela_fronti #Istine @istineraddainchianti

Istine Chianti Classico DOCG Vigna Istine 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Eponymous winery vineyard facing northwest, surrounded by forest at 550m, rocky, steep, full of both Galestro and Alberese, bottled in May 2018 and will be sent to market in January 2019. The dusty, savoury and structured one, from the steep slope and if there is a vineyard that delivers more black olive tapenade and wild earthy complexity, please let me know. This needs time, loads of precious time to get into a charming place. It’s a matter of layers waiting to peel back, air and breath. It’s also a thing of powerful beauty, linear, direct and vines that breathe in the forest and bathe in the morning sun. Harvested third week of October, a month before 2017 and two weeks before what will be in 2018. Submits a new voice into the modern lexicon of Chianti Classico. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted September 2018

Istine Chianti Classico DOCG Vigna Casanova Dell’Aia 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Casanova Dell’Aia is the vineyard closest to the village of Radda, thickened by much more clay, facing due south. The mineral being Alberese in limestone chunks and so there is this combination or richness and rocks but through a marked earthiness. The flowery aromatics are certainly there but again, bound up in the notes prepared, presented and presupposed by the soil. It’s rounder to be sure by the direction of vineyard, but also vintage driven. In the end it’s nothing if not handsome, fulsome and looking to achieve a relationship with a char outside and medium rare in, cut two inches thick. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted September 2018

Istine Chianti Classico Docg Vigna Cavarchione 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

A dramatic vineyard somewhat a distance from Istine (25 minutes return as far as the car drives). Really rocky, full of Galestro and Alberese, bottled in May 2018 and will be sent to market in January 2019. There is a richness to Cavarchione that comes sooner but it’s also a taut and herbal affair with a lower grumbling of acidity than Istine. Ripe and deeply rendered fruit abounds, in waves that build, as if they might accumulate into a tsunami of sangiovese aromatics. It’s also floral, of violets and roses. Sweet balsamic and fine tannin will take this deep. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted September 2018

Istine Chianti Classico Docg Vigna Cavarchione 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Time has clearly helped to open up the aromatics of this more generous vintage gifting wine and yet despite this thought I have to say that the vintage variation in Angela Fronti’s wines are not afforded so simple an explanation. Thinking about the differences, comparisons and contrasts in her three single-vineyard sangiovese is truly a complicated matter. All that said this is beginning to drink with beautiful pulchritude and gentility. Also with Gaiole’s acidity, savoury and intense. Last tasted September 2018

Angela Fronti produces three single-vineyard Chianti Classico, this being the one from Vertine in Gaiole. She began vinifying her three parcels separately in 2012 but also makes a general Annata and a Riserva that combines the three. The real passion comes through in these single expressions and Cavarchione might just be the the most impressive, at least in this vintage, even if it happens to be the outlier so far from the Istine estate. Precocious wisdom born of age-old dispensation is what drives this sangiovese, just as it does in the Vigna Istine (between Radda and Castellina) and the Vigna Casanova dell’Aia (near Radda). Cavarchione shows deep wisdom, perfect impression and with an eye looking forward for a terroir reveal. It’s an intensely calm sangiovese and while this is not as immediately drinkable as the Annata ‘normale’ it is not far from warming up and bringing the heat. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted February 2018

Monte Bernardi Chianti Classico DOCG Retromarcia 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Retromarcia is like the Swahili pole, pole, a reminder to us all to slow down, gear down, chill out, take it easy. This Annata has been a 100 per cent, Panzano in Chianti estate grown sangiovese since 2010. The fruit is some of the sweetest and purest sangiovese out there, with a scent of anise, a whiff of tobacco. It’s unequivocally molto frutto, with glycerin texture, especially for the frazione annd also nosing spiced floral notes. Fresh, light in the tannic department, light in weight and also in alcohol (13.5). Just a joy to drink. As a match to an Italian racer it’s a sprinter, Gino Bartali, Cavaliere di Gran Croce, Gino the Pious, 1950 winner in San Remo. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted September 2018 michaelschmelzer #montebernardi @montebernardi @Michael_MonteB @montebernardi Michael Schmelzer

Azienda Agricola Montefioralle, Montefioralle-Greve in Chianti

Montefioralle, Greve in Chianti

Montefioralle Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Harvested at the end of September from the warmest and most gracious gifting vintage. Stock in colour may be unnecessary but oh so beautiful this one, deeply hued, rendered of a purple that’s really just perfect. Grace in acidity meets depth of fruit and such polish. There is nothing rustic about this and yet the perfumed meets spice profile is exacting and pure for this Montefioralle terroir, which incidentally is three hectares of planted vineyards. Silk in sangiovese, honest and pure. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted September 2018 montefioralle @MontefioralleWi @montefioralle Lorenzo Sieni

Montefioralle Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

“The year, in my opinion, was too hot,” explains Lorenzo Sieni. “We don’t have perfect tannin in this vintage.” At least not for the Annata made from younger vines. More than one year in bottle now, still nervy but the levels of phenolic ripeness and juiciness are exceptional. More firmly structured than many ‘15s because of the place, the altitude and the solar exposure. Striking acidity brings about the balance. Drink 2019-2024. Last tasted September 2018

Perhaps this vintage is necessary to gain an understanding of Montefioralle or perhaps it was always there and a connection just needed to be found. The inhalant of elemental abstraction is remarkable and singular so let us open the discussion about the interest and in fact the necessity for Montefioralle. Just gorgeous from a fruit perspective, dusty and rising in tone with breaches considered and levels touched but never crossed. The risks are many with the rewards justified, palpable and great potential comes as a result. Check out Montefioralle. This tells you why. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted February 2018

Montefioralle Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

So very young and powerful, just a few months in bottle. Primary and beautifully perfumed with the liquified deep fruit chalk of the frazioni and a hit of exotic spice. An intensity that ’14 just did not show and the polish we know to be the kind mastered out of Montefioralle by this passion project house. The liqueur is again one of textured silk, a viscosity to nearing the vanishing point of glück and in the end, total domination. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted September 2018

Montefioralle Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

“The only way to increase the quality was to decrease the quantity,” is Lorenzo Sieni’s explanation of the vintage. Plenty of cutting (40 per cent) led to 1,800 bottles produced, “but I’m very proud of the result.” True liqueur and it’s actually begun to show some secondary character, dried fruit and a hint of porcini and such, certainly not typical but that was this vintage. Intense perfume, high liqueur, incense, peppermint and smells of salons and apothecaries. A wild Riserva ride. Drink 2018-2022. Last tasted September 2018

Montefioralle is a deeply felt sensation of sangiovese preservation bringing everything that is Montefioralle within Greve with power and grace. Such fruit wealth is remarkable for 2014, distinct from its geological birthing and powerful to the end. Oh how this celebrates a zone within a zone. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted February 2018

Montefioralle VinSanto del Chianti Classico DOCG 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

From trebbiano and malvasia at a sugar content of 129 g/L, soft, lighter, in balance with its acidity. Nothing heavy or cloying, noting peaches and apricots, perfect for a bite of biscotti. Only three years of aging, the minimum, for a light and fresh VinSanto. Thanks to Carlo in his element inside the Vinsantaia. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted September 2018

Monteraponi, Radda in Chianti

#monteraponi #raddainchianti

My first visit with Michele Braganti and Alessandra Deiana @monteraponi in Radda takes me back to the genesis of the Chianti Classico script. Though having often told many tales of others, I was perhaps not ready to assimilate this level of understanding until this time. Things do now in fact make more sense than they did before and many new tales will be told.

Monteraponi Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $42.60, WineAlign)

Michele Braganti’s 2016 Annata is 95 per cent sangiovese with canaiolo, certified organic, off of the youngest (9-15) year-old vineyards. “Here is Radda,” he insists. Generally speaking at Monteraponi “the stone is highly rich in stone,” which sounds like a proverb and believably so, plus the altitude does not allow for Michele to make powerful wines. It’s cold here, even in September it can be five degrees at night. Acidity comes from structure and the fruit walks like un funambolo, a tightrope walker. It’s both linear and climbing uphill. This is red limestone lightning sangiovese of absolute purity, transparency, honesty and connectivity. To the land. Drink 2019-2029. Tasted September 2018 monteraponi deianaalessandra1 @Monteraponi @Cavinona @Monteraponi @cavinona

Monteraponi Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Campitello 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $109.27, WineAlign)

From the Campitello cru, an existing vineyard inherited by Michele Braganti’s father when he purchased Monteraponi in 1974. A sangiovese (90 per cent) existential storditore with canaiolo and colorino. From Alberese and Galestro soils, the combination of which is not lost on the veritable intuitions of multiplicity. It makes for the most structured of these wines. Multiply the purity and the direct connection to place and this is Campitello. The only Riserva anywhere in the territory to deliver this particular combination of transparent, luminescent lightning red fruit and structure. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted September 2018

With Michele Briganti

Monteraponi Baron’Ugo 2015, IGT Toscana Rosso, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Michael Braganti changed from DOCG to IGT in 2012 Why? The simple fact of rule because at 12.5 it did not qualify for Chianti Classico and so it had to be Toscana Rosso. He was a very famous man this barone named Ugo, placed in heaven, not hell, by Dante Alghieri because of what he did for Florence. The Chianti farmhouse of Monteraponi once belonged to Earl Ugo, Marquis and Governor of Tuscany. The vineyard was planted by Michele’s father in 1974, copying the grapes of Campitello; sangiovese, canaiolo, colorino, trebbiano and malvasia. It’s just the vineyard that separates it, that and the Bourgogne bottle. Purity again, of place. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted September 2018

Ormanni, Barberino Val d’Elsa and Poggibonsi

The answer to what is @chianticlassico could very well start with these pure sangiovese of #fattoriaormanni ~ #poggibonsi #barberinovaldelsa

Ormanni Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

The traditional meets the modern, forward and progressive at a crest, a poggio point from a one year aging in large cask meets used barrel. Precise and pinpointed best describes this savoury sangiovese of ripe fruit that is elongated by elastic phenolics and tannins. The altitude (400m), windswept vineyards and locale make for late ripening. And so a warm and generous vintage like 2015 is so in control, more consistent and wise from this estate. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted September 2018

Ormanni Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Borro del Diavolo 2015, Tuscany, Italy (435149, $42.95, WineAlign)

Fruit from the Borro del Diavolo vineyard and from the nearby Montignano vineyard see only small barrels, new and 2nd fill are used to age the Riserva. Extremely useful and far from any open door at this mark so first thoughts say don’t even try to go there now. The vineyards are teeming with both Galestro and Alberese so the structure is both fortified and elastic. This is Riserva built on grape and terroir, purely, inextricably, truly Barberino Val d’Elsa on the edge of Poggibonsi. Transparent, savoury, grippy and serious. After 20 minutes the fruit seems to sweeten and allows this to open itself up for consumption. Two years will see to it blooming immediately upon opening. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted September 2018 #fattoriaormanni rogersandcompanywines #fattoriaormanni @rogcowines @fattoriaormanni @rogcowines

Ormanni Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Etichetta Storica 2012, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

A very wise, established, traditional, clean and advancing sangiovese in Gran Selezione clothing. There is a deep understanding and a subtlety in this wine, from a warm yet firm vintage, just now softening, integrating and getting ready to show its true abilities. This from a vintage for drinking and for waiting. So sweetly savoury, crisp, juicy, chewy and cerebral. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted September 2018

Ormanni Canaiolo IGT Toscana Vino Biologico 2017, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Fresh to a startling point, juicy, crisp and liquid chalky. Simple and effective acidity with negligible tannin. You can see how canaiolo would add juiciness and another level of savoury to sangiovese. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted September 2018

Fattoria Pomona

Fattoria Pomona Piero Rosso IGT Toscana 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

The work of Monica Raspi, veterinarian transformed into winemaker, her mother Inga, on a property housing an abandoned brick factory deserted after the owner lost money to horses. The founder was Bandini, great grandfather who purchased the estate after it sat empty between the 50s and 80s. The work is rounded out by Monica’s husband Enrico, Rheumatologist and cook, he of a palate extraordinaire. Here in Castellina in Chianti where fruit from the lowest part and youngest section of the vineyard offers its pure, raspy, bright red cherry sangiovese, richer than you might expect and of “hair combed just right.” It’s IGT that “came out with its soul untouched.” One day it will finish growin’ up and become Chianti Classico. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted September 2018 fattoria_pomona #fattoriapomona @fattoriapomona

Fattoria Pomona Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Essentially 100 per cent sangiovese, from the better and higher part of the vineyards planted in 2004 and 1998. From hot days, cold nights and eight months in barrel. Beautiful. Fruit, fruit and more fruit. Calcareous marl and Alberese stone interchangeable for the make up the vineyard and the house, with pietraforte, quartz, everything all in, together in conglomerate. In the end, combined with organic farming and low pH, there is a salty vein running through the deeply rendered red fruit. Sapidity unique to this vineyard. Perfect with caponata, carpione and pecorino. This Annata needs to be drawn from every part of the estate because it’s terroir is one of the most variegated in all of the territory. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted September 2018

Fattoria Pomona Chianti Classico Riserva Bandini DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

From the last of the vineyard planted in 1987, now ripped out in 2018 mainly because of it having grown older and tired and having come into a time of lowest of the low production. ’Twas the Vignavecchia. This takes the conglomerate of soil and intensifies the sangiovese, by way of 15 months in grandi botti, then transferred to concrete for nine months before bottling. “Needs to be more elegant, not heavier,” insists Monica Raspi. That it is, in balance, far from dense and weighty, pretty, in pulchritude, with not a whisper noted by the wood. Wonderfully, respectively and gently rendered Riserva. In 2016 it becomes just Pomona. Drink 2019-2027. Tasted September 2018

Principe Corsini – Le Corti

With @principecorsini at Le Corti and the many varied shades of his sangiovese. The genesis of San Casciano, right here, as always, right now.

Principe Corsini Le Corti Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (400861, $26.95, WineAlign)

“A gate vintage,” smiles Duccio Corsini, wryly I might add. Nice in quantity and quality. Aged in concrete vats, from 95 per cent sangiovese, with colorino. The rich, dark, handsome and polished blend. The level of spice is quite amazing when you consider there is no wood involved. Last tasted September 2018 principecorsini artisanal_wine_imports @PrincipeCorsini @ArtWineGuru Principe Corsini Artisanal Wine Imports

Duccio Corsini’s sangiovese is the amenable one in the name of Villa Le Corti 2015, rich and fully developed, chalky and chewy as only San Casciano can be, There is extraction with a purpose towards a rendering of the most modern expression leading to great appeal. The fine-grain in the structure will help to lead this down an even and timely developing path. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted February 2018

Principe Corsini Le Corti Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Cortevecchia 2015, Tuscany, Italy (429117, $47.95, WineAlign)

“The old court” Riserva from the modernist’s gateway vintage is another ’15 from Duccio Corsini up there in quantity and certainly quality. Aged in grandi botti the 95 per cent sangiovese is augmented by a traditional colorino, as per the usual law laid out by these courts. Similar spice to the Annata though expanded and sonorous, despite such a different élevage, here out of large barrels. The texture adds to the ideal, going wide and thickening into a consistency likely or at least imaginatively bled from a river stones terroir. Here the land augments well-extracted, full-on San Casciano hillsides fruit. Youthful remains the understatement, possibilities the attenuazione. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted September 2018

Principe Corsini Le Corti Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (429109, $69.95, WineAlign)

“A gate vintage,” informs Duccio Corsini, “nice in quantity and quality.” Aged in tonneaux, 80 per cent sangiovese and (20) merlot. Don Tommaso has been intense and brooding in the past but now here things have climbed to another level. The fruit extraction is optimum, dense and intense. The fine chocolate coated dark fruit swirls into concentrated acidity and welcomes silky, bejewelled tannin. There’s a smoothness unlike any other in San Casciano and rarely matched anywhere in the greater territory. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted September 2018

Principe Corsini Le Corti ZAC IGT Toscana 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Zac is the most important wine in Le Corti’s portfolio, a 100 per cent sangiovese that will always serve to remember the light of family and San Casciano life. It could be speculated that the greatest attention is paid to this by Prinicipe Duccio Corsini, the most pragmatically cerebral of all Chianti Classico winemakers. “Think of Don Tommaso with no merlot and taste ZAC,” he asks. From Gugliaie Vineyard, a single cru, and brother, or in this case sister to Don Tomasso’s Gran Selezione, Zia-Anna-Corisini, sister to Duccio’s grandfather. Without merlot it is truly naked, edges not rounded, acidity making for a mouth watering rise, spray and fall, then into the cognizance of ultima purity unearthed. It’s a pure San Casciano expression within the context of a Gran Selezione culture, but in the end it is the fruit of a Cru to come as a child would and will always conjure the best of memories. Innocent, pure and sweet. Drink 2020-2029. Tasted September 2018

Tenuta Marsiliana Birillo 2016, IGT Costa Toscana Rosso, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

This Maremma estate owned by Prinicipe Corsini – Le Corti (of Chianti Classico) is a hot and dry climate, mainly flat though with a wash down of metallic red iron soil through the fields. Aged one year in barrel the liqueur is lush, welling, oily and parochially incredible. The blend for anywhere is 60 per cent cabernet with (40 merlot). Fresh, high acidity, iron fisted but not in or of tannin. High value quotient. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted September 2018

San Felice, Castelnouvo Berardenga

San Felice Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (282996, $19.95, WineAlign)

Sangiovese with colorino and pugnitello. The little fist bunches once included for added colour but that is no longer the need. It is now the quality of the tannin and ulterior complexities that keep it in the blend. The top quality vintage is a spice machine giver, tight, fruity, tart and intense. Last tasted September 2018 borgosanfelice chartonhobbs #BorgoSanFelice @ChartonHobbs Borgo San Felice

Particularly standard and middle road taken sangiovese, expressive of ripe annata 2016 fruit, tart and pressed to weight. Filled in and ready for the earliest enjoyment is clearly the intent, from fruit taken full advantage and tannin kept to a minimum. Just a touch of verdant berry intertwine is noted. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted February 2018

San Felice Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Il Grigio 2014, Tuscany, Italy (716266, $28.95, WineAlign)

Here 100 per cent Sangiovese from Castelnuovo Berardenga comes across with vintage quality tannin, tight and locked shut, still and not ready to emerge, even at this four year mark. Last tasted September 2018

Not an easy vintage to create the archetype Riserva Il Grigio but if you are partial to the savoury, slightly cedary, high-toned and charmingly low alcohol exception to the modern Chianti Classico rule then you’ve come to the right place. This sangiovese is as old-school as it gets for San Felice and props are afforded for listening to the vintage wind and coming forward as a messenger for the words whispered by those atypical breezes. This is balanced and correct, taking no prisoners and holding no conference. It’s an as is CCR with confidence and grace. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted May 2018

San Felice Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Il Grigio 2014, Tuscany, Italy (403477, $48.95, WineAlign)

The Gran Selezione is minimum 80 per cent sangiovese plus indigenous varieties only, including pugnitello. Very firm, dusty, multi-variegated, tart red fruit and serious in structure. Il Grigio hyperbole in complete mimic of the Riserva with a half year’s extra aging. Might gift an extra three or fours years longevity. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted September 2018

San Felice Chianti Classico DOCG Poggio Rosso 2007, Tuscany, Italy (SAQ 11213191, $46.25, WineAlign)

Poggio Rosso was the appellation sangiovese that turned into Gran Selezione in 2011, in the second year of the category and creating a second for the estate. The first year having been only one produced from a separate selection. Really developing at this point, with balsamico and mushroom notes coming from the warm vintage after spring frosts and the result being a small crop. Spice notes really exaggerate the cherries and the tannin is quite sweetly intense. Chalky chocolate finish. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted September 2018

San Felice Vigorello IGT Toscana 2013, Tuscany, Italy (726463, $64.00, WineAlign)

Was a varietal sangiovese for 14 years and is now 35 per cent pugnitello, (30) cabernet sauvignon and merlot plus (5) petit verdot. It’s quite reductive, big, bouncy and settling into a hedonistic place. Very tannic, full of peppery chocolate, demanding and then there is this tobacco, mentholated and graphitic cool quality, complex and intense. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted September 2018

Tenuta Perano

Welcome #lambertofrescobaldi @frescobaldivini to Chianti Classico. So many reasons to smile ~ incredible vineyards #alberese #galestro #steepslope #gaioleinchianti #tenutaperano #peranoestate #collinedigaiole

Tenuta Perano Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

The second harvest (though the first to enter the market) for Frescobaldi’s Tenuta Perano in Gaiole is a fortuitous one and you have to see these steep vineyards for yourself to believe what possibilities there can be. The unusual situation of a simultaneous release alongside the same vintage Riserva is necessary and understood because the ’14 fruit was de-classified and sold off. Chianti Classico Annata is proper when this much freshness abounds, with high acidity and Gaiole savour. So very and bloody Gaiole and I say this with blood orange in mind. There is also a forested nod and a wink in affinity over the hills to Radda but this remains secure in its Gaiole clothing. The angles, slopes and aspects of Perano’s steepness are echoed in the way this sangiovese ambles across the palate, expanding and contracting as sangiovese likes to and will often do. Temperature fluctuations will also impart this sense of breaths taken in and out. Great intrigue here and with no surprise why Frescobaldi coveted this impressive property. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted September 2018 frescobaldivini philippedandurandwines @FrescobaldiVini @Dandurandwines @FrescobaldiVini @VinsPhilippeDandurand

Tenuta Perano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $35.00, WineAlign)

In Riserva the essence of this Gaiole location is continued to be captured, along with a strong Frescobaldi identity instituted for an early defined Perano style. It’s a severe set of vineyard landscapes here and appropriating the place is necessary to making quality sangiovese. The sanguinity and orange citrus aspects speak of the white limestone and chalkiness in the soils, here accompanied by a Riserva glaze, slightly caramelized and charred al forno. The fruit multiplied by earth richness is properly rendered and texturally you can imagine this to feel like elastic pizza dough. Acidity is everything, the key to success and the director of the project. As it should be with sangiovese, Chianti Classico and this place. The focus begins right away with vintage number one and so the future of Gaiole is ensured inclusive with the talents of Frescobaldi. Truly. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted September 2018

Terrabianca, Radda in Chianti

Terrabianca Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Croce 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Croce is 100 per cent sangiovese 15 months in Slavonian oak and six months in bottle. The richest 2014 CCR in the region or at least the one dying for trying. Smooth and velvet chocolate ganache, with savoury edging accenting a full extractive complement. Big sangiovese. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted September 2018 terrabianca_winery profilewinegroup #Terrabianca @ProfileWineGrp @ProfileWineGroup

Terrabianca Campaccio IGT Toscana 2013, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $39.95, WineAlign)

Aromas are wild in this sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon and merlot from Radda in Chianti blend aged for a year in French and American oak. The potpourri of Chinese five-spice, clove, violet and mint is extraordinary, Rioja like. It’s a massive nose with an endless supply of scents. Incense and peppermint. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted September 2018

Terrabianca Campaccio Selezione IGT Toscana 2011, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $56.00, WineAlign)

The Super Tuscan formerly known as Campaccio Riserva rested for two years in small barrels (French and American) plus one year in bottle. The Radda in Chianti blend of sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon and merlot repeats the potpourri of wild and exotic aromas though with greater glaring hyperbole. The acidity too is exaggerated but funnily enough, not the tannin. The extra year in wood and the specificities of the vintage are to thank. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted September 2018

Val Delle Corti, Radda in Chianti

A result of our manic research on the quintessential search for #sangiovese in Radda and @valdellecorti. Roberto Bianchi’s sangiovese, now with even more consciousness.

Val Delle Corti Lo Stranieri Rosso IGT Toscana 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

This 60 per cent sangiovese and 40 per cent merlot is bottled to celebrate the estate’s merlot plantings with sangiovese as its host. Now in production for six years (planted in 2000 and then in 2008). “Non complicato,” and that it is, only for IGT, now developed well enough to produce good fruit, a passion play and for pane, salumi, with Radda acidity, “right between the eyes.” Drink 2018-2021. Tasted September 2018

valdellecorti @ValdelleCorti @valdellecorti

Val Delle Corti Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Just bottled and I mean just bottled, a sangiovese of bright red to purple fruit with a 30-40 per cent assistance by what Roberto Bianchi employs through fermentation called “piemontazino,” or macherazione carbonica a capello son merso.” Leaving 30-40 per cent of the fruit in stainless steel tank on skins for three to four months. Tames the Raddesse acidity for the Annata and makes it more than drinkable. In 2016 it’s crushable, back up the truck gulpable. Beauty in sangiovese “questa, è radda.” This, is Radda. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted September 2018

Val Delle Corti Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

“I like the ’15 very much,” says Bianchi and it has been in bottle one year. Classico. Annata. Radda. Holds approximately three per cent canaiolo, as in every year. “We can be good and smart and cunning as we want but the factor of luck is absolutely important.” Climate change affords enormous advantage but the element of luck is key. Lots of luck here. Bright red fruit, so much energy, so much life. Drink 2018-2023. Last tasted September 2018

Roberto Bianchi’s 2015 is a reserved and restrained aromatic Chianti Classico but there is a subliminal Galestro or Macigno message being delivered here and it would seem to be a grey to darker calcareous rock expression. The fruit is quiet but felt plummy and tart on the palate. This is a bit older schooled but surely carries great presence and length. A rich thorough finish concludes that ride through the mineral life. Tasted September 2017

Val Delle Corti Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

The 45 year old vines are responsible for this single cru, 100 per cent sangiovese that while older is yet bolder than the barrel sample tasted of 2016. Here you feel the hottest weeks of the summer, less elasticity, fluidity and fluency than that 2016. And yet it is so intuitively elastic, fluid and fluent in mineral rich, marly limestone soil. Here from the Corti Valley on the east facing slope above the river below. Richness, weight and red fruit so specific to this place meets the Radda acidity head on but can’t help but be submissive and respectful. Pure expression of estate, valley and commune. Truly. Drink 2020-2029. Tasted September 2018

Val Delle Corti Extra IGT Toscana 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Extra is “a result of our manic research on the quintessential search for sangiovese in Radda and Valdellecorti,” explains Roberto Bianchi. A Riserva of the Riserva, from Chianti Classico vineyards, first done in 2013, now with “even more consciousness.” The formula is a matter of selecting results of barrels that have really done something special. In the future it may come from a cru vineyard, up above the cantina, where the cypress trees grow with a history of producing great sangiovese. Planted in 2017 in the old terraced way to prevent erosion with heat resistant clones to mitigate stress in drought and better for water retention. Here from the challenge of 2014, it is certainly smoother, richer and expressive of more accomplished fruit, with an extra year in really old barrel. Still the acidity. Perhaps when the cru is ready this will become the estate’s Gran Selezione? The future is wide open. Drink 2021-2030. Tasted September 2018

Vignavecchia, Radda in Chianti

Big love for the #fiasco of @vignavecchiafattoria and even bigger love for the passion, tradition and quality of the sangiovese. Grazie Orsola ~ #raddainchianti

Vignavecchia Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Tasted with Orsola Beccari in Radda in Chianti, from a just about ready barrel sample. The dusty rose and violet perfume, pretty and savoury of a particular Vignavecchi localitá nose. This is the Macigno and the Alberese speaking, of elegance woven through structure. Lovely purity. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted September 2018 #vignavecchia #Vignavecchia @VignaVecchia

Vignavecchia Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Almost no movement in a wine that reached an accord and a fruit-acidity-tannin agreement early in its tenure. It’s still there and not evolving yet. Amazing considering no oak was used. Drink 2019-2025. Last tasted September 2018

Sometimes there comes along a sangiovese of seriousness and classic nature to explain some things, particularly about the commune and the ground underfoot. Vignavecchia’s is such a Radda in Chianti animal, rooted in mineral traced earth, fruit seeping in its own bled liqueur and the chains of acidity and tannin strung together with inexplicable seamlessness. The fine exquisite character of this sangiovese is a testament to honesty, purity and clarity. This house just travels from strength to strength, with no break in the accord. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted February 2018

Vignavecchia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Odoardo Beccari 2014, Tuscany, Italy (478875, $33.95, WineAlign)

“It’s not a very complicated or complex Riserva,” tells Orsola Beccari. Right of passage is second, third and fourth use barrels, with a small percentage (10ish) of merlot. It’s tight and reductive, at the peak of Radda acidity, perhaps not with fully uniform ripeness and so it is the lack of density that delivers the charm to match the Radda perfume. Paints another Vignavecchia picture. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted September 2018

Vignavecchia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Odoardo Beccari 2011, Tuscany, Italy (478875, $33.95, WineAlign)

There’s almost a Burgundian comparison, the perfume and power, like Volnay, not masculine, but athletic. Like the climbing Cashmere goat, always walking uphill, not up and down, until it will arrive at where it needs to graze and breathe. No oscillation, just a rising. Come on up. Very representative, of Orsola, Odoardo, Vignavecchia and vintage. More impressive than ever before. Tasted September 2018

A consistent and terrific follow-up to 2010 from old vines in Radda in Chianti, this is warm and creeping north (or south depending on your explanatory orientation) from deep, religious aromatics. Fresh slices of fennel bulb and wet concrete are rich, wet, juicy and vaporous. Sweet acidity and tannin join spicy red fruit from what is ostensibly the most unctuous and deeply tangy sangiovese you are likely to ever taste. This is quite something else, both hedonistically indulgent and propitiously wild and engaging. You had better like it hot and bothered, fleshy, gregarious and sexy. This really has it all. Drink 2017-2024. Tasted February 2017

Vignavecchia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Odoardo Beccari 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

With 10 per cent canaiolo, just from the first, many terraced, closest to home estate vineyard. This has changed since last February, however minor, softened even. Aged in Grandi Botti, 8,000 bottles produced. Will be one of the great 2014 Gran Selezione. Last tasted September 2018

Vignavecchia’s Odoardo Beccari is the obstinate one showing the first major number of reduction or at least it acts this way relative to nine other examples. Perhaps an opinion is skewed by having been in awe of recent examples or maybe its just a hunch or a feeling but this is stylistically found to be closer to Riserva and further from Gran Selezione. That is said in the most positive way. Still the soil is everything and the fruit abides. Crazy tannin here overtop serious acidity. Remains six years away, at least, from opening to charm and enjoyment. The structure is founded in deep classicism. Just remarkable sangiovese. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted February 2018

The author Godello in Radda in Chianti

Vignavecchia Raddese IGT Colli della Toscana Centrale 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

In the past it was not possible to produce 100 per cent sangiovese as CC and so Raddese was born, like so many other IGT. It could in fact now be Gran Selezione, but it is simply Raddese, from Radda, a local, from this place. It’s a selection, 4,000 bottle lot, the best bunches of the year, champion sangiovese of the season. It’s like Leone, Flacianello, etc, a lieu-dit like name, as an administrative word to create an estate gathered representative of the people who make wine in this place. Raddese. Very pretty wine, softer than the Chianti Classicos and the finest Radda acidity. Drink 2018-2025. Tasted September 2018

Vignavecchia VinSanto del Chianti Classico DOCG Casuario 2009, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, 375 mL, WineAlign)

A beautiful and aggressive Vin Santo. Dried herbs; rosemary, thyme and marjoram. Figs and apricot, with great sweetness and several conjugating dense acidities. Still quite primary, caramelized with great savour and working through some awkward moments towards a connubial future. Drink 2020-2030. Tasted September 2018

Villa di Geggiano

Villa Di Geggiano Bandinello 2017, IGT Toscana Rosso, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $24.95, WineAlign)

A 60/20/20 sangiovese/syrah/ciliegiolo mix, two weeks in stainless and a few months in old wood. The concept of design is to create fruity and ask to be consumed when young. Beautiful acidity from a southern, warmer clime possessive of necessary ventilation and a micro-climate where frosts and hail seem to pass on by. A tiny micro conca d’oro climate within a larger area typified by a great variegation in the soil; Alberese, schisty Galestro, limestone and clay with some sand. An extra level of interest is piqued by a rhubarb and black cherry meeting. Only 15,000 bottles were produced in 2017. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted September 2018 villadigeggiano andreaboscu barrelselect @VilladiGeggiano @BarrelSelect @villadigeggianowinery @barrelselect

Villa Di Geggiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $35.95, WineAlign)

It is noted that Geggiano’s terroir delivers a dark hue and deep profile but not the weight and thick constitution that might be thought to accompany or expect. It’s 100 per cent sangiovese and it does clock in at 15 per cent, though not surprising considering the vintage and the southerly location. A bit of new French tonneaux but mostly older, for 12-14 months. High acidity and elasticity takes this into balance. Delicious sangiovese comes from place and respect and Geggiano’s carries forth with tonality and depth. First wholly varietal wine in this vintage. Last tasted September 2018

Geggiano’s particular corner of Castelnuovo Berardenga delivers the gift of calm and collected, deeply fruity and sneaky, streaky, stony sangiovese. It gets neither more subtle nor more appreciable than these wines and in 2015 there is warmth indeed but also a cool sliver of mineral truth. This Chianti Classico does not guess at its ways and intentions, it commits to them with implicit and intuitive, life affirming strength. Great length, really great length. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted February 2018

Villa Di Geggiano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2012, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

The 2012 is the current release because they (Geggiano and sangiovese) need time in the bottle. They simply keep a firm grip on their youth for quite an extended period of time. Riserva for the Bianchi-Bandinelli brothers is a matter of the best vines and the better barrel samples. Creosote and graphite really come from this nose, with tapenade, blood orange and violets. It’s almost more red fruit than the Annata “but that’s alchemy,” says Alessandro BB. This is a great example of work done alongside sangiovese oenologist Paolo Vagaggini, to transfer the variegate of the vineyard, through the conduit of time, into the glass. Still so young with great chains of stretched tannins, to be better in three more years. Drink 2020-2031. Tasted September 2018

Four words for you babe- Mi-cro Cli-mate ~ #castelnuovoberardenga ~ Riserva ’09 by @villadigeggiano ~ #initforthelonghall

Villa Di Geggiano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2009, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Tasted alongside the 2012 there is a marked humidity and warmth of vintage and now three years on the balsamico and chocolate are really beginning to emerge. Certainly more strength and depth, the chains of tannin and command are breaking down and the wine is entering its next stage of life. Warm, silky smooth and soothing. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted September 2018

Volpaia, Radda in Chianti

Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (953828, $30.95, WineAlign)

Sangiovese simply stated is the fresh maker from the vintage that speaks to a maximum loud and clear pronouncement. Here Volpaia takes ripeness and wraps it up in a shell of protection that can and will not be broken. You can absolutely smell the freshest of red fruits in this ’16 and it’s a feeling that never dissipates. Always a benchmark for Radda and the greater territory. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted November 2018 castellodivolpaia rogersandcompanywines @volpaia @rogcowines @volpaia

Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2014, Tuscany, Italy (705335, $41.95, WineAlign)

From the vintage out of which no single vineyard wines were made. All of them are here, in this Riserva. With high elevation comes later picking and so because the weather turned beautiful in late September and early October it allowed hang time and more developed phenolics. And so here there is length, elongated loveliness and very restricted, properly managed, pent up aggression. It’s real and will age with some wavering here and there, for a decade or more, before really going into a secondary state you may or may not be interested in drinking. I for one will always be. Last tasted November 2018

Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva 2014 is expressly reductive with layers of beautiful fruit laid comfortable and resting below. The glycerin texture and fine, fine tannins tell us the life of this CCR will be long, slow developed and over time will become more beautiful than imagined. Benvenuto to the blessed nature of Macigno terroir exorcized properly, in allowance of place to hold court and fruit to slowly dance upon its stage, rhythmically and harmoniously together. This takes every advantage of a vintage that will build structure if you let it. Wait for Volpaia’s ’14 because two plus years from now the florality will floor you. So pretty. Drink 2019-2026. Tasted September 2017

Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 1991, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

From back in the days of the old Chianti Classico and the rules when white grapes were allowed in the mix and here they are very present. There persists a fresh fruit construct even while earthy, umami, forest floor secondary notes are very much in play. Opened for hours ahead but not decanted, there develops a wild strawberry note that reeks of at once maceration and then, leather. The acidity is there but on a linear plane so not necessarily upholding its end, but that matters not because the persistence is unwavering. Drink 2018-2020. Tasted November 2018

Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 1988, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

This return to a time in Chianti Classico when rules were lax and white grapes were permitted to mingle and variegate with the reds. This ’88 is amazingly floral, older earthy of course but alive with flowers so blessedly perfumed. The acidity is striking for thirty years, vibrant, eyes to the world and showing little sign of walking away from the theatre. It’s a testament to everything Volpaia has worked for and all that it can be. This will drink so well for five to seen more years. Wait 20 minutes and boom, fennocchio! And toffee, even a bit of caffé. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted November 2018

Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Coltassala 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, $60.00, WineAlign)

Perfumed and powerful but quite frankly I can’t see any development since February of 2017. The fruit is out, up and in full control of its destiny. A long life ahead confirmed. Last tasted November 2018

Welcome to the new age for Chianti Classico Gran Selezione longevity, meaning this is one to go further, deeper, well into the Radda in Chianti night. In answer to the question of category content, Coltassala was a Riserva (labeled as IGT) until the ’14 vintage (and there is no ’14 GS), always with five per cent mammolo, from the plot co-planted at the end of the 1960s. Then the vineyard was grafted in the late 70s (before Coltassala was created) in the early 80s. “Coltassala is a question of what was in this vineyard” notes Giovannella Stianti Mascheroni. Most interesting is how this Chianti Classico carries 10 times the acidity of the Annata and the Riserva, in great tension and demand, dominating and to be honest, is quite distracting. It’s nearly an impossible proposition of structure but from a night when a 1987 Riserva showed zero signs of decline, anything is to be believed. Coltassala is truly a body of work to represent this 500m vineyard and Volpaia with the highest nobility. Drink 2022-2032. Tasted February 2018

Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Il Puro 2011, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, $150.00, WineAlign)

Il Puro is as you would imagined it would be, the pure one, a 100 per cent sangiovese made from 25 different and combined clones. It’s a project concerned with protecting and preserving the genetic diversity of 60 years involved with the local and endemic varietal relationship. It’s all happened in Volpaia’s single vineyard Casanova. Quite bright and high-toned, there are layers upon layers of sangiovese-ness in a quite seamless package. It’s round, warm, soothing and welling with liquorice. Velvety tannins and so a lithe, liquid structure for optimum early to mid-years consumption. Drink 2018-2024. Tasted November 2018

Good to go!

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Sangiovese is the future – Montefioralle, Greve in Chianti

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