Radda in Chianti

In February I travelled to Tuscany for the 2018 Anteprime. In Florence I spent two days tasting sangiovese at the Chianti Classico Collection held at Stazione Leopolda. My WineAlign colleague John Szabo M.S. and I then paid visits over the next two and a half days at Poggio di Guardia, Castello di Volpaia, Rocca di Montegrossi, Rocca di Castagnoli, Castello di Ama, Isole E Olena, Podere Poggio Scalette, San Giusto A Rentennano and Valiano. Once again I am proud to be a messenger on a subject that continues to write itself. Chianti Classico. Where the slow pace is grounded in grace and nature slowly renders an intoxication of faith. Where the exceptionality of place, experience and innovation can’t be underestimated.

Related – All in with Chianti Classico

Chianti Classico and the Gallo Nero, a symbol not only designed and enshrined to classify the wines, but to ingrain something deeper, meaningful and soulful. The Gallo Nero stamps each bottle of sangiovese with a seal of approval, for a conceit of quality.

Godello and #gallonero ~ #chianticlassico

Two years ago the Gallo Nero celebrated its 300 year anniversary. At that time the appellation’s newest and noblest expression at the top of the quality pyramid was introduced in Toronto, the Gran Selezione. In 2017 the focus was on sangiovese, the grape at the heart and centre of the Chianti Classico universe. This year the greater whole is broken down, to give due to the nine pieces of the territory’s puzzle and the villages at their core.

Chianti Classico goes nine communes deep: Barberino Val d’Elsa, Castellina in Chianti, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Gaiole in Chianti, Greve in Chianti, Poggibonsi, Radda in Chianti, San Casciano Val di Pesa and Tavarnelle Val di Pesa. Digging into these sub-zones of the territory is done with thanks to the generous work and spirit of Chianti Classico’s producers and with unwavering guidance from the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico: President Sergio Zingarelli, Vice-Presidents Sebastiano Capponi and Giovanni Manneti, Director Carlotta Gori, who I’d like to point out is the first woman to take the helm of the Consorzio Chianti Classico, PR & Communications Manager Silvia Fiorentini and Event Manager Christine Lechner.

Il Signore del Chianti Classico

Every wine region needs ambassadors to educate in the diaspora and as you can see in this picture, the first five were chosen this past February in Firenze. This was indeed one of the great honours of my life. I’m quite sure Jeffrey Porter, Michaela Morris, Massimo Castellani and Isao Miyajima felt the same.

Chianti Classico farmers and producers have spent three hundred organized years studying their soils to arrive at an understanding that this territory is better for growing sangiovese than all of the lands beyond its borders. This is very important. 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.

The first question to raise is why do we need to discuss Chianti Classico as composed of nine communes and why are many of them (along with smaller micro-territories or sub-sub zones) establishing associations to promote their wines? To communicate who they are and what kind of wine comes out of their section of the territory. These are things we need to recognize and talk about, not necessarily along lines of geology but rather in terms of community and especially styles and characteristics of the wines. Over the past two years I’ve made four visits to Chianti Classico and tasted more than six hundred wines. I truly believe that the sangiovese changes from commune to commune. While it may be far too difficult to say that each commune has a specific set of characteristics, the sangiovese made by each producer are in fact singular and surely related to the soil within the boundaries of their commune. We tried a very interesting exercise in Florence back in February, a blind tasting called La Prova dei Nove, or “The Proof of the Nine,” to see if 100-plus journalists and sommeliers could taste the commune through the sangiovese. I was 3 for 9 and quite pleased with myself. I sat with two prominent winemakers and one of them was 1 for 9.  The conclusion? It’s really hard to taste the commune. But I’ll tell you why it’s still very important to discuss Chianti Classico as a sum of these essential parts.

ine wines, nine communes, this will be easy…not so much #blindtasting @chianticlassico #laprovadeinove so thanks @drinkeatlove now I’ll have to think about and pen another 100,000 word

Let’s create a hypothetical situation. Imagine you are the average wine consumer in Ontario. You come into the LCBO looking for an Italian red wine, a Tuscan red. You see nine bottles of Chianti Classico. Five just say that on the bottle, two add the word Riserva and two Gran Selezione. These additional label notations and the prices tell you about the difference in probable quality but the bottles are still all the same, from the same place. How do you choose? Well, if each were labeled with the nine different communes you might be curious and pick one, let’s say from Gaiole. Then after tasting it you might think to yourself, I really like the Chianti Classico from Gaiole. Now you’ve entered a whole new world of discovery, of comparisons. Some of you might say “but the consumer doesn’t even know the difference between Chianti and Chianti Classico. This just makes it harder.” The devil’s advocate would say, on the contrary, adding the commune to the label does not add confusion, it adds intrigue and raises the profile of all the communes and the wines. Like Volnay, like Pommard, like Marsannay. But Bourgogne has 84 AOCs. Chianti Classico are only nine and surely their names all refer to quality. All of them. Chianti Classico means quality. It means sangiovese. Discussing the wines in new terms like communes does not say that one is better than another or that the wines from any one are of higher quality. It simply updates the profile and raises the bar for all. Hypothetically speaking.

A coupla @chianticlassico ambassadors enjoying the moment. With Jeffrey Porter, a.k.a. @drinkeatlove

Many wine regions are defined by their soils and the fine lines that separate greatness from mediocrity. The two soil epochs of Barolo are divided by a diagonal line that runs from the northeast down to the southwest. On one side Tortonian and the other, Serravallian, both formed millions of years ago and each capable for producing different styles of nebbiolo. In Bordeaux one bank celebrates cabernet sauvignon while the other merlot and cabernet franc. In Chablis the Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards are specifically drawn while in greater Bourgogne the composition of the soil gradates from north to south and so that we know where pinot noir and chardonnay must be planted and for best probable results. In Montalcino we understand the differences between northern and southern vineyards but also know where you are relative to the hill of Montalcino and from which micro-climate will have a great effect on the wines.

So what about Chianti Classico? Comparing or thinking about Chianti Classico as needing to be understood like Bourgogne, Piemonte or Montalcino is not the answer. It’s not the same and never will be. Considering the communes as adding up to the whole is a step in the right direction.

The cartologist Alessandro Masnaghetti has concentrated on the parameters of each commune and drawn precise topographical maps. They are great resources for understanding where but still they don’t tell us why. Why do wines typically turn out the way they do? Remember that the crus of Chianti Classico are not farmed by multiple producers. So consider that the approach might best begin with the producer so that we don’t say this Chianti Classico from Castellina made by Rocca delle Macie tastes like this but rather, this Rocca delle Macie tastes this way and it is from Castellina, in Chianti Classico. It’s a subtle rearrangement but it must always begin with the producer.

Before we move on to the wines, one commune at a time, it should be noted that the 2017 vintage presented one of the greater challenges in recent Chianti Classico times. After the intense heat of the driest of summers it was essential that growers waited out the early September rains, followed by the beautiful and phenolic ripeness ensuring warmth of the next three weeks. “I noticed that most producers had already, inconceivably, finished harvesting by the 15th of September!!! A haste that can’t be positive.” These are the wisest of words from Rocca di Montegrossi’s Marco Ricasoli. It remains to be seen but we’ll see if Marco’s prophecy will ring true and be confirmed at Anteprime’s Chianti Classico Collection in February 2019.

These 112 reviews cover the wines I tasted at the February Chianti Classico Collection 2018 in Firenze and three subsequent days of touring through Chianti Classico.

Castellina in Chianti

Related – Castellina in golden light

Bibbiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (168286, $23.95, WineAlign)

Ripeness is the deeper virtu and virtue in Bibbiano’s ’16 and as always there is this push-pull of two terroirs. One is of fruit the other rock but both layer intersectional and complimentary. This is a breakthrough, if it may be said, an aha moment for a Bibbiano Annata, educational and exemplary. More reward will come from subsequent vintages. The block here is some firm Castellina tannin but even more so one specific to the Bibbiano plateau and angles. It’s important to wait at least a year for the pressed intensity to subside. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  bibbianowines  lesommelierwine  @bibbianowines  @LeSommelierWine  Bibbiano Chianti Classico  Le Sommelier, Wine Agency

Bibbiano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna del Montornello DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Yet another Gran Selezione that tells us how the producers intuit the difference between the category and Riserva even while the consumer is still not quite in the know. GS is deeper and represents a place or a gathering of the best fruit, not a step up in aging only, but all things gathered and put into place. This from the northern side of the estate, opposite Capannino. Montornello is the sweet and savoury, even salty of the Bibbiano GS but also the one of great strength. But it too takes the vintage and gives a little bit more, not quite a hug (sic) but certainly some earlier pleasure. All things are relative. Drink 2020-2027.  Tasted February 2018  bibbianowines  lesommelierwine  @bibbianowines  @LeSommelierWine  Bibbiano Chianti Classico  Le Sommelier, Wine Agency

Bibbiano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna del Capannino 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

It should be expected that out of 2015 the Bibbiano Gran Selezione would show more fruit, less brood and for sure not near the abstruse consternation that young, more demanding vintages have shown. At least from Capannino. This is the truth in 2015 though the nature of this slope demands at least a few raises of the eyebrow and tension rising of the shoulders. Thinking about Capannino can’t happen without remembering that the fruit comes from ’58 and ’62 sangiovese grosso vines put in by Giulio Gambelli, then grafts from that material for masale propogation in 1999 and the 2000s. Tommaso Marrocchesi Marzi will figure out the nuances of these tracts of specific Castellina terroir before too long and this flat out chewy mouthful of sangiovese is the next step there. Needs three years though. Didn’t you know that already? Drink 2020-2028.  Tasted February 2018  bibbianowines  lesommelierwine  @bibbianowines  @LeSommelierWine  Bibbiano Chianti Classico  Le Sommelier, Wine Agency

Buondonno Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

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

Castellare Di Castellina Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (970095, $24.95, WineAlign)

The Castellina ideal is furthered by Castelllare’s ’16, the one concerning purity and honesty from sangiovese. There is a beauty to this one, mildly mineral, tangy and tart but silky smooth without any unnecessary welling of syrupy liqueur. Lovely Annnata. Drink 2019-2023.  Tasted February 2018  #castellaredicastellina  dionysuswines  @CastellareWines  @DionysusWines  @CastellarediCastellina   @DionysusWinesTO  

Gagliole Chianti Classico DOCG Rubiolo 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

As the name might suggest, it seems this Rubiolo is a redhead and means some serious sangiovese business, with pressed, rolled and laid out red fruit, mostly berry but with an accent of (merlot dished) plum and pomegranate. The limestone here strikes as Galestro though there too is this cakey weight that only Castellina in Chianti argilo would deal. The architecture for Rubiolo is one of houses built to last. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  anticopoderegagliole  @Gagliolewines  @Gagliole

Lornano Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (211599, $17.95, WineAlign)

Lornano comes out of Castellina in Chianti with such prominent perfume, grit and surprising intensity. It’s a much bigger wine than many 15s but perhaps not surprising from a Chianti Classico crafted by the agronomist and oenologist hands of Silvio Campatelli, Franco and Matteo Bernabei. Also when Nicolò Pozzoli tells you “sangiovese needs the bottle” you listen and make a note to self saying “he is correct.” This is a very early point in time to taste such a youthful and walled in Lornano. Will begin to soften in the later months of this year. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  @LornanoWines  Frontier Wine Merchants  lornano  @lornanochianticlassico

Gallo Nero

Lornano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Le Bandite 2013, Tuscany, Italy (230672, $19.95, WineAlign)

Le Bandite just recently went to bottle at the same time as the Annata Classico 2015 and so the window is open just a crack. Once again it is this team of vitculturalist Silvio Campatelli with oenologists Franco and Matteo Bernabei that deliver true sangiovese value to our Ontario market. The field and cellar work offer generosity above and beyond, not to mention the patience to hold back a wine such as this for at least an extra year so that it is ready upon release. That said the structure of Lornano is sneaky firm, grippy and long, so another year (plus) in bottle will add to the gift. By now we know about the exceptionality of 2013, especially at the (extra time in wood) Riserva level, here from Castellina with spice, frutta di bosco and terra selvaggia. The wood is very much in, from a 50-50 split between barriques and botti grandi that brings layering, balance and again, so much spice. Don’t be in a rush to drink this. Savour it next decade. Drink 2020-2026.  Tasted February 2018  lornano  @LornanoWines  @lornanochianticlassico

Mazzei Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Ser Lapo 2015, Tuscany, Italy (288530, $22.95, WineAlign)

Ser Lapo is a generous, gregarious and wealthy fruit spilling Riserva full of ripe and ropey 2015 fruit. It’s quite the chewy mouthful of sangiovese and merlot that takes no overly traditional or rustic chances. Modern, plush and international. Methinks Signore Lapo would approve. Drink 2018-2022.  Tasted February 2018  marchesimazzei  profilewinegroup  @MarchesiMazzei  @ProfileWineGrp  Marchesi Mazzei – Castello di Fonterutoli  Profile Wine Group

Rocca Delle Macie Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Famiglia Zingarelli 2015, Tuscany, Italy (930966, $23.95, WineAlign)

Takes the warmth of the vintage and turns its Famiglia Zingarelli beauty into power. Vineyards delivering higher quality fruit then ever before bring the gold out of Castellina and provide great presence and firm disposition. There is a savoury note under the liquor but all in all this is most pleasing sangiovese. Drink 2018-2022. Tasted February 2018  @roccadellemacie  @roccadellemacie  @ProfileWineGrp  Profile Wine Group  roccadellemacie

Villa Trasqua Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $17.95, WineAlign)

It would not be a stretch to assume and acknowledge how the powers that be at Villa Trasqua are almost certainly and perfectly happy and proud of this effort from 2015. Fruit from Nerento and surrounding rolling Castellina in Chianti hills came out as ripe, crisp and clean as it ever has. The level of quality runs high and while the stylistic is certainly a come and get me one, the sneaky level of structure will get you in the end. A coup of an Annata here from the brothers Hulsbergen. Drink 2019-2023. Tasted February 2018  #VillaTrasqua   @tenutavillatrasqua  @HULSI_II  Frontier Wine Merchants  villatrasqua

Cena @chianticlassico #ccc2018 @stazione_leopolda

Castelnuovo Berardenga

Related – Into the Castelnuovo Berardenga great wide open

Cantine Bonacchi Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Deeply pressed full fruit, dark black cherry sangiovese with high level acidity and plenty of minty savour. A many and all things going on Annata from Castelnuovo Berardenga with a heat streak running in early and lingering. Might settle in a year. Drink 2019-2021.  Tasted February 2018   #cantinebonacchi  @TheCaseForWine  Cantine Bonacchi

Borgo Scopeto Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (23325, $16.95, WineAlign)

The early and often persistence of pressed ripe and ready fruit sits floating at the fore of this glass. Value is acquiesced with great immediacy so look to see this on the market as soon as any from Castelnuovo Berardenga and indeed in the entire territory. No time is wasted nor fruit held back with quick to chime acidity and a dusty, slightly chalky finish. Drink 2018-2019.  Tasted February 2018  borgoscopetorelais  @BorgoScopeto  @rubenelmer  Borgo Scopeto  Ruben Elmer

Castell’in Villa Chianti Classico DOCG 2013, Tuscany, Italy (SAQ, 908228, $21.80, WineAlign)

Castell’In Villa’s is a beautifully rendered and now beginning to evolve Castelnuovo Berardenga sangiovese from the vintage that increasingly generates an opinion that 2013 is indeed a highly enjoyable vintage. Sweet developed fruit and spice, a bit of smoulder and a long, elastic, stretched like fior di latte finish. Drink 2018-2023.  Tasted February 2018  Castell In Villa  Les Importations Olea inc.  marino_castellinvillarestauran

Castello Di Bossi C. Berardenga Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (994608, $22.95, WineAlign)

Once again the concept of the single-monlithic sangiovese sensation is squashed and trashed by yet another twisting turn and dart into something completely other. Bossi’s carries an aroma new and exotic, of incense and peppermint, cola and coffee bean. Its texture is quite exquisite, the flavours into a purée, spiked by laurel and its bay. As smooth on its exit as it was on the way in. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted February 2018  #castellodibossi  oeno2  #CastellodiBossi  @oenophilia1  @CastellodiBossi  Connexion Oenophilia

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

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  profilewinegroup  @Dievole  @ProfileWineGrp  dievole  Profile Wine Group

Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (730788, $36.99, WineAlign)

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  felsina_wines  liffordgram  @felsinawines  @LiffordON  Felsina  Lifford Wine and Spirits

Losi Querciavalle Chianti Classico DOCG 2013, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $19.95, WineAlign)

Though Querciavalle holds their Annata back longer than almost any this ’13 remains or should say persists so taut and coiled reductive, though it is so close to opening up. The earth runs through, now composted and integrated with juicy fruit. There is a special liquidity vis a vis this gathering of fruit, soil and acidity though now the tannins have melted and joined the mix. It may as well be Riserva, not technically, but certainly in spirit. Concentrate on the texture and you will feel the generational pull, thread and wisdom in the Losi sangiovese. Drink 2018-2022.  Tasted February 2018  valerialosi  @Valerialosi  @NaturalVines  @marzia_gallo   @famiglialosi  Valeria Losi  Marzia Gallo

Losi Querciavalle Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2012, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $24.95, WineAlign)

Were you to Google traditional + Chianti Classico + Castelnuovo Berardenga you would likely land on a Losi Querciavalle page. Family values and the sharing forward of generational knowledge happens at this estate with the greatest of innate and intuitive possibility. In a world of climate change and extremes it becomes increasingly difficult to fashion consistency from sangiovese. The winter of 2012 was followed by the dry heat of summer oft times leading to dehydrated and concentrated fruit. And yet Losi’s strong and firm Riserva has found the beauty in this well of sangiovese liquor, first with “benevolenza” and then by “graziosità.” The fruit is sweet against the wall of acidity and tannin so with thanks to the family’s patience is now in synch together. Drink 2018-2023.  Tasted February 2018  valerialosi  @Valerialosi  @NaturalVines  @marzia_gallo   @famiglialosi  Valeria Losi  Marzia Gallo

Fattoria Di Petroio Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

From Quercegrossa, carries some baggage, weighted down in reductive tendency so that structure can develop for longer than other sangiovese Annata. Dark raven-streaked fruit commits to the density and the corporeal purpose. A microbe or three of volatile acidity props and distributes tension so balance has its parts if just a hair or two in asymmetrical stride. Not the most definitive Chianti Classico for Castelnuovo Berardenga. Drink 2019-2021.  Tasted February 2018  fattoriapetroio  @diana_petroio  Fattoria di Petroio

San Felice Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (282996, $19.95, WineAlign)

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  borgosanfelice  #BorgoSanFelice  Borgo San Felice

San Felice Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Il Grigio 2015, Tuscany, Italy (403477, $48.95, WineAlign)

Il Grigio di San Felice shows terrific red and black fruit marking the aromatic entry in a Gran Selezione of power and beauty. Very distinguished vintage with chalky tannins though not the acidity of some, it works the balance of this particular Castelnuovo Berardenga room. Drink 2019-2027.  Tasted February 2018  borgosanfelice  #BorgoSanFelice  Borgo San Felice

Tolaini Chianti Classico DOCG Vallenuova 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Vallenuova is crunchy sangiovese, closed and airtight. Dusty wild cherry nose but not much else save for a brush past a rosemary bush. Drink 2018-2020.  Tasted February 2018  tolainiwine  breakthrubevcanada  @TolainiWines  @BreakthruBevCAN  Tolaini Wine  Breakthru Beverage: Canada

My beloved Sommelier and me #CCC2018

Valiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (354019, $19.95, WineAlign)

From the Piccini family this Valiano Chianti Classico is give or take 90 per cent sangiovese and 10 per cent merlot, from rolling Castelnuovo Berardenga terroir, in the spot just west of the Gaiole peinsula and just below Radda. The soils are argilo, calcareous clay with 70 hectares in over 30 plots of (now organic) total production. An aromatic profile that is perfumed, not exactly floral but more an extract of eau de vivre and then a seriously polished texture and flavour. The wood is very much involved, in spicy notes up front and deep set in the back. A really solid and in its finest moments, sexy Annata. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted February 2018  picciniwines  @PicciniWinesUK  PICCINI WINES

Valiano Chianti Classico DOCG Poggio Teo 2013, Tuscany, Italy (354019, $19.95, WineAlign)

Poggio Teo is a Castelnouvo Berardenga cru up on the hill and a selection of grapes are made for this separate Annata wine. A very similar profile, especially in perfume, with an essential oiliness adding to the eau di vive, pretty, pulchritudinous and concentrated. Another rich rendition, as modern and forthright as it gets, with tart and spicy acidity and easy going tannins. Chewy and longer finish, deep, dark and handsome for 2013. Much more Tuscan, territorial and parochial. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted February 2018  picciniwines  @PicciniWinesUK  PICCINI WINES

Valiano Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 6.38 2013, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Valiano’s is a single-vineyard Gran Selezione with 6.38 a reference to the coordinates of that vineyard, not the hour the workers wake up to prune, pluck and pick in the vineyards. An extension in hyperbole from and connected to the lineage of the Annata, but more like a 2013 than the Teo, with salumi and ropey, red citrus edging on the dark fruit. Smoky and it is the merlot always bringing the fat round curves but also spice and cake, especially when small barriques are involved. Would not refer to this as elegant in terms of Gran Selezione but the fruit carries more than a full amount of purpose. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  picciniwines  @PicciniWinesUK  PICCINI WINES

Villa Di Geggiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $35.95, WineAlign)

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  andreaboscu  barrelselect  @VilladiGeggiano  @BarrelSelect  @VilladiGeggiano  @barrelselectinc

Monti in Chianti

Gaiole in Chianti

Related – Because the night in Gaiole

Barone Ricasoli Chianti Classico Docg Brolio Bettino 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $32.95, WineAlign)

This second CC Brolio label carries the name of Bettino Ricasoli, inventor of the Chianti formula in 1872. The 2015 edition of the Iron Baron’s Chianti Classico is indubitably vintage driven with far softer feelings and expressions than we last saw in the grippy 2013. After tasting through a pile of such fresh, firm and intense ‘16s this first nose of ’15 is almost an apposite shock. So bloody different in fact the first thought is hematic as opposed to the ferric nature of the ’16s. The 2015 sangiovese are the blood of the decade, the lifeline, life-affirming and life giving Chianti Classico. Brolio’s Bettino is a pure and exemplary one to talk of such things. It delivers fruit and the defined nature of acidity that is a multi-purposed Annata drawn from a gathering off of multiple and variegated types of aisle in Chianti soils. Perfectly ready and in the zone. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted February 2018  francescoricasoli  churchillcellars  @barone_ricasoli  @imbibersreport   Ricasoli 1141  Churchill Cellars Ltd.

Barone Ricasoli Chianti Classico Riserva Docg Rocca Guicciarda 2015, Tuscany, Italy (943613, $24.95, WineAlign)

Not that recent vintages were not appealing for the Rocca Guicciarda Riserva but why would 2015 not be the bomb for this ready to go edition? The fruit is at its selected best, with no shortage of phenolic ripeness and flavour compounds. It’s a multitude of berries that make this drink with such early pleasure so make use of this Gaiole in Chianti sangiovese while the more curious and challenging ’13s and ‘14s take their time in getting where they need to go. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted May 2018  francescoricasoli  churchillcellars  @barone_ricasoli  @imbibersreport   Ricasoli 1141  Churchill Cellars Ltd.

Cantalici Chianti Classico DOCG Baruffo 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $24.95, WineAlign)

Here comes the sort of Chianti Classico of swagger and charming, parochial Gaiole in Chianti character. It’s tacky, meaning it zigs and zags with travels from aromas through flavours. It’s also extremely bright like being blinded by too much sun on a beach day. There is great fruit in this Barrufo 2015, perhaps a shade too deep into adornment but who can deny the utter deliciousness? Really chewy and gastronomic sangiovese at the end of the day. Drink 2018-2020.  Tasted February 2018  __cantalici_winery__  @wineCantalici  Cantalici  Carlo Cantalici  Angela Butini  

Castello di Ama Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $34.95, WineAlign)

In this new era where modern parlance includes Gran Selezione this next stop on the road for Ama continues with the seventh vintage of the Château-expressionist bottling. Ama is, as it is known, like Prince or Bono, a really rich and full ’16, a brick house of sangiovese, liquid clay streaked by chalky liquidity. It’s might is mighty borne and bred, taking the season’s gifts and letting it all hang out. Quite substantial for 2016 and for Annata CC as a category. Impressive for its concentration and the balance managed considering the collected ambition. Acumen is to be lauded. Tells us that these Gaiole vineyards are some of the finest in the territory. Drink 2018-2022.  Tasted February 2018  castellodiama  halpernwine  @CastellodiAma  @HalpernWine  @castellodiama  @halpernwine

Castello di Ama Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG San Lorenzo 2015, Tuscany, Italy (418897, $48.95, WineAlign)

Though not technically a single-vineyard wine the fruit source depends highly on this portion of the Gaiole in Chianti estate. As a blend of all the best plots of the property from a vintage with both La Casuccia or Bellavista having been produced it is truly fortunate that nature gifted so much promising fruit so that the right stuff could find its way into San Lorenzo. It is Gran Selezione of great history and no vintage has been as generous as this ’15. It’s accessibility above and beyond the category is astounding, probably because it shares the finest and sweetest acidities plus tannins. The plural is employed because the complexities are varied and variegated. Wonderful red fruit and seamless integration. Drink 2020-2027.  Tasted February 2018  castellodiama  halpernwine  @CastellodiAma  @HalpernWine  @castellodiama  @halpernwine

Castello di Ama Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigneto Bellavista 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $242.59, WineAlign)

There was no Vigneto Bellavista produced in 2014 and while the über-specific Bellavista Vineyard Gran Selezione is polar-antithetical to San Lorenzo you can’t help but feel the tiro di famiglia and shared connection to the past. What is contrapositive is the Bellavista modern twist, I suppose, less about acidities and tannin, more about fruit and barrel. Spices, baking scents and bricks combine with black fruit for a hematic and ferric take on Gran Selezione. It’s a big wine with firm grip to be sure and it feels like we don’t yet belong in its space. At this stage we are like The Observer, with a telescopic lens into the vineyard as per the Ilya & Emilia Kabakov installation at Ama. We and Bellavista will need five years to get comfortable and to incorporate the integration of weight and charm. Drink 2022-2031. Tasted February 2018  castellodiama  halpernwine  @CastellodiAma  @HalpernWine  @castellodiama  @halpernwine

I Sodi Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, 435123, WineAlign)

I Sodi is dusty, high-toned, bright acid covered and tart red fruit sangiovese, more house-styled than either Gaiole or vintage, or so it would seem. Drink 2019-2022.  Tasted February 2018  Agriturismo Le Trappoline – Azienda Agricola I Sodi

Rocca Di Castagnoli Chianti Classico Riserva Docg Poggio A Frati 2013, Tuscany, Italy (23358, $32.95, WineAlign)

Poggio A Frati ’13 is 95 per cent sangiovese plus canaiolo, “just to keep the traditional blend, but without any true impact,” says Angelo Dalbello. The Riserva comes from schisty Alberese soil at Poggio Fratti, the hills of the friars. A 12-hectare plot that shines in 2013, a Riserva vintage through and through, in how you may think it rustic though it’s clearly more complex than the Annata in every way and ultimately spinning the Gaiole sapidity. Aged for one year in tonneaux plus an extra year in bottle. No barriques. I repeat, no barriques. The aroma dominance is wild strawberry and then it gives woods, wind and air. The spice is red citrus piqued and the tart edging like a fence around the fruit. A pure and honest, ode to all that led to this moment Riserva for Gaiole. Truly a sangiovese expression of terroir. Drink 2019-2025.  Tasted February 2018  roccadicastagnoli  profilewinegroup  @Roccacastagnoli  @ProfileWineGrp  Rocca di Castagnoli  Profile Wine Group

Tomorrow I’ll be presenting @chianticlassico to trade and media in Toronto so naturally I went to Barrie and bought the last two @roccadicastagnoli Stielle left in the province ~ #gaiole

Rocca Di Castagnoli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Stielle 2013, Docg Tuscany, Italy (459529, $45.95, WineAlign)

From a vineyard that records indicate was planted as far back as 970, Stielle is built upon a foundation of more Galestro soil. Why? As a factor of that soil and probably because it could ripen. This ’13 was fermented by 100 per cent whole bunch, not common for sangiovese, but the high acidity, from high elevation and this soil, led to making such a decision. Not as rich and smooth (or perhaps firm and brooding) in youth as compared to let’s say Chianti Classico in Castellina or Castelnuovo Berardenga but the acidity and sapidity will deliver the velvet with the passage of time, in a way, more like Radda.  Last tasted February 2018

Le Stielle in 2013 and its just faint hint of high acidity mixed and boxed with volatility is just on the most correct side of ripe meets structured life. When Gran Selzione gains such a cherry and fine salty mineral meeting of the structured minds it’s a special thing indeed. This is a fine GS with precision and understated, refined and capable power. Really fine, even just firm enough to deliver 10-15 years of slow developed 100 per cent sangiovese expression. Drink 2019-2028.  Tasted September 2017  roccadicastagnoli  profilewinegroup  @Roccacastagnoli  @ProfileWineGrp  Rocca di Castagnoli  Profile Wine Group

San Marcellino texture and acidity in the #roccadimontegrossi clay and Galestro of Monti in Chianti.

Rocca di Montegrossi Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany Italy (Agent, $29.99, WineAlign)

The Chianti Classico 2016 was bottled just three months ago (in November) and is quite consistent to 2015 though at this stage not as gentle and in a way, deeper hued and fruit compressed. The structure follows the thread, always carrying the colour and depth of these Gaiole vineyards, from great thick clay and fantastic, friable Galestro. It’s a very specific grain of texture and tannin, chalky but chewy. This has just a great kick, swagger and confidence, mainly due to the exceptional fineness of acidity. It challenges, tempers and is quicker to integrate that grainy tannin so that more elegance is derived. Such a cool, sapid and structured mouthful. Fantastic Chianti Classico. Drink 2018-2024.  Tasted February 2018  #roccadimontegrossi  vinoallegrobc  devonmasciangelo  #roccadimontegrossi  @VinoAllegro @VinoAllegroBC  @RoccadiMontegrossi  Vino Allegro BC  Devon Masciangelo

Rocca Di Montegrossi Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigneto San Marcellino 2013, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $63.49, WineAlign)

The first vintage as a Gran Selezione was 2010, before having been labeled as Chianti Classico Vigneto San Marcellino. It was never referred to as a Riserva and so the switch to GS was a matter of celebrating vineyard and especially a pronouncement of aging (minimum 50 months barrel plus bottle). Even now six more months in bottle has altered the texture, integrated the grain and added to the cool sapidity. Great acidity from the vintage in my opinion that makes the greatest strides with the longer aging period.  Last tasted February 2018

Marco Ricasoli-Firidolfi’s Gran Selezione boasts more than its share of Chianti Classico history and epochal location in its DNA. Legend dates back to 1039 for Azzi di Geremia Ricasoli and just as far back for the 1000 year-old Pieve San Marcellino. The vineyard gains more archetypal status with each turn of the calendar and the use of just a little bit of endemic pugnitello is awarded the singular varietal assist for Gaiole. With the 2013 vintage well tucked into the back pocket of this iconic Gran Selezione there is this sense of calm and refined, controlled intensity that just begs to get out, but the tannin and rigid structure have it well sealed in. This is what happens when the best fruit and a near perfect vintage come together. It’s fineness of tannin takes on great responsibility and it can do nothing but be a match to the task. Rocca di Montegrossi’s single entity Vigneto San Marcellino is sangiovese of density, intensity and power. It is assuredly one of the finest examples of the vintage. Drink 2020-2030.  Tasted September 2017  #roccadimontegrossi  vinoallegrobc  devonmasciangelo  #roccadimontegrossi  @VinoAllegro @VinoAllegroBC  @RoccadiMontegrossi  Vino Allegro BC  Devon Masciangelo

John Szabo and Luca Martini di Cigala

San Giusto A Rentennano Chianti Classico DOCG 2005, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Age is apparent on the nose of Luca Martini di Cigala’s Chianti Classico 2005, if hardly whatsoever in the comparative hues of a showing side by side with 2015. This Annata wisps with a smoulder while fruit remains fresh and alive, as if released only yesterday, not 13 years ago. Was a warm year 2005 so this is even more remarkable. A suggestion of truffle and balsamic may be there but you have to concentrate hard to notice so it’s more conceptual than a verified reality. Liquid chalk from what should have been a perfect vintage though rains at harvest diminished the hope and yet how great is this? Seems more Alberese affected than the 2015, that and the hanging tree fruit flavours of dried carob and bokser. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted February 2018  #sangiustoarentennano  #sangiustoarentennano  #sangiustoarentennano

San Giusto A Rentennano Chianti Classico Riserva Le Baròncole 2004, DOCG Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Luca Martini di Cigala pours ’04 side by side with the next grossly undervalued vintage. First a re-taste of the very perfumed La Baròncole 2014, from the underestimated vintage that should not be so. With a texture that is San Giusto, if possibly also Gaiole meets a border with Castelnuovo. Then onto Chianti Classico Riserva 2004, from a late harvest, finishing the pick on the 15th or 16th of October, really late for the area. Great acidity is so persistent even if there seems to be some more complex progression as compared to the ’05 Annata, but that is the nature of Riserva, with more dried fruit and savoury-liquorice secondary notes. More spice too, both baking and tobacco and so it is a deeply hematic and plush hyperbole of the younger versions of itself. I imagine this to be in the waning years of its life and soon, perhaps two years from now will mellow and soften into the downy moments it will seek and find. In the meantime, just like its ten years forward sibling, tart never had it this good and linger it does for a decade in your mouth. Do you have to let it linger? The cranberry acidity won’t give you a choice and even if you feel used, it may just hang around there forever. Drink 2018-2026.  Tasted May 2018  #sangiustoarentennano  #sangiustoarentennano  #sangiustoarentennano

Greve in Chianti

Related – A river runs through Greve

Carpineto Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (356048, $19.95, WineAlign)

Much further along the road to expression is the way I’d have to announce the immediacy from Carpineto’s quick to gratify Annata ’16. The fruit aches to be pounced upon and used as quickly as you can make this happen. And yet there is a moment of microbial grounding to keep it honest and traditional. In the end it’s a really full and gregarious expression for sangiovese with true red limestone liquidity. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted February 2018  carpinetowines  univinscanada  @CarpinetoWines  @UNIVINS  Carpineto Wines  @agence.UNIVINS  

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

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  castellodiquerceto  profilewinegroup  @CastQuerceto  @ProfileWineGrp  Castello di Querceto  Profile Wine Group

Castello di Querceto Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2014, Tuscany, Italy (650754, $28.95, WineAlign)

Still reluctant at this three-plus year mark it is the challenging vintage that really speaks and tells us that patience is needed for longevity and understanding. A depth of dark, liquorice-black cherry meets Cassis gathering suggests cabernet sauvignon adds strength in fruit to savoury 2014 sangiovese dominance. Time will tell just what will come from this formidable Riserva. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  castellodiquerceto  profilewinegroup  @CastQuerceto  @ProfileWineGrp  Castello di Querceto  Profile Wine Group

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

From the Greve in Chianti project of Ambrogio Folonari and son Giovanni, Nozzole’s Chianti Classico is immediately wild strawberry noted, a pretty, pretty wine, ripe and balanced. Such a persistent sangiovese with nice focus, knows what it needs and wants to be. Drink 2019-2023.  Tasted February 2018  folonaritenute  @FolonariTenute  Ambrogio e Giovanni Folonari Tenute

Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico DOCG San Jacopo 2016, Tuscany, Italy (710194, $19.95, WineAlign)

A syrup quells and wells on the nose in Vicchiomaggio’s Greve drawn San Jacopo, like an anaesthetic offering temporary numbing before the scents of fennel and baking spices shake you clear. Here the vintage is spoken early and with weight, density and deep impression. Everything fires on quick cylinders; fruit, wood spice, smoulder and verdant savour. It’s all in and immediate. Drink 2018-2021. Tasted February 2018  castellovicchiomaggio  @vicchiomaggio  @SignatureWS1  Castello Vicchiomaggio

Vicchiomaggio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Agostino Petri 2015, Tuscany, Italy (993360, $29.95, WineAlign)

Agostino Peri is an expressly and explicitly written Riserva from Vicchiomaggio, dusty, high in acidity and ultimately, ostensibly wholly, traditional. Sits on a perch above Greve in Chianti lands to tell the world. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  castellovicchiomaggio  @vicchiomaggio  @SignatureWS1  Castello Vicchiomaggio

Vignamaggio Chianti Classico DOCG Terre di Prenzano 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

The single block Terre di Prenzano out of Greve is a particularly expressive aromatic ocean, with a tidal flow of dusty, edgy florals and fruit replete with waves of sweet acidity and candied tannin. This is a departure, welcome and exciting. Few Chianti Classico pulse with such activity and locomotion this early, especially for the vintage. So much promise avows and abounds. Really like the direction Vignamaggio is heading. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  vignamaggio  #hhdimports  @vignamaggio  @HHDImports_Wine  Vignamaggio  vignamaggio

Vignamaggio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Gherardino 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Gherardino is Greve in Chianti old school, in a way, with dried fruit, potpourri and a wealth of fennel-liquorice savour. Spice notes are very prevalent, as is the idea that in three years or so this will turn over into balsamico, porcini and tartufo. Wise and traditional Riserva. Drink 2018-2023.  Tasted February 2018  vignamaggio  #hhdimports  @vignamaggio  @HHDImports_Wine  Vignamaggio  vignamaggio

Chianti Classico Collection 2018

Lamole

Fontodi Chianti Classico DOCG Filetta di Lamole 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $36.95, WineAlign)

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  rogersandcompanywines  #fontodi  @rogcowines  Az. Agr. Fontodi  #fontodi

I Fabbri Chianti Classico DOCG Terra di Lamole 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Lamole in Greve is the source for this high toned, stone-tined and savoury aromatic young Annata, traditional, mildly volatile in its wise rusticity and surprisingly tannic. This is the sort of pressed sangiovese you’d find over the decades, from information and technique passed down and upheld by the current generation. Continues the thread with more microbes and real live tart notes to taste. Builds and builds upon its old-school foundation. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted February 2018  ifabbriclassico  @IFabbriLamole  I Fabbri

I Fabbri Chianti Classico DOCG Terra di Lamole 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Into the Lamole lair we delve from I Fabbri with 90 per cent sangiovese (grosso) plus canaiolo nero of great potential and it should also be said, probability, if not right now then soon, very soon. This terroir is different and if we are not quite sure exactly how or why then perhaps the producers are not quite sure either. The fruit is 98 per cent ripe but I can’t help but wonder how greatness could have been were the number perfect. That may be asking too much but something is amiss, even while the dusty excesses and fine acidity support of wild red fruit is there to see, sense, feel and enjoy. That is the end game after all. Drink 2018-2022.  Tasted February 2018  ifabbriclassico  @IFabbriLamole  I Fabbri

Lamole Di Lamole Chianti Classico DOCG Blue Label 2015, Tuscany, Italy, (476317, $23.95, WineAlign)

From the Lamole sub-section of Greve in Chianti this is 80 per cent sangiovese plus 10 each cabernet and merlot, the latter raised in barriques. A minimum of 22 months is total, this is found to be quite the jammy Annata, surely vintage driven from out of the higher altitude diurnal temperature swings in Lamole. A wine of typicality for the territory and certainly pressed and expressed for immediate gratification. Really plum-fruit fleshy with notable wood spice, especially on the international varieties. Moves into and finishes with dark and stormy tannins in a controlled weather pattern. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted February 2018  lamoledilamole  philippedandurandwines  @LamoleDiLamole  @lamolewines  @Dandurandwines  Lamole di Lamole  Vins Philippe Dandurand Wines

Lamole Di Lamole Chianti Classico DOCG Etichetta Bianco 2015, Tuscany, Italy, (Agent, $23.95, WineAlign)

The second of two Chianti Classico Annata is the Etichetta Bianca, which unlike the Blue Label bottle spends six months in steel, followed by six in big oak casks. Once again offers the Lamole perspective with a glimpse into the limestone, schist and altitude potential of the zone. The absence of barrique aging means the (80 per cent) sangiovese stands out and works with the earth, though here in more ochre, lower hanging, warmer tones. There would seem to be a high percentage of clay from lower hill sites on this fruit because the acidity is subdued and the fruit darker in flavour, though not because of wood. It is a delicious glass of sangiovese regardless and presents yet another moment to talk about sub-sub-zone potential. Drink 2018-2020.  Tasted February 2018  lamoledilamole  philippedandurandwines  @LamoleDiLamole  @lamolewines  @Dandurandwines  Lamole di Lamole  Vins Philippe Dandurand

Lamole Di Lamole Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Etichetta Grigia 2014, Tuscany, Italy, (280651, $28.95, WineAlign)

Winemaker Andrea Daldin is very proud of his work in 2014, the challenge as great as ever, but he’s sure he’s done great work. A vendemmia ultra-selezionale. Andrea came back from holiday in late August and removed all the foliage to open up the bunches to whatever sun might come and in September it did. Three passages were performed to seek out stages of phenolic ripeness and the sorting table really came in handy on this work. It’s 85 per cent sangiovese and 15 per cent canaiolo, “to bring more typicity for the area.” Here is a deep and rich, generous and extremely carefully curated (grey label) Riserva, OCD style, with no albarese, galestro or macigno stone left unturned. It’s a very pretty nose, elevation and all angles curved, holes filled and everything made whole in Riserva style. Quite ferric and serious, there is some tart astringency at the finish, a sign of vintage and youth but this too shall pass. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  lamoledilamole  philippedandurandwines  @LamoleDiLamole  @lamolewines  @Dandurandwines  Lamole di Lamole  Vins Philippe Dandurand

Lamole Di Lamole Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vignetto di Campolungo 2014, Tuscany, Italy, (231241, $37.95, WineAlign)

The Vigneto di Campolungo 2014 spent an extra few years in bottle after élevage for what directs this Gran Selezione to market, developing its flavours, integrated into a fine chain of tannin command. This reminds more of let’s say Bibianno’s Montornello than Lamole though it does have that Lamole acidity. Very composed, very directed, very serious. Full barrel advantage, phenolic ripeness, glycerin and tannin. In the big time. Drink 2020-2026.  Tasted February 2018  lamoledilamole  philippedandurandwines  @LamoleDiLamole  @lamolewines  @Dandurandwines  Lamole di Lamole  Vins Philippe Dandurand

Lamole Di Lamole Chianti Classico DOCG 1993, Tuscany, Italy, (Winery, WineAlign)

In quite good standing, this ’93 has held up beautifully and was Andrea Daldin’s first vintage. The wild strawberry and balasmico are now combining in fine secondary character. The Lamole acidity is fading but hanging in while tannins are long gone. Changes to fade in dappled light tones after minutes in the glass while always remaining a brilliant claret. Still a solid salumi wine, in mimic and support. A pleasure to taste from a terrific, storied and meticulously sheltered, worked and kept Lamole terroir. Shades of stone are everywhere; from Macigno to Alberese, Albarese with Calcium Carbonate and Galestro. Returns for a little bite of toffee and sip of coffee, before riding off into the sunset Drink 2018.  Tasted February 2018  lamoledilamole  philippedandurandwines  @LamoleDiLamole  @lamolewines  @Dandurandwines  Lamole di Lamole  Vins Philippe Dandurand

Podere Poggio Scalette Chianti Classico DOCG Lamole Nonloso 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Nonloso is a new label for Jurji Fiore with his daughter from a one point eight hectare vineyard across the valley on the Lamole hill, from 25-year old terraced sangiovese (mostly) and this may just be the most elegant sangiovese you are ever likely to taste. If the comparison is even possible it might be said that this sangiovese is made in a Côtes de Nuits style, in one 500L old and one new 228L barrel. The fruit comes from altitude up at 500m, same sandy soil as Ruffoli but less Arenaria stone in Lamole. The biggest difference is the water, in Lamole you drive up through forest while in Ruffoli you climb through rock up to the moon. Perfumed like Volnay and with distinct bright acids but unmistakable as Lamole, perhaps just a hill, valley or river bend away from so many other Greve terroirs but so singular. Very special parochial piece of the territory right here for a Chianti Classico that along with Fontodi begins to tell a sub-zone within a commune story. I don’t know. Seems pretty clear to me. Drink 2019-2029.  Tasted February 2018  Podere Poggio Scalette  profilewinegroup  #PoggioScalette   @ProfileWineGrp  Podere Poggio Scalette  Profile Wine Group

Montefioralle

Montefioralle Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

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  Castello Di Montefioralle  #montefioralle  Montefioralle Winery

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

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  Castello Di Montefioralle  #montefioralle  Montefioralle Winery

Castello Di Verrazzano Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $30.25, WineAlign)

From the sub-zone of Montefioralle this very ready and welling fruit is willing to please, if not at this very moment then just around the corner, where spring lies in wait. Here is yet another quick and painless example of that ’15 acidity, ripe and burgeoning. This will develop its charm by late 2018 and deliver copacetic Greve in Chianti sangiovese for a good two to three year run. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted February 2018  verrazzanopeople   @StaffVerrazzano  @Smallwinemakers  Castello di Verrazzano  The Small Winemakers Collection

Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $43.95, WineAlign)

Calcinaia’s is firm and direct, drawn from the Greve rise above and west of the river to mark a Montefioralle concern off of its southeastern quadrant. If ever a Greve Riserva continues the stylistic and prevalent hematic ooze of its Annata predecessor this would be the one. Torbido and seminal stuff from Sebastiani Capponi. Drink 2020-2027.  Tasted February 2018  @villacalcinaia  @Nicholaspearce_  villacalcinaia  nicholaspearcewines  @calcinaia  Nicholas Pearce

Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna Contessa Luisa and Monty Waldin

Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Vigna Contessa Luisa 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Vigna Contessa Luisa was planted by Ferrante Capponi in 1959, dedicated to his mother Luisa Vonwiller and it is the oldest vineyard still in production at Villa Calcinaia. It’s also responsible for Sebastiano Capponi’s newest Calcinaia Gran Selezione and it is not surprisingly the most elegant of the three (along with La Fornace and Bastignano). The most poignant and concentrated liqueur but also because it comes to market a year after the other two, so it has had a chance to settle and shed its cracked outer earthy layer. Now spicy and taut still it’s got so much wonderful fruit, dark, stormy, spicy and long. It’s almost ghostly. Will live in infamy. Drink 2021-2031.  Tasted February 2018  @villacalcinaia  @Nicholaspearce_  villacalcinaia  nicholaspearcewines  @calcinaia  Nicholas Pearce

Viticcio Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (283580, $19.25, WineAlign)

A high-toned Monetfioralle affair in 2015 from Viticcio brings very bright red Greve in Chianti fruit and a zing of zesty acidity. This may not be as warm as some ‘15s, which in its singular way is a good thing but there is no compromise to classicism and intensity. You must appreciate the waves of rusticity and tradition but also the high acid style in the face of a vintage that wants to talk about other things. Stands out for this but also for its use of barrel, at least in this early woody stage. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  viticciowinery  majesticwinesinc  @viticciowinery  @MajesticWineInc  Viticcio Winery  Majestic Wine Cellars

JSz in the February #concadoro

Panzano

Related – The ins and outs of Panzano in Chianti

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

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  rogersandcompanywines  #fontodi  @rogcowines  Az. Agr. Fontodi  #fontodi

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico DOCG 2015 SoloSangiovese, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $19.95, WineAlign)

It’s a statement to be sure, adding the moniker of “SoloSangiovese” to the label of a Chianti Classico. It’s not just a matter of making comment with regards to varietal purity but the way in which Il Molino di Grace skirts party lines with an explicit display of the grape variety, just a shade smaller then the territory on the bottle. We may be expected to know what comprises (or should be inside) a Chianti Classico but how many really do? So here we are, where we’ve never been before, but have always been. Same deep and intense cimmerian Molino hue, big barrel spice and pure sangiovese grace. There is a connected energy that pulses, to the rest of the portfolio, with or without merlot and found here in a cleanest of Annatas, through clarity and with focus. Solo and proud, wrapped in the varietal flag. Drink 2019-2023.  Tasted February 2018  ilmolinodigrace  @Ilmolinodigrace  Il Molino di Grace

Il Molino Di Grace Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $24.95, WineAlign)

You should know that the Chianti Classico of Il Molino di Grace are always deep, dark as night sangiovese but they begin as juice so beautifully opaque red that the transformations are always a thing of great wizardry. It’s more than the barrels, the Slavonian slumbers and the effect of wood. It’s the Galestro soil, parochial Panzano and it is, as mentioned, pure magic. This 2015 Riserva is huge, a wine to launch a thousand ships and faces. I am afraid of and mesmerized by the power. Fortunately this vintage gifts more fruit than many and so the ambition is tempered with juicy restraint and integration. This is ultimately where balance is found despite such high acidity and pitchy macchiò, buio offuscato or oscurità. We’ll see where this lands in a few years time. The plan is to wake up, nose the Galestro and go on with the day. Drink 2020-2028.  Tasted February 2018  ilmolinodigrace  @Ilmolinodigrace  Il Molino di Grace

Il Palagio di Panzano Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Very ripe, rich and deeply felt Annata, pressed for the here, now and yet not forever. Very rich and to be enjoyed in the present tense. Consumers can get a sense of vintage but more to the point, drink this with a steak today. Drink 2018-2019.  Tasted February 2018  @palagiodipanzano  palagiopanzano

Le Fonti di Panzano Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (282848, $31.95, WineAlign)

Le Fonti is the life work of Vicky Schmitt-Vitali, organic, sustainable and Europe’s first Bio-Distretto di Viticultura, leading their Panzano-Greve community in the charge of “attractive territories for a sustainable world.” Her 2015 Chianti Classico was bottled in September of 2017 so it has had time to settle in. This is where sangiovese captures the warmth and relative ease of a vintage, like bottling sun, gravel, schist, limestone, sand and clay for better days ahead. Sangiovese may be young and restless but here in its unadulterated state it renders spice and extends a hand with a firm shake for mutual accord. At some point next year it will bloom with perfume and then prepare to smell the Galestro, along with the flowers, for several more after that. Drink 2019-2023.  Tasted February 2018  poderelefonti  thevineagency  @LeFontiPanzano  @TheVine_RobGroh  Fattoria Le Fonti – Panzano   @thevineto

Le Fonti di Panzano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2014, Tuscany, Italy (282921, $44.95, WineAlign)

From the village of Panzano set in an amphitheatre in a southern nook of Greve, this 2014 is lithe, whimsical and understated for Riserva. Cinnamon spice and roses just picked, fresh and fragrant emit an elegant perfume for sangiovese, challenged by a vintage that asked alot from these producers. It’s a bit closed down, more than the average vintage and according to Vicky Schmitt-Vitali this is to be expected. It’s also sangiovese which plays hard to get at the best of times so be prepared to aerate and act with the same light-hearted patience. Drink 2018-2022.  Tasted February 2018  poderelefonti  thevineagency  @LeFontiPanzano  @TheVine_RobGroh  Fattoria Le Fonti – Panzano   @thevineto

Le Fonti di Panzano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2012, Tuscany, Italy (282921, WineAlign)

Time has had an impact on the development of texture and this Panzano Riserva is now a rich, viscous and dense liqueur. It’s just amazing when you consider how it’s a child from the freeze-dried soil out of the vintage where winter saw so much wind and snow. Then came a dry heat like no other so as with all vintages there could really be no idea what might happen and like every other one, the challenge was new again. There is more than the usual spice in 2012 to augment the richness and the intensity of the fruit. Perhaps it’s atypical but at five and a half years of age this sangiovese is coming around very nice. Drink 2018-2020.  Tasted February 2018  poderelefonti  thevineagency  @LeFontiPanzano  @TheVine_RobGroh  Fattoria Le Fonti – Panzano   @thevineto

Panzanello Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Panzanello’s sangiovese is augmented with a small amount of merlot. Lots of pressing, bringing out oozing fruit, plenty of early acidity and dusty tannin all combining for a quick entry into the 2015 vintage. It’s all here, right here, right now, in an already fully committed Panzano CC, with drying fruit and an herbal, arid finish. Drink 2018-2019.  Tasted February 2018  panzanello_1427  @Panzanello  @Panzanello1427

Jurji Fiore of #PoggioScalette on the top of the #rufoli hill in #greveinchianti one of the great cru of #chianticlassico

Ruffoli

Podere Poggio Scalette Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Alta Valle delle Greve is one of Chianti Classico’s highest vineyard sites in Greve on a perch at the top of the Ruffoli hill. Poggio Scalette’s is fermented in concrete, in part because all the sangiovese comes in together and the decision for what to use for Il Carbonaione is not made until later on. Then the Chianti Classico is separated and works further with the concrete, maintaining the highest level of fresh fruit character. Pure sangiovese from younger vineyards, this is so direct, of pure acidity that alights the fruit and delivers honest, unadulterated delight.  Last tasted February 2018

The seventh vintage for the cement-aged Annata is a firm one, especially for 2015, of quick aromatic demand, already thinking ahead, not necessarily for the here and now. Like the other sangiovese (di Lamole) from decent Greve in Chianti altitude (450m) also delivers some hillside (mountain-ish) herbs and fennel, with chicory too. To the palate comes a char on cinghiale roasting over the fire. Top quality acidity rounds out this traditional, fiery red sangiovese with grip and persistence. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2017  Podere Poggio Scalette  profilewinegroup  #PoggioScalette   @ProfileWineGrp  Podere Poggio Scalette  Profile Wine Group

Chianti Classico Collection 2018

Querciabella Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (728816, $30.25, WineAlign)

Digging deeper, or in this case higher as fruit from this eastern section of Greve comes in part from vineyards up on the Ruffoli hill. For 2014 winemaker Manfred Ing pointed out how they used a lot less Radda fruit in the mix due to pest problems and so much of that fruit was dropped. This 2015 is a different story, of Ruffoli meets Radda for a regional Annata, a true territorial Chianti Classico. The hill’s spice and high tonality weaves into Radda’s depth and richness is the quotient, even for a ’15 but not unusual for a Querciabella. It’s a fourth in a row (100 per cent) varietal wine, a sangiovese gelée if you will and really pure. The most purity, with back bite spice but rendered and creatively displaced. Impeccable farming, meticulous sorting and precise winemaking add up to the cleanest of Chianti Classico. I’ll have my sangiovese neat, thank you very much. Drink 2019-2024. Tasted February 2018  querciabella  grape_brands  @Querciabella  @querciabella

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

This young and impressionable Riserva has been a year in bottle and with more (to mostly) Ruffoli fruit than normal it can’t help but speak a very specific language. Ad with the Annata from the same vintage there were problems with the Radda fruit and so the near-solo journey means less rounded edges and higher tones. The best fruit came from Greve, followed by Radda and then Gaiole. What you notice from this ’14 is its depth of beautiful cherry liqueur with earth tones and musky leather. The acidity is the constant, so very Ruffoli and the tannins are surprisingly sweet. Should all come together in another year or so. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  querciabella  grape_brands  @Querciabella  @querciabella

Poggibonsi

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

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 2019-2021.  Tasted February 2018  fattoriacinciano  @InfoCinciano  @fattoriadicinciano

San Fabiano Calcinaia Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $23.95, WineAlign)

If you are looking for a flat-out juicy, chewy and full-flavoured example of Chianti Classico with unbridled 2015 warmth then look no further. SFC’s Poggibonsi annata delivers drinkable fantasy in sangiovese and that is all there is to that. Drink 2018-2020.  Tasted February 2018 sanfabianocalcinaiasrl  gsoleil123  @SanFabiano  @GroupeSoleilTO  Società Agricola “San Fabiano Calcinaia”  Groupe Soleil Fine Wines

Isole E Olena Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (704346, $29.95, WineAlign)

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 2019-2024. Tasted February 2018.

Isole E Olena Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (704346, $29.95, WineAlign)

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 Demarchi 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  #isoleeolena  @HalpernWine  #isoleeolena  halpernwine  Isole e Olena  @halpernwine

Isole E Olena Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

“Chianti is not a territory that gives minerality in wines. The low pH and high acidity are the factors that matter most. Here the back palate has bite, but it’s not salinity.” So says Paolo de Marchi as he introduces a series of Gran Selezione. In 2015 the difference between this GS and the Cepparello is not an enigmatic one, nor is it a mystery that de Marchi was not in favour of creating a new category. Still he foresaw and excepted the outcome, so  decided to make something special. “In time, after me, it will be a single-vineyard.” Barrel selected from the Cepparello selection, this is not a 100 per cent sangiovese but rather something still in transit, even moving. So tight and tannic, fine-grained, with a new fineness of acidity, but just missing something. Like cabernet franc it is quipped, but no, it wouldn’t have worked anyway. So what then? Time, that is all. Drink 2020-2029.  Tasted February 2018

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

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)

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

Isole E Olena Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2006, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

Gran Selezione 2006 is the very first. “It is a wine I decided to make for the family, on the 50th anniversarry of my father buying the estate,” tells Paolo de Marchi. “Before Gran Selezione it was already a wine that was in my head. A wine that is the experience of a Super Tuscan with the experience and character of Chianti Classico.” It’s 80 per cent sangiovese with syrah and cabernet franc, plus a touch of merlot. Worked, re-adjusted, working for complexity. This was the first year of GS and even though it had already been bottled, it qualified because Paolo has made a special selection of barrels for a specific wine.  It may just be the biggest of them all, a ground breaker, and it made great use of cabernet franc. Nothing if not big and bright, effulgent, massive and balanced. It’s still so fresh and alive. Drink 2018-2030.  Tasted February 2018

Serious #sangiovese showing @chianticlassico Masterclass @agotoronto ~ #castellodigabbiano #castellodimonsanto #castellodialbola #carobbio #vallepicciola #querciabella #roccadicastagnoli

Radda in Chianti

Related – Get Radda for Chianti Classico

Borgo La Stella Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

A variegation of soils prepositioned by slopes higher than many make the sangiovese from Radda in Chianti both unique and fascinating. Borgo La Stella invokes the dramatic use of Alberese and Macigno rock, sand and stone to rise up and tell a story of purposed cool climate Chianti Classico curiosity. The ’15 is amenable sangiovese with classic high scope, tonality, soil tang and acidity. The apex at which fruit and drama connect is both exciting and new. This house and its young vines are just getting started and 2015 is the meeting point to join the journey. Drink 2018-2022.  Tasted February 2018  borgolastella  devonmasciangelo  #BorgoLaStella  Borgo la Stella  Devon Masciangelo

Brancaia Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (519173, $24.95, WineAlign)

Brancaia’s tone is dialled high in these earliest of days, bright, effusive and expressive. Tart cherry fruit prescribed and duly described exactly as this is doted on by equal and uplifting acidity. You just feel like chewing on this glass of effulgent fruit, in rumination and for an easy route through the complacency of sangiovese digestion. That acidity is notable though it too is easy to assimilate and so upon return the fruit feels the same. Drink 2018-2022.  Tasted February 2018  brancaia_com  noble_estates  @CasaBrancaia  @Noble_Estates  @Brancaia  @NobleEstates

Brancaia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (260802, $36.95, WineAlign)

The vintage is the succulent one for Brancaia’s Riserva, an (80 per cent) sangiovese, (20) merlot Radda in Chianti beauty that saw 16 months in a combination of barriques and tonneaux. Here we feel the point where 2013 and 2014 intercede, propagate and deliver a child that is observed to grow up so fast. While so tart, it’s primary concern is to deliver pleasure with a substantive and toothsome payoff. The wood is still a bit heavy but necessary to carry the ecumenical fruit forward three to five years. Drink 2019-2023.  Tasted February 2018  brancaia_com  noble_estates  @CasaBrancaia  @Noble_Estates  @Brancaia  @NobleEstates

Time travel through the generoso @volpaia back pages with Giovannella Stianti and Federica Mascheroni #coltassala #chianticlassico #1987 #1988 #1993 #1999 #castellodivolpaia

Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (705335, $41.95, WineAlign)

The Riserva is now sourced from a different vineyard than the Annata, with the single vineyard now in delivery of the fruit for the Gran Selezione from 2015 moving forward. The nose here is firmly demanding, savoury, mentholated, with metal magic, creosote and graphite. Now 100 per cent sangiovese, this silky Riserva is frankly silly-stupid young and yet you just know it is a wine that has adjusted to a climate that was once something other and in fact the evolutionary adjustment in time won’t begin to happen for this ’15 until another two or three years. That will be followed by two or three more to ready the open window and offer an aromatic sense of the decomposing sandstone and lime in earth underfoot. Then two or three more for some real change to happen. Drink 2021-2027.  Tasted February 2018  castellodivolpaia  rogersandcompanywines  @volpaia  @rogcowines  @volpaia  Rogers & Company

Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 1987, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Chianti Classico Riserva 1987 is habituated and living life to the fullest in a state of complete and utter sound body and mind. It is sangiovese made at a time when it could it not have been known how impressive it would show 30 years later. Volpaia ’87 is from way back in the cold, pre-climate change days, the acid-washed, roaring 80s, now umami-earthy, cherry-plum fruit with some celery and a real salty-sandstone vein. Still blessed by a healthy, rhythmic pulse of acidity and finally, pure pleasure. Chalk it to bottle luck or a vintage that just had an inkling of greatness that would surely come but this is truly a special and memorable moment to taste. It needs saying with a thank you in words to Giovanella Stianti for sharing, but that will never be enough. Grazie infinite. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted February 2018  castellodivolpaia  rogersandcompanywines  @volpaia  @rogcowines  @volpaia  Rogers & Company

Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Coltasalla 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Welcome to the new age for Chianti Classico Gran Selezione aging, meaning this is one to go longer, 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. “Coltasalla 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. Coltasalla is truly a body of work to represent this 500m vineyard and Volpaia with the highest nobility. Drink 2022-2032.  Tasted February 2018  castellodivolpaia  rogersandcompanywines  @volpaia  @rogcowines  @volpaia  Rogers & Company

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

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  colleberetowinery  #collebereto @NokhrinWines  Azienda Agricola Colle Bereto  Azienda Agricola Colle Bereto

Castello Monterinaldi Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (383604, $19.95, WineAlign)

No other sangiovese yet and perhaps won’t again brings the smell of anise like Monterinaldi’s. Though this ’15 Annata is not the single-vineyard Boscone it truly is a Radda in Chianti terroir based wine. After the fennochio love-in the flavours turn to tart cherry and chalky soil. This is real savoury sangiovese, like chewing on soil, leaves and frutta di bosco. Traditional but not necessarily rustic, this is simply a matter of the earth. Drink 2019-2022. Tasted February 2018  #monterinaldi  @monterinaldi  C & E Worldfinds  @monterinaldi  

Castello Monterinaldi Chianti Classico DOCG Vigneto Boscone 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

The single-block expression from Vigneto Boscone is really quite different from the fennel uncanny purposed Monterinaldi Annata, here with sweeter scented and less savoury, brushy and bushy fruit. This is a much broader brushstroke of sangiovese, or rather a swath of fruit, rich, layered and developed. The herbal, amaro component is there but clearly secondary to the fruit. This is very composed, clearly arranged and doted upon Chianti Classico with a lot of purpose. The palate is chewy and persistent. Drink 2019-2025.  Tasted February 2018  #monterinaldi  @monterinaldi  C & E Worldfinds  @monterinaldi 

Istine Chianti Classico Docg Vigna Cavarchione 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

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  istine_raddainchianti  angela_fronti  #istine  @angelafronti  Istine  Angela Fronti

Poggerino Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (SAQ 878777, $25.95, WineAlign)

This next Annata from Radda in Chianti is impressive for its delivered impression of simulated Riserva quality and with a bit of reserve on the nose. Poggerino’s stands apart in this respect. There are many layers in the variegated red fruit, at times really dusty and often liquified of a chalky strength. It is this presence that says all the best fruit is right here. It will be very interesting to taste the Riserva Bugialla to compare, contrast and quite likely re-think. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  fattoriapoggerino  vins.balthazard  #poggerino @vinsbalthazard  @poggerino  @VinsBalthazard

Poggerino Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG Bugialla 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $45.00, WineAlign)

Now the interest in the Poggerino house and the quest for Bugialla gains momentum in a Riserva that picks up right where the Annata left off and somehow manages to raise the essence of sweet perfume and beautiful liqueur. The elevation is in a hyperbole of fineness, from fruit, by acidity and in developing notable structure. Bugialla out of Radda in Chianti is just a velvety, sumptuous, viscous and elegant Riserva. Amazing nobility, gentle touch and restrained power. Drink 2019-2026.  Tasted February 2018    fattoriapoggerino  vins.balthazard  #poggerino @vinsbalthazard  @poggerino  @VinsBalthazard

Vignavecchia Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

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  vignavecchiafattoria  #Vignavecchia  @VignaVecchia

Vignavecchia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG Odoardo Beccari 2014, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, WineAlign)

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  vignavecchiafattoria  #Vignavecchia  @VignaVecchia

San Casciano in Val di Pesa

Related – If you’re going to San Casciano

Mercatale Val di Pesa

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

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  marchesiantinori  halpernwine  @AntinoriFamily  @HalpernWine  @MarchesiAntinori  @halpernwine

Castello di Gabbiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (219808, $19.10, WineAlign)

Castello di Gabbiano’s Chianti Clsssico may repeat itself and act the obvious one, but once again in 2016 it is full and ripe, filled in at every turn, deep, dark and handsome. The ability to deal in pleasure is immense from gathered quality fruit and as always this Annata finds the quickest line for us to appreciate the unwavering sense of equilibrium. Simply put it is Gabbiano and winemaker Federico Cerelli who offer a quality guarantee at the most attractive price. Leaves no reason to doubt. Drink 2018-2021.  Tasted February 2018  castellodigabbiano  markanthonyon  @castgabbiano  @MarkAnthonyWine  @castellogabbiano  Ivano Reali (Castello Di Gabbiano)  Mark Anthony Wine & Spirits

Carus Vini Chianti Classico DOCG Baldéro 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Baldéro the name might be a character reference from the 1858 Firenze published “Le Poesi Originali di Ippolito Pindemonte,” enemy to Arminio. As a wine this is sangiovese and a small addition of merlot from a plot of land straddling San Casciano and Mercatale in Val di Pesa. Technically belonging to the former, the appellative personality is ingrained, first as quite reductive sangiovese, especially for 2015. Baldéro is still locked tight, shut, door closed. Mountain tea and brushy herbs, rosemary and fennel are the most notable aromas so if not altitude it is the locality of smooth hills and moderate clay that must be the key players. The fruit behind the curtain seems dark and black cherry stormy but it’s not yet at the surface. Structure is the thing, time the factor. This may turn into one exceptional Chianti Classico. “Io tuo nemico?” Not this Baldéro. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  carusvini  @carus_vini  @Carusvini

Cigliano’s is high-toned and potentially so lovely, with fruit that speaks as if to say “we the berries were picked at exactly the correct time, each and every one of us.” These berries have co-conspired, commingle and have coagulated into a terrific mess of multiplicity within one young and impressionable Chianti Classico through the specific geological lens of San Casciano in Val di Pesa. Great work here via the hands of Niccolò Montecchi. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  Villa del Cigliano  dbwineandspirits  #cigliano  @VilladelCigliano  @dbwineandspirits

La Querce Seconda Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Just a stone’s throw from Florence is where La Querce Seconda produces this 100 per cent organic sangiovese from San Casciano in Val di Pesa. There is something about the affinity between the commune and the 2015 vintage, connecting cooler sites with a beautifully warm and engaging season so that fruit moves from firm to fruity. This is of course a relative and generalized ideal but in the case of the LQS Annata it speaks clearly to the point. Talk about the passion, this is implosive, intense and structured Chianti Classico of sweet fruit meeting at chalky intercession. It’s amorous, modern and spicy. So open and ready with plenty of life ahead. Drink 2019-2025.  Tasted February 2018  laquerceseconda  #laquerceseconda  La Querce Seconda

La Sala Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

La Sala’s Annata 2015 is a bambino, a San Casciano in Val di Pesa sangiovese with 10 per cent merlot to speak for sites at 300m, seemingly more instructed by Galestro from out of the Argilla Rossa in 2015. It was raised in grande (45 hL) botti and has now only been in bottle for five months. It’s tart and firm, strong with doppio shots of espresso and very structured for the vintage. Tells a tale about the sort of sangiovese that comes from San Casciano. Drink 2019-2024.  Tasted February 2018  cantinalasala  @LaSalaVini  @toohotrightnow  La Sala  Stefano Pirondi

La Sala Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Much like the Annata the use of grande (45 hL) botti is key to structure but the Riserva also sees some time in third and fourth passage barriques, if only for a few months. This just smooths, cultures and adds some grace to some of the firmer sangiovese in not just San Casciano, but in all of Chianti Classico. Galestro makes a greater case in the Riserva so that the sapid-savoury streak will begin to come into emanation earlier but also because of the 10 per cent cabernet sauvignon picked from 45 year-old vines on Galestro soil. There is incredible purity in this CCR but also richness and presence. The perfume suggests Cassis, black cherry and black currant leaf but that youthful modernity will submit to the limestone before you can say Val di Pesa. Very polished and impressive wine. Drink 2018-2023.  Tasted February 2018  cantinalasala  @LaSalaVini  @toohotrightnow  La Sala  Stefano Pirondi

Luiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $24.50, WineAlign)

While 2014 showed a winemaker’s ability to survive and ultimately thrive in spite of a great challenge and 2015 proved a different sort of sangiovese mettle, 2016 is more accented and accentuated. The tobacco mid-point on a crunchy mid-palate moves away from gelée and into gravelly pronouncements. Though only in bottle a few days you can’t help but feel the power, grit and structure from this youthful 2016. It’s so very primary and needs to be heard but I’ve asked for a rain-check, looking forward to a re-visit in late ’18 or early ’19. Drink 2019-2023.  Tasted February 2018  luianowine ale_luiano  tre.amici.imports  @LuiLuiano  @treamiciwines  Luiano®  Alessandro Palombo  Tre Amici Wines

Luiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $24.50, WineAlign)

As if a-ha moment notable as a San Casciano Val di Pesa reality, it’s hard to fathom such qualitative smooth consistency and parochial existence from sangiovese. That is what might be referred to as a 2015 epiphany in the soil, hands and mind of Alessandro Palombo. The place lifts his benevolent Chianti Classico into a form almost gelée in savoury consistency, insistent with resolve to please and evolve. It’s sangiovese candy without sweetness but is a matter of just desserts. It might be compared to a fresh picked tomato at optimum ripeness and flavour, leafy, herbal and rife with acidity. San Casciano acidity. Have you ever been faced with such a thing? It’s like the sun. Drink 2018-2022.  Tasted February 2018  luianowine ale_luiano  tre.amici.imports  @LuiLuiano  @treamiciwines  Luiano®  Alessandro Palombo  Tre Amici Wines

Poggiopiano Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Poggiopiano is the work of Stefano Bartoli out of San Casciano in Val di Pesa. Here a highly likeable, sweet scenting black raspberry hug of fruit with mild acidity and even milder tannin. Drink now, early and often sangiovese while the ones with the greater 2015 acidity take their time. Drink 2018-2019.  Tasted February 2018  poggiopiano.galardi  @PoggiopianoFI  @FattoriadiPoggiopiano

Poggiopiano Chianti Classico DOCG Terre di Cresci 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Terre di Cresci’s more specific San Casciano in Val di Pesa terroir brings a broad waft of the same upfront dark fruit but with a more muted delivery and notable increase in acidity. Really full, savoury and satisfying Chianti Classico. Drink 2019-2023.  Tasted February 2018  poggiopiano.galardi  @PoggiopianoFI  @FattoriadiPoggiopiano

Principe Corsini Chianti Classico DOCG Le Corti 2015, Tuscany, Italy (400861, $29.95, WineAlign)

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  principecorsini  artisanal_wine_imports  @PrincipeCorsini  @ArtWineGuru  Principe Corsini  Artisanal Wine Imports

Tavarnelle Val di Pesa

Il Poggiolino Chianti Classico DOCG Il Classico 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Il Classico some with lovely floral, spiced and released to sell character. Sometimes sangiovese just gets bright-eyed for the present Annata, here acting out ’15 with clarity and purity. Just a bit of earthy funk tempers the beauty, or doubles down on it, depending on your perspective. Nice touch from Tavarnelle Val di Pesa. Drink 2018-2020.  Tasted February 2018  @IlPoggiolino 

Stay-tuned for the amphora and half-magnum story of @FattMontecchio with Francesca Semplici and Stefano di Blasi

Montecchio Chianti Classico DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

Montecchio’s new look is a curved Bordolese bottle that brings to mind a half magnum. Proprietor Riccardo Nuti’s ’15 is 90 per cent sangiovese with small additions of merlot, cabernet sauvignon and a touch of alicante. It’s soft and spicy, charming in texture and of a new sort of Annata tannin with thanks to amphora aging. The fruit is wrapped taut in a spinning wheel of acidity, round and blanketing. It does not so much rage against as circles around the machine and certainly gains our full attention. Good Chianti Classico will do that. Drink 2019-2025.  Tasted February 2018  fattoriamontecchio  @FattMontecchio  Fattoria Montecchio

Montecchio Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2013, Tuscany, Italy (Winery, WineAlign)

The 2013 vintage just gets better and better and I am a fan of estates showing off their Riservas at this four and a half year stage. The Montecchio half magnum, stubby bottle 2013 is 90 per cent sangiovese with cabernet sauvignon and alicante that spent 26 months in Grandi Botti of 25 hL. It may be a product of Tavernelle Val di Pesa but it’s savour is pure San Donato in Poggio. It is no wonder that owner Riccardo Nuti is the first President of the just recently formed L’Associazione di Viticoltori San Donato in Poggio. There is more richness and spice than your average Annata and with a Gran Selezione on the horizon this Riserva really works the room. It’s time is soon, perhaps even now. Drink 2019-2025. Tasted February 2018  fattoriamontecchio  @FattMontecchio  Fattoria Montecchio

Podere La Cappella Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Agent, $28.95, WineAlign)

Only San Poggio in Donato delves into this kind of specific calcaire, the Colombino in lieu of most other’s Galestro. The coolest of notes are broken down and fragmented in mimic of the soil and run like a river of savoury stone through stratified fruit. There is a perception of sweetness, imagined as perfectly ripe, low-lying fruit in early summer. But the sweetness is just a dream because with such a level of mineral, not salty but sapid, it is impression that supersedes expression. The young vines are growing up before our noses and eyes, lending impeccable balance in the here and now, with appreciable development laid out ahead. Drink 2019-2025.  Tasted February 2018  #poderelacappella  #poderelacappella  Natascia Rossini

The view at 630m from Poggio di Guardia where Federico Cerelli and Stefano di Blasi tend their vines in #raddainchianti

Good to go!

Godello

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