Tag: Chianti Classico

Chianti is probably the most recognized Italian wine in the world. The wines have come a long way since the flask/candle holder bottles of the past.

The wines are from the Tuscany region of Italy and are made primarily from the Sangiovese grape. At one time, the regulations mandated a proportion of white wine to the blend but in the modernization of the industry, they did away with that regulation and also permitted “foreign” varieties such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Chianti DOCG consists of the seven subzones of Colli Arenti, Colli Fiorentini, Colli Senesi, Colline Pisane, Montalbano, Ruffina, Montespertoli with the new subzone of Terre di Vinci added in 2026.

The most recognizable zone is Chianti Classico with its iconic black rooster (gallo nero) trademark and is a separate DOCG from the Chianti DOCG.

The wines are categorized by the aging classifications of Annata, Riserva and Gran Selezione. If those requirements aren’t’ enough, beginning in 2027 for the Gran Selezione they will add the UGA (additional geographical units) classification which will be sub districts within the sub districts.

On April 27th, the Consorizio Vino Chianti Classico, which was founded in 1927, sponsored a Grand Tasting of wines from the Classico region.

It was a walk around tasting for members of the trade of wines from over 35 wineries and was held at Ai Fiori restaurant at 400 5th Avenue in midtown Manhattan.

In addition to wine, they poured several extra virgin olive oils.

Some of what I sampled:

1990 Vigneti Le Selvanella Riserva: Clear medium brick, perfume of tar, graphite and white pepper, chewy red fruit with tart cherry notes on the finish.

2003 Castello Verrezzano Riserva: Cloudy medium brick, ripe red cherry and toasted nuts on the nose, chewy finish with lip smacking tannin.

2004 San Fabiano Calcinaia Riserva: Cloudy dark brick, sweet tar and fresh herbs on the nose, thick and chewy with a very chewy long finish, nice balance.

2005 Carparsa Riserva: Cloudy dark brick, saline, toast, graphite and barnyard on the nose, chewy fruit with gun metal notes, dusty, long finish.

2016 Monsanto Gran Selezione “Il Poggio”: Opaque medium brick, tarry, dirty red cherry on the nose, chewy red fruit with leather notes, fruit and firm finish.

2016 Felsina Berardenga Gran Selezione “Colonia”: Clear dark red, saline and barnyard on the nose, thick and chewy with walnut notes, chewy finish.

2019 Vigneti La Selvanella Riserva: Clear medium red, tar, graphite and crushed black fruit on the nose, chewy and dusty fruit ending with firm, chewy tannin.

2020 Monsanto Gran Selezione: Clear medium purple, dusty wood and black cherry on the nose, tight red cherry fruit with slate notes, firm acidity.

2020 La Salla del Torriano Gran Selezione: Opaque dark red, dark chocolate and fresh rosemary on the nose, dense and chewy fruit with dusty slate notes, firm, long finish.

2020 Poggio Rosso Gran Selezione: Opaque medium brick, toasty, sweet, tarry red fruit on the nose, chewy dark fruit, firm with a lingering finish.

2021 Carpineto Gran Selezione: Opaque dark red, sweet roast meat, saline and roasted cocoa on the nose, chewy dark chocolate fruit with saline and roasted nut notes, firm finish.

2021 San Fabiano Calcinaia Gran Selezione “Cellole”: Single Vineyard. Opaque medium red, graphite and sweet violet on the nose, silky red fruit with green herb notes and a nice grip on the finish.

2021 San Felice Gran Selezione “La Pieve”: Opaque medium purple, sweet dirty chocolate on the nose, chewy dark bright red fruit, tight red fruit on the finish.

2021 Carparsa Gran Selezione: Opaque medium red, perfume of tar and graphite, chewy and silky red fruit, firm grip, long finish.

2022 Frescobaldi Gran Selezione “Rialzi”: Opaque dark red, crushed red fruit and dirty chocolate on the nose, silky red fruit ending with firm acidity. Some heat.

On April 28th the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico held a tasting of the wines of Chianti Classico Black Rooster label. They brought over 39 wineries to pour current and older vintages of their wines and Vin Santo and local olive oils.

The tasting was held at Manhatta restaurant located at 39 Liberty Street in lower Manhattan.

Chianti is probably the most well know Italian wine and Chianti Classico with the Black Rooster label is the most well know of the eight Chianti regions. In addition to Classico, the rest of the regions are Montalbano, Rufina, Montespertoli, Colline Pisane, Colli Aretini and Colli Fiorentini.

Chianti Classico was born in 1716 when the borders of the production zone were delimited.

There are three tiers on the quality pyramid of Chianti. The first is Annata, the next tier up is Riserva and the top tier which is about 6% of Chianti Classico production is the Gran Selezione, a new category that was established in 2014. The requirements have 80%-90% minimum to 100% maximum of Sangiovese to be used with the rest indigenous or international red grapes.

At a large tasting I focus my efforts and today I sampled the Riserva wines from the various wineries.

2016 Tenuta Carobbio Chianti Classico Riserva “Carobbio:” Clear dark brick, woody dark chocolate on the nose, chewy fruit with forest floor notes ending with firm, silky tannin.

2017 Tenuta Carobbio Chianti Classico Riserva “Carobbio”: Clear medium brick, sweet tar and rosemary on the nose, sweet dusty fruit ending with bitter almond notes, nice grip.

2018 Quercia al Poggio Chianti Classico “Quercia al Poggio”: Clear medium brick, sweet dirty tar on the nose, tight with bitter cherry notes.

2019 Caparsa Chianti Classico Riserva “Pietraia”: Opaque dark red, sweet tar and white pepper on the nose, concentrated ripe fruit, firm tannin.

2020 Casina di Cornia Chianti Classico Riserva “Vigna la Casina”: Clear medium brick, forest floor and red fruit on the nose, dusty red fruit ending with silky, firm tannins.

2020 Borgo Scopeto Chianti Classico Riserva “Vigna Misciano”: Clear light red, closed nose of sweet stone, juicy red fruit with dusty tannin.

2020 Melini Vigneti La Selvanella Chianti Classico Riserva ” Vigneti La Selvanella”: Clear medium brick, smoky black cherry on the nose, concentrated dusty fruit firm tannin and acids at the finish.

2020 Castello Monterinaldi Chianti Classico Riserva “Castello Monterinaldi”: Clear medium brick, smoke and tar on the nose, tight red fruit, firm tannin.

2021 Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico Riserva “Castello di Monsanto”: Clear medium purple, toasty smoke on the nose, tight and dusty fruit, firm tannin.

2021 Ormanni Chianti Classico Riserva “Borro del Diavolo”: Clear medium brick, tarry dirt on the nose, chewy dusty fruit, nice grip.

2022 Vallepicciola Chianti Classico Riserva “Vallepicciola”: Clear medium brick, sweet gun metal on the nose, tight and concentrated crushed black fruit with black pepper and bitter cherry notes at the finish.

2022 Marchesi Frescobaldi Chianti Classico Riserva “Tenuta Perano”: Opaque dark purple, sweet tar and leather on the nose, tight and dusty red fruit ending with citrus notes and firm tannin.

On February 6, I attended a talk given by Alessandro Masnaghetti who wrote a newly published book on Chianti Classico.

The lecture was held at the offices of Baneville Wine Merchants located at 126 East 38th Street in midtown Manhattan.

It’s a big book with a lot of detail for that district of Chianti. I did learn what a UGA (Unita Geografiche Aggiuntive) is which are officially delimited subzones within a Chianti subzone.

As part of the lecture, we tasted five Chianti from five of those UGA subzones. They were from the 2020 vintage and were drinking nicely.

2020 Cigliano Di Sopra (San Casciano): Clear medium purple, dusty tar. graphite and earth on the nose, concentrated dusty bright red fruit with crushed rock notes on the finish.

2020 I Fabbri “La Mole” (Lamole): Clear medium brick, dusty nose of green stems and rocks, juicy red fruit and black licorice ending with a mouthful of tannins.

2020 Fattoria Le Masse (San Donato in Poggio): Clear medium red, big perfume of sweet crushed red fruit and some earth, concentrated silky black fruit with dusty leather notes on the long and balanced finish. My favorite of the flight.

2020 Tolaini “Mello” (Gaiole): Clear red with a perfume of violets and roast meat, tight red fruit with firm tannins and a long finish.

2020 Tolaini “Vallenuova” (Castelnuova Beradenga): Opaque dark red, perfume of tar, red leather and sweet fruit with dusty, silky red fruit with a good grip and a nice balance. Another favorite of the tasting.

On May 20 & 21st the I.E.E.M. (International Event & Exhibition Management) held another of its series of tastings where they showcase a particular wine to wine professionals and look for importers/distributor for the wines. This time around it was the Chianti Classico Collection. They were wines from the Black Rooster (gallo nero) Chianti Classico DOCG in Tuscany.

There are seven subzones in the Chianti DOCG, Colli Arentini, Colli Fiorentini, Colli Senesi, Colli Pisane, Rufina, Montespertoli and Montalano. Classico was a subzone but became its own DOCG in 1996.

This was a live tasting but modified for current conditions. You sat at a table and via smartphone would order 4 wines from their 200+ bottle list on hand and a Sommelier would come over and pour the wines.

It was a vertical tasting of the 2015-2019 vintages and all of the three quality tiers were represented including Gran Selezione, Riserva and the basic Classico. The formula for Chianti has changed in recent years and they are no longer required to use a small percentage of white grapes and they can now use foreign varietals such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

In general, of the five vintages I would say that the 2016’s were showing well with the strongest concentration of fruit from the vintages. The 2019’s were for the most part still young and unbalanced, these are some of my highlights.

2015 Cantina Castelvecchi “Madonnino della Pieve” Gran Selezione: Opaque dark red, pretty perfume of sweet violets, tar and dried sage, silky fruit with firm tannins on the medium to long finish.

2015 Castello di Radda “Vigna il Corno”Gran Selezione: Clear medium brick, closed nose of toasted nuts with red cherry fruit and gritty, mouth coating tannins at the end.

2015 Piemaggio “Le Fioraie”: Riserva: Clear light red, red licorice, mint and violets on the nose, earth notes on the bright fruit, firm finish.

2015 Castello di Raddo Riserva: Light brick, closed nose of cooked vegetables, juicy black licorice fruit ending with a firm and balanced long finish.

2015 Istine “Levigne” Riserva: Clear light red, closed nose of dried herbs, bright red fruit with slate and toast notes, ending with firm tannins.

2016 Agricoltori del Chianti “Contessa di Radda” Riserva: Opaque dark red with a purple rim with crushed red fruit on the nose, juicy with toasty notes on the fruit.

2016 Castello di Verrazzano Riserva: Clear dark brick in color, sweet violets and dried herbs on the nose, dusty earth on the fruit with firm tannins.

2016 Canoica a Cerreto Riserva: Clear medium red with dried leaf on the nose, tight with mouth coating tannins.

2016 Agricoltori del Chianti “Montegiachi” Riserva: Clear dark red, perfume of violets and roasted meat, concentrate dark fruit with slate notes, nice balance with dried herbs on the long finish.

2016 Castello di Radda Riserva: Clear medium red, tar, roasted nuts and camphor on the nose, juicy fruit with silky tannins, nice balance.

2017 Banfi Riserva: Opaque medium brick, pretty sweet nose, starts out with juicy fruit that drops at the end with black licorice notes.

2017 Brancaia Riserva: Clear medium red with roasted nuts on the nose, firm red fruit and a balanced finish.

2018 Badia & Coltibuono Classico: Clear light brick, pencil shavings and forest floor on the nose, delicate and light bodied.

2018 Pasolini dall’Onda “Sicelle” Classico: Clear medium red with toasted notes on the nose with silky fruit and a nice a nice balance.

2018 Castello di Radda Classico: Clear medium red, pretty nose of violets, tar, graphite with moderate to light fruit and light tannins at the end.

2019 Marchese Antinori “Peppoli” Classico: Clear light red with dried herbs on the nose, bright fruit.

2019 Felsina “Beradenga” Chianti Classico: Clear light red, bacon fat and roasted nuts on the nose, bright fruit with silky tannins.