Why Chianti Wines Have Improved So Much the Last Decade

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In the popular imagination, Chianti comes in a straw-wrapped bottle that’s served at an Italian restaurant where red checkered tablecloths accent the space and the red sauce flows freely. Far from luxury, it would be safe to say. But 10 years after the creation of a top-tier Chianti designation—Chianti Classico Gran Selezione—the region is really hitting its stride. Today’s high-end Chianti Classico wines show the skill of the winemaker’s hand combined with the best selection of Sangiovese from the finest terroir of the Chianti zone. The heart of the region, Chianti Classico, had long been considered the best growing and production area, with Riserva at the top of the quality pyramid, until the addition of the even higher Chianti Classico Gran Selezione in 2014. These wines are considered so special that under the production code of the local consorzio they must be packaged in a Bordeaux-style bottle and may not be sold in the traditional straw-covered fiasco toscano.

What sets Gran Selezione wines apart is that they must be made with 90 percent Sangiovese, as opposed to 80 percent for other Chianti Classico wines and 70 percent for wine simply labeled Chianti. Other allowable grapes include Ciliegiolo, Colorino, Mammolo, Malvasia Nera, and Pugnitello. They have to be grown and bottled on the estate and produced from a single vineyard or a selection of the best grapes. Alcohol by volume is set at a minimum of 13 percent, and production guidelines state that Gran Selezione wines will exhibit “elegance, structure, fineness, balanced tannins, and acidity,” along with aging potential.

Situated between Florence and Siena, the region has also been divided into 11 geographical units called UGAs that may be included on the label. While it is too early to evaluate how each area affects the grapes and wine, in time these may be viewed in much the same way that Grand and Premier Cru appellations in France are. Approved in July 2023, UGAs currently only apply to Gran Selezione wines. The minimum aging requirement is 30 months, including at least three months in bottle, although many wineries age their best wines for longer than that.

The Chianti Classico DOCG consorzio began a project called Chianti Classico 2000 that started at the end of the 1980s and lasted 15 years. The aim was to select Sangiovese clones that were best adapted to the region so that members could truly work with the top fruit in the area. “After this research and the rising appreciation of our wines, it was only logical to create a category in which only the best of the best could fall in,” says Giovanni Manetti, president of Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico. Thus, the Gran Selezione category was born.

Chianti Classico was Italy’s first official wine consorzio, after being founded in 1924 with 33 members. By coincidence, the creation of Gran Selezione was embraced by this same number of producers. Manetti continues, “After exactly five years, they were already 125, and every year this figure increases, to today’s figure of 170 producers and 214 labels on the market.” He also points out that the attention and high scores lavished on the category has had a halo effect on all the wines of the region.

Current releases vary by producer, but we recently tasted through selections from 2017 through 2021 and they have all been stellar. Borgo Scopeto 2017 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG comes from five estate vineyards in the Vagliagli UGA, which is the highest in altitude within Chianti. Elisabetta Gnudi Angelini, Borgo Scopeto’s owner, tells us sandy soils and altitudes between 1,312 and 1,640 feet near the village of Vagliagli create wines that are noted for their “dark fruit and a generous tannic structure, freshness, and elegance.” Tenuta Di Nozzole 2019 2017 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG is from the Folonari family’s vineyards in an area that visitors to Tuscany may already be familiar with, Greve in Chianti. Owner Giovanni Folonari explains that the UGA will be included on the label starting with the 2021 vintage.

Famiglia Zingarelli 2020 Sergio Zingarelli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione is estate-sourced from the Castellina UGA, which is not noted on the label. In the mid-1990s, owner Sergio Zingarelli replanted the vineyards closest to his family home, which had been planted by his father 20 years before. He explains that the mix of clay, schist, and calcareous soils here give power and aromatic diversity to the wine while also imparting structure, body, floral, and cherry flavors, as well as a light saline note.

Castello Di Verrazzano 2018 Sassello Vigneto Querciolina Chianti Classico Gran Selezione is from the second smallest UGA, Montefioralle, which proprietor Maria Sole refers to as an “island of limestone.” This 100 percent Sangiovese, single-vineyard wine has been produced since 1982, and since then its designation has graduated from table wine to IGT to Chianti Classico Riserva to Gran Selezione. “The altitude and exposition generate a temperate climate that gives Querciolina vineyard its unique features for the production of fine wines—very fragrant, medium to large structure, elegant and perfect for long-aging,” Sole says.

Among other producers making excellent examples of the style is Castello di Volpaia, whose Coltassala was first released in 1980, classified as a Super Tuscan in 1994, and in 2015 was recognized as a Gran Selezione, all while remaining the same Sangiovese wine with the same attention paid in the vineyard and cellars. Barone Ricasoli, meanwhile, makes four different Gran Selezione wines, all from its estate vineyards in the Gaiole UGA, which owner Francesco Ricasoli states offers “elegance, a pronounced drinkability, and freshness with notes of violet and cherry.” If your view of Chianti was shaped by entry-levels bottle alongside spaghetti and meatballs, it’s time to up your game and take a fresh look at the ultimate style from the region, Chianti Classico Gran Selezione.

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