By Danielle Callegari
Wine Enthusiast Writer at Large and reviewer of wines from Tuscany and Southern Italy.

My love of wine didn’t hit me all at once. I didn’t have a sip out of my dad’s glass of ‘59 Petrus and feel my heart stop. I didn’t squeeze the dregs out of an ‘85 Sassicaia back of house after service and hear the voice of God. I don’t remember when I decided I loved wine—I just know I always did.

I do, however, remember the first time I had a bottle of Querciabella Chianti Classico. I was in San Frediano, a slice of Florence that would later be dubbed one of the “coolest neighborhoods in the world” by a major travel publication. At the time, however, it was a place where friends encouraged me to carry a knife when walking around alone. I was at a late lunch in a very simple trattoria that had all of its wine set on a high shelf lining the ceiling. The bottles sat under hot lights, in what could objectively be called the worst possible conditions. Despite the management’s efforts at undermining quality, when brought to the table and served, the Querciabella was a revelation. This wine wasn’t just good—it was exciting. It was somehow both restrained and elegant, and exploding with energy. I felt that energy quietly surging through me as I drank it.

Sure, there have been ups and downs since the Grand Duke Cosimo III de’ Medici marked this territory, tucked in between the three Tuscan cities of Florence, Siena and Arezzo, as especially suited to winemaking in 1716. The delimited zone was expanded significantly over the next 200-plus years to include a much broader swath of land under the generic name Chianti, leading to dilution of the brand and less consistency in the product, and Chianti Classico sometimes got lost in a sea of Sangiovese that wasn’t expressing this great history. (This is why all of the wines recommended below bear the Chianti Classico label.)

The Chianti Renaissance officially exploded in 2021, when the Chianti Classico consortium approved eleven new subzones (called Unità Geografiche Aggiuntive, or additional geographic units, in the style of the MGAs of Barolo) to highlight the magnificent diversity and depth their territory can produce.

This came on the heels of the introduction of a new category for quality based on more rigorous vinification practices, called Gran Selezione, which the E.U. approved in 2014.

After years of research and legislative innovation, Chianti Classico is now stunning the world with fresh, honest, confident expressions of Sangiovese that reflect a precise understanding of the land, a profound appreciation for the area’s history and a clear point of view.

But make no mistake: Chianti has not reached its apex—these wines are only getting better from here.

Table of Contents

Weather Report

It’s not news that things have been heating up on this planet, and Chianti is not immune.

The region has, however, mostly benefitted thus far.

For centuries, the biggest problem with crafting quality, ageable wines was achieving maturity. Ecologists with three or more decades of experience under their belts will tell you tales of praying they could break 11% alcohol in time for harvest. That hasn’t been an issue since the turn of this century.

Of course, as we know, global warming doesn’t just mean higher average temperatures, but also more extreme weather in general and more systems passing through. Recent years have been just as surprisingly wet as they have been hot.

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Managed properly, the water can mitigate any stretches of exceptionally high heat and dryness and make for a balanced profile, where grapes have found the athletic equilibrium we see in the 2023 and 2024 vintages.

Here forward, producers will likely be able to count on easily reaching maturity, but they may need to keep up the experimentation. Forward-thinking winemakers have begun with new training systems, canopy management and exposures to ensure they’re ready to react to the changing conditions and make the rain and heat work for, rather than against, them.

Make no mistake: Chianti has not reached its apex—these wines are only getting better from here.

Danielle Callegari, Wine Enthusiast Writer at Large

Trend Report

Sangiovese is a naturally elegant, if potentially powerful, grape. Now that winemakers can squeeze more nuance out of the Chianti territory, recent expressions of the wine lean bright and light, rather than punchy and intense. Producers are teasing out the savory, herbaceous flavors of macchia Mediterranea (wild Mediterranean herbs), tangy citrus and more high-toned red fruit like wild strawberry and raspberry.

Don’t let this fool you into thinking these wines are pop and pour and nothing more—the Chianti Classicos of this generation are in formidable fighting shape for long-term cellaring, ready to run the marathon at the sprint pace they set from the starting line.

Futurecast

Certainly the headline here is that top bottles from the most recognized producers in Chianti Classico will only become more coveted over the next decade, as wine lovers come to better appreciate just how much incredible quality there is here.

Given the current global landscape, with the uncertainty of tariff schemes and shipping structures, Chianti prices remain stunningly reasonable. These wines deliver both immediate drinking pleasure as well as great potential for development over time, making Chianti Classico a more solid investment than ever.

With an ability to lean on 400-plus years of experience and now recent investments in viticulture and more rigorous vinification practices, industry insiders expect the region’s producers to keep lifting the wines to new levels of excellence.

A key thing to note when selecting a Chianti is that the word “Classico” is an important qualifier.

The more restricted territorial distinction is an important indicator of the level of attention not just to the wine in the bottle, but also to the whole project of identity and history that the region is carefully re-introducing to the world.

Starting in 2013, the region introduced a system with three tiers: Chianti Classico, Chianti Classico Riserva and Chianti Classico Gran Selezione. The latter indicates that the wine has been aged at least 30 months, with at least three months in bottle, and is crafted from exclusively estate fruit.

Consumers now have the luxury of picking exactly what they want for every occasion, at any price point.

TL; DR: Drink more Chianti Classico and get your Gran Selezione while you still can!

There are 11 Chianti subregions that produce excellent wines including Gaiole, Castelnuovo Berardenga, Montefioralle, San Casciano and Castellino. Many wineries source grapes from multiple UGAs, and there are excellent examples spread all across. However, the following areas are producing some of our favorite bottles right now.

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Greve

This is the first subregion of Chianti Classico that you hit while driving out of Florence on your way into Chiantigiana, and a big, diverse one at that. Greve can be hard to categorize, even though it’s nearly always exciting. The rolling hills and moderating effect of the Greve river lead to high acid, ultra-fresh expressions of Sangiovese that are known to age well.

Querciabella is established at the top; it’s a game changer. A wine that will make you think differently about wine.

Radda

With soaring elevations and two gorgeous rivers, Radda’s Chianti is known for its quiet strength. This execution of Sangiovese feels like an expert martial artist is behind it.

Castello di Albola expresses the region’s history exceptionally well. It’s like a knight in shining armor: not so much guarding, but accompanying you on the journey to feel the roots of the Sangiovese in this ancient territory.

Panzano

Standing at either edge of the medieval hamlet of Panzano, you can look out over a sun-drenched Tuscan landscape so perfect it feels like it must be a painting. That golden warmth translates into rich, structured expressions of Chianti in this UGA.

Istine’s vineyard-specific expressions highlight the razor sharp and unique distinctions that we’ll no doubt be seeing a lot more of in the region.

San Donato in Poggio

It’s impossible to decide which of the medieval towns that dot the Chianti region is most magical, but San Donato might just win the most hearts, and the Sangiovese that comes from its stony soils is equally enchanting.

Castello di Monsanto has always been a benchmark for me. I reach for it whenever I want the Platonic ideal of Chianti: cherries, orange peel, sage, wild fennel, gun metal, joy.

Vagliagli

Cursed with being the hardest of the UGAs for Americans to say but well-worth the effort, Vagliagli (vahl-yahl-yee) offers expansive, generous iterations of Chianti from just north of the center of Siena.

If Chianti was once plagued by a reputation for being rustic and lacking in polish, Bindi Sergardi, one of the area’s top producers, has always been an exercise in unaffected elegance and graceful poise, and it remains so to this day.

Lamole

Like children, it’s socially unacceptable to have a favorite Chianti Classico UGA, even if everyone knows you do, so let’s just say Lamole is my Tiny Star (check out my article in our 2024 Italy issue!)—the smallest of the UGAs, it produces more elegant, edgier Chianti thanks to a cooler climate, dense surrounding forest and low ph soils.

More Italy Coverage

• For all things dolce vita, check out the August/September Italy Issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine.
• Go island hopping with our guide to Sicily’s remote oases.
• Everything you need to know about the cheese caves of Carso, where Jamar is aged to perfection.
• Discover how Chianti Classico is “roaring full speed into the future.”
• The future of Italian wine is looking exceptionally bright, thanks to these young, forward-thinking producers.
• Lambrusco vs. Moscato: A battle of Italian bubbles.