Chianti Classico and Beyond – 2018 & 2019

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | SEPTEMBER 21, 2021

I was thrilled to get back to Chianti Classico this past summer. It was my first tasting trip to Italy in two years. Much has changed, for obvious reasons, but some things haven’t, chief among them my long-held belief that these are some of the greatest sites in the world. Readers will find much to choose from in both 2018 and 2019, two very different vintages full of highlights. Although the top wines in this report are utterly breathtaking, Chianti Classico and Chianti also offer the consumer so many exceptional everyday values. This article focuses on new releases from Chianti Classico, but I also include wines from neighboring appellations.

Valeria Viganò and Luca Orsini turned out a spectacular set of wines at Le Cinciole, one of the small, high-quality, artisan estates that dot the Panzano landscape.

The 2018 Vintage and Wines…A Little Bit of Everything

Chianti Classico can be an extremely challenging region when it comes to vintage generalizations. The landscape itself is incredibly varied. Many estates were once hamlets, when little villages were self-starting communities where people lived and worked their entire lives. Compare that to Burgundy’s Côte d’Or or Bordeaux’s Left Bank, where towns are neatly arranged, one next to each other, with all vineyards and wineries pretty much contained within small areas.

In some vintages, conditions are pretty similar across the entire region. Two-thousand seventeen comes to mind. Hail in the spring was an issue for vineyards at lower elevations. The rest of the year was warm and exceedingly dry until rain finally fell at the end of August. All wines reflect these conditions to varying degrees.

Fèlsina has long been a beacon for Chianti Classicos that speak eloquently to the personality and character of Castelnuovo Berardenga.

Two-thousand eighteen is a totally different beast. The year was characterized by widely varying conditions. It was a generally cool year with uneven ripening. One of the major events was rain in August just before harvest. In Radda, 100mm of rain fell in August. Further south, in Gaiole, that number was closer to 25mm.