Chianti Classico

94 Points! A full-bodied red with plum and walnut aromas and flavors. Some meat and spice, too. Firm and silky. Flavorful. Real Chianti Classico. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

94 Points! I love the Cigliano di Sopra 2021 Chianti Classico. This fabulous wine comes from an exciting estate that I absolutely recommend you seek out. Made with organic Sangiovese, it offers a punchy and bright fruit profile with cassis, red berry and blue flower that pop from the glass. The wine offers balance, freshness and an elegantly streamlined style. It feels transparent, almost fragile. Fruit is selected from across a seven-hectare site, and within that space, three hectares were planted in the 1970s and 1980s. The rest were planted more recently from 2004 on. With exactly 11,586 bottles made, this is a thrilling discovery.

I feel like a new benchmark for fine wine is being set by Maddalena Fucile and Matteo Vaccari of Cigliano di Sopra in San Casciano Val di Pesa. These young winemaking colleagues studied enology together in Florence and both worked with Sashi Moorman and Rajat Parr at Domaine de la Côte in California and at other prestigious wine estates in Italy. Winemaking is hands-on and artisanal in the stone underground cellar of Maddalena's family Tuscan villa. Farming is organic and biodynamic, and I want to underline the sheer excitement I feel for these wines and this promising up-and-coming estate. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com

94 Points! Quite a fresh and sleek nose for a Gran Selezione, this shows violets, nutmeg, Chinese spices, lavender and citrus. A grainy and finely yet seriously structured palate follows — medium-to-full in body and deep and generous in flavor. Drink from 2021. - JamesSuckling.com

95 Points! Monteraponi follows a Burgundy-adjacent farming philosophy that seeks to carve out distinct identities for strong red and white wines. The top-shelf red from the estate is the organic 2018 Baron'Ugo, a blend of 90% Sangiovese with smaller parts Canaiolo and Colorino for more color and vibrant fruit flavors. This vintage delivers a very clean and polished execution, and there is plenty of freshness, thanks to vineyard positioning at a cool and breezy 560 meters in elevation on limestone alberese soils. The oak is woven in a delicate manner in this wine. Production is 6,600 bottles. This is a little treasure from Tuscany. - Monica Larner, robertparker.com