Chianti Classico Riserva new releases: Top picks in 2025

Castell’in Villa’s Riserva is crafted from the estate’s higher altitude plots at over 300m. After forgoing this bottling in 2018, proprietress Coralia Pignatelli follows up the striking 2017 release with this austerely captivating 2019. It is classically savoury with discreet scents of sundried tomato, chestnut, roasted coffee and rust. After much aeration, sweeter nuances of macerated cherry, thyme and almond emerge. The palate is unquestionably strict and linear: stony tannins and brisk acidity make for a steely backbone. While far from rich or plush, it does have meat on its bones, and very toned muscles. It hints at blood and liquorice throughout, with a salty mineral finish.

The intention with Castello di Monsanto’s Riserva is to make a wine with immediate accessibility as well as serious cellaring potential. Gorgeous and precise from the get-go, the 2021 is profuse in aromas of black pepper, flint and earthy brambles. Equally perfumed, the palate ups the ante with rose, bergamot and graphite. A firm tannic spine and linear acidity are matched by fruit depth galore, all intricately and tightly stitched. My instinct is that this is only going to get better, so I prefer to wait. The solution is to buy a few bottles to enjoy its evolution.

Small lots from Istine’s high altitude vineyards in Radda and Gaiole are vinified and aged separately for a year before blending. The composite is given a further 12 months in 30-hectolitre casks to marry. A light yet confident touch coupled with a sense of adventure makes for a classy and characterful package. The just-bottled sample is subtle in expression. A whiff of mocha gives way to plum blossom, thyme flower, lavender and juniper. The palate is classically midweight and decidedly red fruit in tone – tart cranberry, tangy currants and sour cherry. There is just enough flesh to pad out the silky and composed tannins. Stony minerals linger.

Besides his day job consulting at a handful of estates in the region, oenologist Maurizio Alongi tends a grand total of 1.3 hectares in Gaiole’s remote forested hills. Harvest was performed on a single day: 28 September. Alongi says it was his most productive vintage ever and made 6,500 bottles. Initial reductiveness gives way to fresh strawberry and raspberry laced with cinnamon, pepper and clove. Taut and midweight, the palate is dark, woodsy and still slightly aloof. Puckering juiciness with smooth yet compact tannins lead to the liquorice root finish. Absolutely beguiling but begs to be cellared.

Despite a southern exposition and heat retaining stony soil, the high altitude and cooling influence of surrounding forest preserved incredible freshness in 2022. Alessandra Deiana also reports that yields were 20% higher than 2021, saying, ‘we didn't know where to put the grapes’. When I tried Il Campitello just before bottling, it was an explosion of perfumes. Now in bottle, the nose has shut down and quietly suggests currants, liquorice and forest undergrowth. But my, does the palate shine! Such succulence of lush yet tart red cherry with pomegranate and blood orange. This is vivacious and alive. Beautifully ripe but taut tannins meld with the stony, gravelly finish. And it is just going to get better.

The earliest harvest since 2017, 2022 saw grapes for Le Baròncole picked between 29 September and 4 October. A complex and fascinating mouthful, it exudes Chianti Classico’s warm, untamed southern stretch with all the intensity and density of the hot, arid summer. Mint chocolate, cinnamon, nutmeg, terracotta and plum burst from the glass. A savoury, umami palate proposes salty minerals, iron and sundried tomato. Grainy textured tannins coat the mouth and cling persistently, lending quite a chew. Remarkably balanced and composed, though it will need to time to integrate its significant tannins and wood imprint.

Among Radda’s coolest sites, Val delle Corti’s five hectares face northeast and are shaded by the mountain in the afternoon. The wines are correspondingly perfumed, fine-boned, racy and taut. Crafted from a plot of 50-year-old vines, the Riserva demonstrates greater depth, substance and textural complexity with respect to the lovely annata bottling. Scents of brushwood, rose, cardamom and mace emerge with coaxing. On the palate, raspberry and pomegranate are assertively cradled by fine yet ample chalky tannins. Bright and beaming on the finish, the best is yet to come. Serious stuff.

Trained winemakers Maddalena Fucile and Matteo Vaccari aren’t afraid of taking risks, but it isn’t without science and knowledge behind them. Their wines could be described as ‘natural’ – and they are among Chianti Classico’s most exciting examples. I tried this on two occasions. While the first bottle was closed and had a slight bretty niggle, the second was an explosion of all things nice: rose and violet with herb blossoms and grilled rosemary; a balsamic-infused, plump and pure-fruited palate flowing seamlessly without any hard edges. There's texture aplenty, and the long, chalky tannins cling persistently. It is definitely worth the gamble.

Meaning ‘lovestruck’ or more viscerally, ‘thunderbolt to the heart’, Sa’etta is in fact the more forceful of Monte Bernardi’s two Riserva. It hails from 50-plus year-old vines on calcareous sandstone, known as pietraforte. As such, it sees months longer in bottle before release. Exuding ripeness, it almost smells sumptuous. Dark bramble berries are complicated by terracotta and sunbaked stone. Expansive though not weighty, this is definitely well-endowed with structure. Yet those tannins are finessed and long. Acidity is deeply embedded rather than linear, giving a soft, flattering, romantic glow. Finishes with territorial dustiness.