Chianti Classico, Badia a Coltibuono 2022
Falstaff 92; James Suckling 92; Wine Spectator 92; Decanter 92; JancisRobinson.com 91; Raffaele Vecchione 88
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Why this wine
Badia a Coltibuono has farmed this land since 1846 and organically since 1995, long before it was fashionable. The wine is made hands-off — wild yeasts, large seasoned casks rather than barriques — so it tastes of Sangiovese and of Gaiole rather than of oak. A benchmark Chianti Classico at the everyday end of the range.
At a glance
- Grape
- Sangiovese 90%, Other Varieties 10%
- Region
- Tuscany, Italy
- Alcohol
- 13.50%
- Body
- Medium
- Acidity
- High
- Tannins
- Medium
- Sweetness
- Dry
- Drink
- Short (3-5 yrs)
- Pairs with
- Red Meat, Pasta, Cheese
How it tastes
Iris and violet over ripe cherry, with tobacco and black pepper behind them. Medium-bodied and warm, the acidity fresh, the tannins tightly knit and supple, and an elegant mineral note lifting a long finish. Sangiovese 90%, with the traditional complementary varieties Colorino, Canaiolo and Ciliegiolo.
The producer
Badia a Coltibuono takes its name from the abbey — the 'badia' — built on the property in 1051 for a community of Vallombrosan monks, 'Cultibuono' meaning good harvest in the Latin of the era; the 74-hectare estate, which covers the revered Monti subzone, was bought in 1846 and has passed down six generations of the Stucchi Prinetti family, run today by the siblings Emanuela, Guido, Paolo and the winemaker Roberto, and certified organic since the 2003 vintage. The fruit comes from the Sienese end of Chianti Classico, from Monti in Gaiole and Vitignano in Castelnuovo Berardenga, planted between 250 and 330 metres where breezes ventilate the vines, on clay loam of 15 to 25% clay over limestone rock; the newer vines were replanted by massal selection from the exceptionally old plants on the property, no herbicides or insecticides have been used since 1985, the vineyard has been farmed organically since 1995 and certified since 2003, and Delinat certified the estate in 2013. The grapes were hand-harvested and sorted by hand in the gravity-fed winery where needed, fermented on wild yeasts below 28°C with 12 to 18 days of maceration on the skins, and the wine then spent about a year in 20 to 25 hectolitre casks of seasoned French and Austrian oak.
Food and drinking
Serve at 16 to 18°C. Good with bistecca alla fiorentina, wild boar ragù, pappardelle with tomato and sausage, or a wedge of aged pecorino. Drinking well now and for three to five years; half an hour in a decanter helps it open. Sealed with a DIAM closure.