Ricasoli releases mark 10 years of Chianti Classico Gran Selezione

The 2021 Gran Selezione wines from Ricasoli show the potential of small plot designations, even in a year requiring “resilience”.

2024 is a significant year for producers of Chianti Classico, and especially Ricasoli. In any year, its top wines are a cause for excitement, but as prime examples of the Chianti Classico Gran Selezione style they are emblematic of two milestones the appellation has reached this year.

Although the appellation’s boundaries date to 1716, the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico was founded in 1924. As the first of its kind in Italy, the consortium united growers dedicated to protecting the region’s style and origin. 100 years later, its numbers have swelled, but the consortium still holds true to those original aims. Ricasoli has a particularly important connection: Luigi Ricasoli, the grandfather of current owner Francesco Ricasoli, was one of the consortium’s 33 founding members.

2024 is not just a centenary, but also marks 10 years since a new designation was added to Chianti Classico DOCG. In 2014, Chianti Classico Gran Selezione was introduced, providing a labelling term at the very top of the appellation’s quality hierarchy. It is a designation adopted by Ricasoli for its flagship wine, as well as a selection of cru wines that reflect decades of research into its terroirs.

As the producer’s most prestigious wines, the new vintages of Ricasoli Gran Selezione wines always arrive to a fanfare. However, in light of these anniversaries, the 2021 vintages released this year are presented as proof of the significance both of the Chianti Classico and Gran Selezione designations.

Gran Selezione as a speciality

The family has held land in the heart of the region since 1141, with the hilltop Castello di Brolio as its ancestral home. More recently, it was a member of the family, twice Prime Minister of Italy Bettino Ricasoli, who formulated the Sangiovese-heavy ‘recipe’ for local wines in the late 19th Century, inspiring the later consortium. Chianti Classico is therefore central to its history.

In particular, Ricasoli has an intimate connection with the Gaiole sub-region. In 2021, Gaiole was designated one of the 11 new Unità Geografiche Aggiuntive (UGAs) that recognise Chianti Classico’s distinctive terroirs. Akin to villages in Burgundy, they allow producers to highlight an area’s specific appeal. Gaiole’s qualities, for instance, are summarised by Francesco Ricasoli as “elegance, a pronounced drinkability and freshness, with notes of violet and cherry.”

Only Gran Selezione wines, the highest quality designation of Chianti Classico, may be labelled with a UGA. The rules for these wines are particularly stringent. They must contain at least 90% Sangiovese and must be aged for at least 30 months. Moreover, the grapes must be grown on the estate’s own vineyards, from either single vineyards or a blend of the best sites.

These requirements for Gran Selezione dovetail perfectly with existing work by Ricasoli. In 2008, it embarked on a collaborative project to map 240 hectares of vineyards, evaluating the soils and establishing five macro-typologies suited to Sangiovese. This informed the production of four Gran Selezione wines, all of which come from the Gaiole UGA.

The first, its flagship, is Castello di Brolio. Blending together 26 hectares across six parcels, it captures the producer’s best vineyards. The winemaking team praises it for “its elegance and its balance, persistence and calibrated power.”

Joining it are three single vineyard Gran Selezione wines, each named for their site. Colledilà is from a site rich in Alberese limestone, presenting elegance and structure. Roncicone’s terroir is dominated by marine deposits, creating a wine of energy, minerality and austerity. CeniPrimo, sourced from an ancient fluvial terrace, is notable for aromatic intensity, volume and fine tannins.

Crucially, each is vinified in the same manner. With small plots and diverse terroir, each Gran Selezione bottle is an expression of the vintage and the terroir rather than a distracting show of winemaking.

Proving vineyard resilience

The 2021 Gran Selezione bottles are particularly exciting for Ricasoli as they demonstrate success even in a challenging vintage. With a late frost in April and a hot June that caused imbalanced growth, there was no guarantee that the vineyards would thrive. However, the fine terroir, in tandem with a developing sustainability programme and a winery that can handle single vineyard vinification, secured a high-quality result.

“The vine demonstrated its resilience and overcame these challenges,” explains Massimiliano Biagi, technical director of Ricasoli. “Then the favourable temperature variations starting from August and the rains in September allowed for optimal ripening without compromising on quality.”

The grapes arrived in the cellar in fine quality after the harvest, which began with some of the Castello di Brolio on 22 September and ended with CeniPrimo on 4 October. After their requisite ageing, the wines are now ready for release.

The wines are a fitting tribute both to the appellation and the Gran Selezione designation. “It is significant both for the centenary of the Chianti Classico Consortium,” says Francesco Ricasoli, “and for the tenth anniversary of since the birth of the Gran Selezione, in which I have always strongly believed and which today Ricasoli expresses in the glass through four different expressions.”

Ricasoli’s wines are imported to the UK by John E. Fells.

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