2019 Chianti Classico Riserva Il Campitello

The organic Monteraponi 2019 Chianti Classico Riserva Il Campitello is a beautiful wine that expresses itself elegantly, thanks to balanced fruit, good concentration and well-dosed intensity. The wine is a blend of 90% Sangiovese, 5% Colorino and 5% Canaiolo with berries from 55-year-old vines on a mix of schistous galestro and limestone alberese soils. It offers a noticeably darker appearance with aromas of pressed blackberry, button mushroom and blue flower. This Riserva maintains a wild but delicate personality throughout, with a spot of crushed white pepper in a distant background role. Only 6,600 bottles were made.

90% Sangiovese, 10% Canaiolo and Colorino from a single, 50-year-old, south-west-facing vineyard. Aged for 26 months in oak casks. Certified organic by Valoritalia. Lustrous mid ruby with just the beginning of orange tinges. Like an amplified version of the straight Chianti Classico. Perfumed and lifted and with proper concentration on the nose. Richer in tannins, too, but finely ground and underlying the fruit. Elegant and closes up on the finish, so could do with another year in bottle. (WS)

The 2019 Chianti Classico Riserva Il Campitello is a wild, powerful wine. Black cherry, sage, menthol, gravel, incense and tobacco show the more virile side of Sangiovese off to great effect. This potent, brooding Riserva needs time in bottle to fully come together. Even so, it is pretty impressive in the early going.