“Chianti Lovers & Rosso Morellino” 2025: new vintages previewed in WineNews best tastings

At Tuscany Previews 2025, “Chianti Lovers & Rosso Morellino” presented the data and fruit wines of the year 2024. A special vintage for the two appellations, from several points of view: the climatic one, because it brought freshness and rainfall after more than a five-year period of drought and steadily rising temperatures; the agronomic one, with a quantity of product that returned to growth after years of reductions; the oenological one, with wines with more pronounced acidity, lower alcohol contents, but also rougher tannins; and finally the market one, where consumption contracted and therefore so did sales, but accompanied by a concomitant increase in price and therefore in the value of the wines. It is therefore with caution that Chianti Docg and Morellino di Scansano Docg face 2025, but also with confidence, thanks to the investments made in recent years in the vineyard and in the cellar useful for aiming at quality, but also thanks to the promotion abroad, which aims to open new markets or consolidate existing ones.
Investments supported by the support of European, state and regional funds, generational turnover, and also by markets, which started positive again in January 2025: explaining this, from Florence, were the president of the Chianti Wine Consortium Giovanni Busi, the president of the Morellino di Scansano Consortium Bernardo Guicciardini Calamai (and whom WineNews interviewed), the Councillor for Agriculture of the Region of Tuscany Stefania Saccardi, and the wines poured in preview to the more than 200 journalists present at the Fortezza da Basso, to whom this new “technical” formula of the preview, without producers and without fans, was exclusively dedicated.
But let’s go in order, starting with Chianti’s numbers: with 2,200 producers in the territory (up from 2,000 in 2023), more than 13,600 hectares claimed (up from about 12,400 in 2023), and production up on previous years, to return to the quantities we were used to handling before 2017 (more than 1 million quintals of grapes for 805. 000 hectoliters of wine, compared to 503,000 in 2023 and previous years), Chianti also claims optimism about the value of bottles, which have risen in large-scale distribution from an average of €3.31 in 2014 to an average of €5.28 today, an increase that explains the slight 0.2% drop in sales (75 million bottles, essentially stable on 2023). “All this growth means that Chianti is recognized and in demand”, explained Consortium President Giovanni Busi, “and the increase in wine available since the last vintage finally allows us to meet this demand on the shelves around the world, where 65 percent of our production ends up”, hoping that the market, currently in crisis, is ready to embrace this renewed availability of product.
Alongside the continental Sangiovese, there is the coastal Sangiovese of Scansano with its numbers, which has different reasons to be optimistic. Decidedly smaller than Chianti, the Morellino appellation has 217 registered members (down slightly on past years), 1,500 claimed hectares (30% of which are organically farmed) and an average production of 10 million bottles worth about 50 million euros. Although sales were down 12% on 2023, there was a concomitant increase in the average shelf price, thanks to the market repositioning work the Consortium has focused on, which has partly absorbed the contraction in volumes sold. “Our wines are sold mainly in the domestic market and only 30% are exported. This means there is a lot of room for growth in this regard, both in terms of young markets and mature markets such as North America and the Far East, which are curious to find new niches to be passionate about,” argued Morellino di Scansano Consortium President Bernardo Guicciardini Calamai.
What is also certain is that the 2024 vintage previewed by both appellations is meeting market demand for less alcoholic and cooler wines. With a rainfall rate not seen since 2014, 2024 actually did not give water stress problems to the plants, neither in Chianti nor in Maremma. But if in the former case it led to several phytosanitary problems in the vineyard and uneven ripening in the clusters, leading to multiple and delayed harvests between September and October, in the case of Scansano it was a vintage that will be remembered for green plants, hydrated soils and healthy grapes, because there was less rainfall and the warmth and sea breezes typical of the coast helped to mitigate the humidity of the vintage. The results (of the barrel samples, it should be noted, so not yet ready) are Sangiovese wines decidedly pleasant and approachable in terms of freshness and alcohol content, but because of heterogeneous ripening also with tannins that are still rough and need to be integrated, if we refer to the Chianti versions.
The other vintages previewed are 2023 and Reserve 2022, two vintages that are both hot, with extreme peaks in the first case (partly offset by the cool and rainy spring), without peaks but with prolonged heat and drought since spring in the second case. The result is obviously warmer wines with often firm adherences, but substantial and sweet in the case of 2023, more airy and defined in the case of 2022. The Morellino Riserva 2022s are also deeper and more layered. For the Chianti appellation, 64 wineries were present in Florence, with 119 labels in the tasting, 42 of Riserva 2022, 18 of Chianti Superiore 2023 and 58 vintages 2024 and 2023, also representing Colli Senesi, Colli Aretini, Colli Fiorentini, Montespertoli, Rùfina and Montalbano. For the Morellino di Scansano appellation, on the other hand, 20 wineries will be present, with 31 labels in the tasting, including 11 Riserva 2022 and 20 vintage 2024.
The WineNews staff’s best Chianti tastings include, then, Badia a Morrona’s I Sodi del Paretaio 2024, with a firm but savory grip, playing on cherry and vanilla with a hint of herbs; Cantina Gentili’s Poggio Spino 2024, which smells of violet and blood orange and has a light, juicy sip; Geografico’s Colli Senesi Borgo alla Terra 2024, with dark tones of blackberry and black cherry, refreshed by spice and cocoa; Artimino’s Montalbano 2024, intense and fleshy, with a shaggy, fresh sip of raspberry and myrtle; Melini’s Chianti Superiore San Lorenzo 2023, sunny and gentle, thanks to floral notes and the sweetness of candy cherry; and Tenuta San Jacopo’s Chianti Superiore Poggio ai Grilli 2023, haematic and balsamic, lingering savory in the mouth, leaving it then floral and clean. Among the Riserva 2022s, Bonomonte’s stands out, both sweet from strawberries and fresh from nepitella, it has the juiciness of blood orange and the warmth of black pepper; Colli Fiorentini Badia a Corte from Torre a Cona, which has firm grip, tempered by camellia flowers and savory at the end of the sip; Poggio Capponi’s Montespertoli Petriccio, also clinging, but refreshed by Mediterranean scrub and sweetened by candy blackberry; and, finally, Villa Travignoli’s Rùfina Tegolaia, with sharp tones of underbrush and licorice on the nose, which also lengthen the sip to close.
As for Morellino di Scansano, the WineNews staff were impressed by Alberto Motta’s 2024 version, clear and raw, shaggy and pulpy, delicious both on the nose and on the sip; and Antonio Camillo’s 2024 version, where iodine, flowers and pomegranate complement the flowing, savory sip; again for the 2024 vintage, Bruni’s Marteto, which fine and gentle on the nose, becomes generous in the mouth, almost salty; the San Felo di San Felo, with dark, purplish tones that linger long on the savory tongue; the Moris di Morisfarms, contrasted between black cherry and rhubarb, between firm tannins and blood sweetness; and the Sassato di Provveditore, which mentholated and spicy on the nose, yields to sweetness in the sip. Morellino di Scansano Riserva 2022, on the other hand, include Belguardo’s Bronzone, where nose and mouth share the sweetness of fruit and spice, closing on fresh balsamic notes; and Cantina Vignaioli di Scansano’s Sicomoro, with dark and sweet tones, layered and complex on the nose, persistent and textural on the sip; Fattoria Le Pupille’s Mds, warm, dark and deep on the nose, rising clear, floral and fresh on the palate; and, finally, Val delle Rose’s Poggio al Leone (Cecchi family), serious and balsamic in character with earthy hints, supported by a savory and sweet plum sip.
That said, both denominations are aware of the difficulties that the sector is experiencing, certainly not divorced from the widespread context of uncertainty that has gripped the planet for two years now: both internationally, with wars, but now also with threats of tariffs from the United States, and with the continued rise in the prices of energy resources and raw materials, which affect consumers' ability to spend. Repercussion that is also being felt domestically, with Italian wages shrinking (whether felt or actual, given their stagnation). In support of the sector, therefore, come unfailing regional policies and the Wine CMO, which will give respite to the sector in 3 different ways illustrated by Councillor Stefania Saccardi: 11 million euros in co-financing to renew vineyards (a strategy that, over the years, has led 95% of the regional vineyard to be less than 20 years old); 5 million euros to renovate wineries (which from 2024 must again accommodate generous quantities of wine); and 19 million euros for promotion in third countries (particularly useful in this period of market closures and rising costs). Also to be unblocked by June will be the €17.3 million water resources call, dedicated to ponds and reservoirs, useful for storing water in abundance when it is then lacking.
In addition, to support generational change, the Tuscany Region also decided to fund all 430 applications that arrived for the call for young farmers to start their own farm businesses. And finally, in contrast to their French counterparts, all 600 hectares of new vines released by the state were put up for bidding, to give entrepreneurs the option of using them should they deem it necessary. The region, pressed by the consortia in the area, finally decided not to go along with the government’s plans to set up wind farms in the Maremma and Scansano areas, preferring an area covered with vineyards rather than wind turbines (a decision that appears consistent with the geothermal project that the regional administration has announced it wants to expand on Monte Amiata). In short, there is an awareness, on the part of both producers and regional associations and bodies, that the water does not quite reach the brim of the glass. But having ascertained that it stops in the middle, everyone is trying to focus on the full part, rather than the empty part; making “cautious confidence” the motto of the year.