Chianti Classico: a healthy territory where “premium” types and profitability are growing

Despite the fact that 2024 was a year marked by the continuing instability of the international environment, labelings of Black Rooster wines at the end of the year were at the same level as the previous year. Stocks, with the 2024 vintage quantitatively above average, remain stable, contained within the limits proper to an aging wine. Even on the grape and bulk price front, supported by a Supply Chain Agreement, the average price per hectoliter of Chianti Classico bulk wine shows a steady price increase from the 2019 to the 2023 vintage (settling at 350 euros per hectoliter), offering greater profitability even for companies that do not bottle, with confirmation of the positive numbers for the “premium” types of Chianti Classico, Riserva and Gran Selezione, jointly 43% of production and 54% of turnover. This is the picture of a healthy territory, taken by the Chianti Classico Collection 2025, at edition No. 32, where the Black Rooster denomination, “suspended” between Florence and Siena, in the continuation of the “Previews of Tuscany”, presented the new vintages on the market of its wines, namely the 2023 and the Riserva and Gran Selezione 2022, confirming itself as the area probably best equipped to play the new challenges of the future of enology - from that on prices to that of the stylistic connotation of their labels, but also of sustainability, thanks to the new “Protocol” wanted by the Consortium, led by Giovanni Manetti (which declines it in environmental, but also social and cultural, as he explained to us in an interview and as we will recount in a video in the coming days online on WineNews with the voices of the territory, ed.), just to give some significant examples - even in a conjuncture of the wine world that is not exactly the happiest.
A denomination, that of Chianti Classico - 7,200 hectares of vineyards for an average production between 35 and 38 million bottles destined for more than 160 countries in the world (with the Consortium grouping 482 members, 345 of which bottle Chianti Classico under their own label) - which is configured as a true “district” in which a turnover estimated at more than 1 billion euros moves around the wine. In particular, analyzing the distribution of markets, the U.S. is once again confirmed in first place: 36% of the bottles of Chianti Classico find, in fact, outlet on this market, recording an increase in volumes sold, which has seen an acceleration especially in the last quarter of the year. In second place is the domestic market. In fact, Italy found an outlet for one-fifth of the bottles sold by Gallo Nero (20%). Stable, in third place, is Canada (10%). This is followed by the United Kingdom market, which ranks fourth (7%), and which recognizes the highest value to the wines at the top of the Chianti Classico quality pyramid, the Gran Selezione, with averages over 35 euros per bottle (ex-cellar price). This is followed by the markets of Germany (4%), Sweden (accounting for 5% along with the other Scandinavian countries), France, Benelux (4%), Switzerland (3%) and Japan (2%).
Against this comforting economic continuity, even the Black Rooster, evidently, must reckon with the pitfalls - increasingly pressing - of climate change, which, even at these latitudes, do not cease to represent one of the most pressing problems for the global wine world. Here then are the wines of the 2023 vintage-which produced 200,000 hectoliters of wine-“getting by,” thanks to the varied climatic conformation of the production area and the increasingly conscious work of its producers, but up to a point. Even 2023 has, in fact, turned out to be a tricky vintage not without its criticalities. For 2023, Lamma (the Tuscany Region Environmental Monitoring and Modeling Laboratory) recorded the second warmest year in Tuscany after 2022 with +1.2 degrees Celsius over the 1991-2020 reference period. And a very hot summer was followed by an equally hot autumn (the hottest since 1955), with rainfall average over the central and northern provinces (5% more) and below average over the Grosseto area (11% less rain). Rainfall, which was below normal from January to April (10 to 20% less) was concentrated in only 2-3 months (May-June and late October-early November), triggering a downy mildew epidemic that also affected the quantity of grapes produced.
In short, coming to wine matters, in the best WineNews tastings, among the nearly 800 wines from more than 200 wineries in the Chianti Classico Collection 2025, 2023 was a hot vintage, with its merits, but also with its flaws, which in the glass manifested itself in wines with a more “Mediterranean,” round and warm character, aromatically less multifaceted and, in some cases, with flavor progression in debt to freshness, though there were, of course, no shortage of exceptions. Buondonno’s Chianti Classico 2023 is a wine with a distinct Chianti character that smells of earth and flowers and underbrush, with an energetic and vital flavor progression. Impeccable in its aromatic crossings of small red fruits, spices and iron tones, Riecine’s Chianti Classico 2023 has beautiful dynamics and fragrance in the mouth. Olfactory timbre with touches of aromatic herbs and ripe cherries for the Chianti Classico 2023 from La Montanina, with a savory and full taste. Another wine that stands out for character and grit is Cigliano di Sopra’s Chianti Classico 2023, with lush fruitiness anticipating a snappy and tasty sip. Well executed is Castello di Querceto’s Chianti Classico 2023, which finds its strength in aromatic freshness and drinkable agility. Definite Chianti Classico 2023 from Castello di Monsanto with floral and spicy aromas that accompany a well-calibrated flavor progression. Well made also the Chianti Classico 2023 from Castello di Volpaia, clean in its aromas and solid in its gustatory development.
Standing out among the “vintage” Chianti Classico wines - which come out, however, with an extra year of aging on their shoulders - is the Chianti Classico 2022 from Isole and Olena (Epi Group), but this is nothing new, with a full and tasty sip and intense, defined aromas. Well-proportioned in its flavor progression and aromatically centered is Tenuta Casenuove’s Chianti Classico 2022, while Le Cinciole’s Chianti Classico 2022 offers airy aromas and an easygoing mouthfeel of beautiful energy and freshness.
The hot 2022 vintage - which produced 260,000 hectoliters of wine - brought generally well-executed wines to the glass, but, as they say in these cases, “good, but not very good,” always, it is clear, with the appropriate exceptions. Here, then, is the Chianti Classico Riserva 2022 from La Vigna di San Martino in Argiano, with a graceful and fragrant aromatic profile that is accompanied by a forthright, responsive and very savory sip.
L’Erta di Radda’s Chianti Classico Riserva 2022 is also a wine of distinct Chianti character, with the fruity, earthy aromas introducing a savory, gritty sip. Impeccable in the aromatic definition and depth of its sip is Maurizio Alongi’s Chianti Classico Vigna Barbischio Riserva 2022. Standing out, also thanks to the characteristics of its vintage, is Val delle Corti’s Chianti Classico Riserva 2021, with an intriguing aromatic timbre and a savory, responsive taste. Chianti classicism is all in the glass of Castell’in Villa’s Chianti Classico Riserva 2019, truly a wine of great stuff.