Chianti Classico Keeps Getting Better — Here Are 10 to Drink Right Now

Chianti Classico — a region, not a quality designation, lodged between Florence and Sienna in the heart of Tuscany — is Italy’s most famous source for Sangiovese-based reds. For many people it’s also the Platonic ideal of Italian red wine overall.

Yet for many years, the zone felt a little asleep. There were bright spots, but mostly the wines were perfectly good rather than exciting. That’s changed, as a new generation of winemakers has come to the fore (and many stalwarts have upped their game substantially).

Today, the longstanding fame of the region is more than justified, and not only at the high end. Even basic Chianti Classicos, at least from the top producers, are some of the best bargains in the wine world right now, terrific with food and often able to age for years as well.

10 Chianti Classicos to drink now

2021 Giacomo Mori Chianti ($27)

This classic Chianti — its dark red fruit flavors lifted by a woodsy herbal note, with firm tannins on the finish — comes from an estate owned by the Mori family since the 1700s. 

2023 Riecine Chianti Classico ($30)

2023 was a challenging vintage in Tuscany, with hail and rain followed by late summer heatwaves, yet based on this wine from Riecine, you’d never know it. There’s a spearmint grace note above its sweet strawberry-cherry fruit; it’s Chianti Classico in a luscious, intense form, but still posed and vivid. 

2022 Istine Chianti Classico ($33)

Winemaker Angela Fronti has rapidly become one of the new stars of Chianti Classico on the basis of wines like this one. It has that perfect Chianti equilibrium of ripe berry fruit (raspberries, here) and juiciness against savory notes of woodland herbs and lightly astringent tannins. 

2022 Castello di Ama “Ama” Chianti Classico ($35)

Under the longtime guidance of owner Lorenza Sebasti and winemaker Marco Pallanti, Ama is currently making some of the most exciting wines in Chianti Classico. The top cuvées, like the single vineyard Vigneto Bellavista Gran Selezione are world class but pricey. This more affordable cuvée is a remarkably inviting wine, though, vibrant with its bright red cherry and plum flavors, and it gives a great introduction to Ama’s wines.

2022 Monteraponi Chianti Classico ($35)

Vineyards around the town of Radda in Chianti have in recent years become the source of some of Chianti Classico’s most exciting wines. Among them are those of Monteraponi, like this dark-fruited, polished red, with its hint of sage-like herbs.

2022 Poggerino Chianti Classico ($35)

Piero Lanza is a true vigneron, in that he does practically everything at Poggerino himself: “agronomist, winemaker, business manager…I like to say that Poggerino has a human scale.” His Chianti Classico has the same kind of direct appeal as the man himself, with its pomegranate-and-cherry flavors, soft tannins, and light eucalyptus note.

2021 Querciabella Chianti Classico ($35)

Querciabella has been a pioneer in biodynamic agriculture in Chianti Classico, and in sustainability efforts overall. Plus, its wines are excellent: witness this blueberry-inflected red, with its emphatic but silky tannins.

2022 San Giusto a Rentennano Chianti Classico ($42)

The remarkable purity of flavor in this Chianti Classico—plush dark cherry and berry notes and a lingering hint of almond, fine-grained tannins—stems from impeccable work in the vineyard, the use of cement tanks for fermentation, and the wine being aged in large casks or neutral oak barrels.  

2021 San Felice Chianti Classico Gran Selezione La Pieve ($50)

A Gran Selezione Chianti Classicos must be 90% Sangiovese, and spend 30 months aging before release. In this case, add in the stellar 2021 vintage, and the result is an alluringly fragrant red (think balsam fir needles) that’s full-bodied and loaded with ripe cherry and dark chocolate notes, but is also impeccably balanced.

2019 Rocca di Montegrossi San Marcellino Chianti Classico Gran Selezione ($75)

A Gran Selezione Chianti Classicos must be 90% Sangiovese, and spend at least 30 months aging before release—though, many more in the case of this layered, velvety red. It comes from a single vineyard, some of whose vines date back fifty years or more. (A side tip: Rocca di Montegrossi also makes one of Tuscany’s best rosatos, so full of life and vivid fruit that it seems electric. Seek it out once rosé season hits.)