Chianti Classico: The Wine Between Florence and Siena

The hills between Florence and Siena have been producing wine for three thousand years. The black rooster of the Gallo Nero marks the original Chianti territory — and the finest expression of Sangiovese in Tuscany. We know the producers, the vineyards and the tables that make this zone worth a dedicated journey.

The Chianti Classico zone — 72,000 hectares of hills between Florence and Siena, planted in a mosaic of vine, olive, cypress and Romanesque church tower that constitutes the quintessential Tuscan landscape — is both more and less familiar than it appears. More, because the image is real: the white roads between cypress hedges, the farmhouses on the ridges, the smell of must in September. Less, because the wines produced here, at their finest, are considerably more serious and considerably more varied than the general reputation of the Chianti name might suggest.

The Gallo Nero mark of the Consorzio Chianti Classico is the guarantee of the original zone; the Gran Selezione classification, introduced in 2014 as the zone's equivalent of a premier cru, is the guarantee of each estate's finest single-vineyard or selected-lot production. We design programmes around both, at producers whose relationship with their specific sites goes back two, three and four generations.

The geological diversity of the Chianti Classico is one of the primary reasons for the range of styles produced within its boundaries. Galestro — the crumbling schist and limestone that gives classic Chianti Classico Sangiovese its characteristic iron-mineral tannins and its dried-herb aromatics — predominates in the northern and central zones. Alberese, the compact blue-grey clay of the southern Berardenga subzone, produces wines of greater weight and concentration. A morning with a producer who farms both soil types on the same estate — tasting the wines from each block separately before the final blend — provides an education in Tuscan terroir that no theoretical preparation can substitute for.

Panzano: The Butcher, the Winemaker and the Conca d'Oro

The village of Panzano in Chianti sits at the northern entrance to the Chianti Classico zone, surrounded by the Conca d'Oro — a natural amphitheatre of south-facing vines whose combination of limestone soils and protected microclimate produces some of the most perfumed and immediately appealing Sangiovese in the zone.

The presence of Dario Cecchini — the butcher whose Antica Macelleria Cecchini has been in his family since 1806 and who has, over the past twenty years, become one of the most internationally recognised figures in Italian food culture — makes Panzano one of the most culinarily intense destinations in the region.

The Fiorentina bistecca from Dario's kitchen, dry-aged Chianina beef served at long communal tables with salt, olive oil and nothing else, accompanied by a bottle of Panzano Sangiovese, is one of the defining Tuscan meal experiences.

The Historic Estates: Brolio, Coltibuono and the Castles

The Castello di Brolio — seat of the Ricasoli family since the eleventh century, its current winemaker the great-great-great-grandson of Bettino Ricasoli who in the 1870s published the formula for Chianti production — offers private guided visits to its cellars, chapel and grounds through our direct relationship with the estate management. Badia a Coltibuono, the former Vallombrosan Benedictine abbey whose monks cultivated vines on these specific hillsides from 1051, combines a wine estate of genuine quality and consistency with a cookery school, a restaurant and gardens of botanical distinction; a morning cooking class followed by a lunch in the abbey refectory is one of the most complete Chianti Classico experiences we design. For guests with the most serious wine interest, we arrange private visits to the cellars of the small estates in Radda, Gaiole and Castelnuovo Berardenga whose wines are accessible only through direct producer relationships.

The White Roads: A Landscape for Driving

The Chianti Classico zone is traversed by a network of strade bianche — unpaved gravel roads between cypress hedges, connecting the estates and the villages across the hillside landscape — that reward private car travel at a pace that allows for spontaneous stops, for following a road to see where it ends, for parking by a stone wall above a valley of vines in the afternoon light and doing nothing in particular for twenty minutes. We design the road itinerary of a Chianti Classico programme with as much care as the cellar itinerary, because the landscape is half the argument, and the landscape is best understood from inside a moving car on a beautiful road with no particular obligation.

The Chianti Classico Gran Selezione is not the same wine as the Chianti in the supermarket. The difference is a specific hillside, a specific winemaker and a specific decision made every year about which vines are good enough. We take our guests to meet the people who make that decision.

The Essentials

Best season: October for harvest; spring for the wildflower landscape; year-round for cellar visits

Signature experience: Gran Selezione tasting with a winemaker who farms two different soil types; private dinner at Dario Cecchini

Stay: Converted monastery estates in Radda or Gaiole; or a private villa in the Conca d'Oro

Combine with: Siena (30 min south), Florence (30 min north), San Gimignano (45 min west)

Every journey we design is entirely bespoke — crafted around your preferences,your pace, and your desire for the exceptional.

Begin Your Journey