2018 Chianti Classico Riserva
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
A certified organic wine, the Querciabella 2018 Chianti Classico Riserva Querciabella sources its fruit from different vineyard sites in various villages of the appellation. Each is harvested and fermented separately. The wine offers steady balance with dark fruit, leather sweet tobacco and campfire ash. It creeps up in intensity the longer you keep the wine in your glass. Some 14,000 bottles were made.
Critic scores
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
Greve in Chianti. 100% Sangiovese. Certified organic. Lustrous crimson. Pure raspberry with the polish of oak, but barely noticeable. Beautiful precision on the palate with raspberry, jewel-like acidity and fine polished tannins. Gorgeous length and style. (WS)
The 2018 Chianti Classico Riserva is a wonderfully polished and expressive wine. Dark cherry, spice, tobacco, cedar, dark cherry, leather and tobacco. Darker, virile and intense the Riserva retains the classic Querciabella mid-weight style. I imagine the 2018 will give readers two decades of very fine drinking.
Complex aromas of dark cherries, vanilla, flowers and lavender. Itâs full-bodied with polished and very fine tannins. Very racy and intense with gorgeous length and intensity. This is really structured. From organically grown grapes. Vegan. It needs a year or two to soften, but very serious. Try after 2023.
About the producer
Literally translating as “beautiful oak”, Querciabella was created in 1974 by Giuseppe Castiglioni. A pioneer in Chianti, he started farming biodynamically and experimenting with both varieties and winemaking – one result of which was Camartina, the property’s flagship Super Tuscan.