The Rocca di Castagnoli 2016 Chianti Classico offers balanced spice and dark fruit. It does a great job of facing these two elements off one another. The bouquet shows sweet tones of ripe cherry, blackberry and plum. A second wave of aromas delivers spice, leather and tobacco. This is a mid-weight blend of 90% Sangiovese with 10% Canaiolo and Colorino that is enormously attractive to drink right now. It's also an incredible value (with 250,000 bottles made). I actually liked this base wine more than the two top-shelf releases.