Very attractive with fresh cherries, peach skins, lavender, lilac and crushed stones. Hints of spices and bark, too. Fresh and crunchy with chalky and compact tannins and vivid acidity. Medium body. Flavorful and lingering finish with hints of sea shell and chalk. Drink or hold.

This is a single-vineyard selection made with 95% Sangiovese and 5% Canaiolo. The 2020 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Il Picchio is spicy and savory with dark richness and a very earthy bouquet. Il Picchio usually shows more texture and fruit weight, and this is especially true in 2020. There is an elegant dusting of black pepper on the finish. This is a 22,000-bottle release.

The Castello di Querceto 2019 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Il Picchio (made with 95% Sangiovese and 5% Canaiolo) offers vinous fruit, spice and sweet earth followed by nice acidity over a full-bodied style. Indeed, this wine is darker in color and richer in extract compared to the other Gran Selezione wine, La Corte. Il Picchio shows a more contemporary style in this classic vintage with spicy freshness on the finish.

This wine was first produced in 1998. It was classified as a Riserva until 2011 when it was promoted to Gran Selezione status. A blend of 95% Sangiovese with a tiny 5% addition of Colorino from a single vineyard, the Castello di Querceto 2018 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Il Picchio offers rich fruit weight and saturated aromas of blackberry and dark plum that come from reddish, iron and magnesium-rich soils. Il Picchio is a bigger wine compared to La Corte. The fruit essences in this wine recall pomegranate, orange skin and apricot. There also is grilled herb and crushed mineral.

The Castello di Querceto 2017 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Il Picchio is a rich and darkly concentrated wine that shows beautiful width and depth of aromas. There's a lot going on in the glass, thanks to the bouquet that is colored by dark cherry, dark currant, dried blackberry, spice, cured tobacco and crushed stone. The warm vintage brings extra ripeness and fruit weight that shows nicely against the cool, medium-high elevations of the Castello di Querceto vineyards in beautiful Greve in Chianti.