The 2020 Chianti Classico Riserva Le Baròncole (a certified organic wine) shows bright fruit with summer cherry and redcurrant. It offers textural heft and weight. Its Riserva status (with extended aging) is well noted. With time in the glass, it unfolds to leather, potting soil and crushed stone. This vintage does however show a more accessible personality overall (and a powerful 15% alcohol content).

I remain firmly impressed by this beautiful wine made with 97% Sangiovese and 3% Canaiolo. The certified organic 2019 Chianti Classico Riserva Le Baròncole is now offered at a significantly lower price than I have seen in past vintages. However, the wine's quality remains exceptional, with an exacting or deeply etched quality, strong lines and careful construction. The architecture of the wine is exceptional, leading to aromas of bright fruit, dried flowers and spice. The vineyard soils see schistous galestro, limestone alberese and tuffaceous clay sediment. This is a production of 16,136 bottles and a few magnums. This is seriously worth your attention.

The 2018 Chianti Classico Riserva Le Baròncole (made from a traditional blend of organic 97% Sangiovese and 3% Canaiolo) shows a distinctively Mediterranean or Italian personality with plenty of summer-fresh cherry, rosemary essence and lavender bud. This wine marks a break from the other beautiful wines in this estate portfolio, thanks to its ethereal freshness and lifted brightness. It finishes with silky, polished tannins. The soils see a mix of galestro and alberese with tufo and clay characteristic of this warm spot in Gaiole in Chianti. Production is 17,262 bottles and 210 magnums.

The 2017 Chianti Classico Riserva Le Baròncole is a beautiful wine that delivers elegance and grace despite the difficult conditions of the growing season that saw drought and hot summer temperatures. The wine shows depth and concentration with black fruit, crushed flowers, charred meat and potting soil. There is some phenolic bitterness here (probably due to the lack of moisture in the soils); however, the late-ripening Sangiovese grape performs nicely overall, thanks to those last few cooler weeks on the vine before harvest. That final phase of ripening has helped to solidify the wine's aromatic intensity. Luca Martini di Cigala has carefully crafted an impressive wine in this vintage.

The 2016 Chianti Classico Riserva Le Baròncole is a beautiful wine that delivers a very convincing performance as soon as you venture your happy nose into the glass. The wine is inky dark in appearance, yet brilliant hues of dark ruby and garnet shine bright from within. There is a moment of austerity on the bouquet, with dark aromas of slate and blackberry that slowly unwind and relax to producer softer aromas of red cherry and candied plum. This wine's natural range and distance shows more latitude than you may expect. This Riserva is a real beauty, and this vintage is something truly special. The blend is 97% Sangiovese with 3% Canaiolo, and the wine ages in both barrique and tonneaux for 20 months. Some 15,600 bottles and 200 magnums were produced.