Castello di Monsanto, Chianti
The 2020 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna Il Poggio is a total stunner. What a wine. Elegant and translucent, the 2020 impresses with a sublime, finessed personality that is impossible to miss. Fine tannins and lifted, sensual aromatics immediately announce a wine of utter class. On the palate, the 2020 is wonderfully deep and layered, with mind-blowing balance and exceptional pedigree. The 2020 is one of the very finest Il Poggio's ever made. It has been nothing short of breathtaking on the two occasions I have tasted it so far. Don't miss it! Castello di Monsanto has been a reference-point in Chianti Classico for several decades. I have tasted these wines since the 1990s, including pretty much every vintage of the flagship Il Poggio. None of that experience prepared me for the 2020 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna il Poggio, a wine I have not been able to stop thinking about since I tasted it (twice) for this report. I may have underrated it. Readers will find a Sangiovese of extreme purity and beauty. There are no other surprises in the rest of the range. The wines are elegant, refined and impossible to resist. - Antonio Galloni
A restrained, reductive and transparent wine with aromas of roses, violets, rhubarb and chalky minerality. Supple and medium- to full-bodied on the palate, with elegant, velvety tannins and long, refreshing acidity that’s super juicy and tight in the finish. Tense and polished, with a touch of sternness in the aftertaste.
Chianti Classico’s first single-vineyard bottling, Il Poggio, has been produced since 1962. It remains an unwavering icon of the region and a tribute to the foresight of Fabrizio Bianchi. The 2020 emerges slowly with struck stone, plum blossom and white pepper aromas. Taut and linear, the palate takes the relay with wild forest strawberry and succulent blood orange. Stony and energised through the core, angular tannins still need to reconcile although this doesn’t suggest the profound ageing potential of the longest-lived vintages. - Michaela Morris
A smidgin of Canaiolo Nero is interplanted with 40-year-old Sangiovese, and the two are co-fermented, while the Colorino is picked and vinified separately. A beautiful showing in 2019, this emerges steadily from the glass with flinty minerals and white pepper first, then arbutus bush and cherry followed by orange and hyacinth. It is elegantly weighted with a generosity of tangy cranberry and ripe strawberry seeping across the palate in a steady textural flow. Stony tannins and steely acidity lend tension. Tarragon lingers.
The 2018 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna il Poggio is a medium-bodied wine that is going to need a few years for the tannins to soften. In this tasting, the 2018 comes across as a Poggio with compelling aromatic presence but perhaps a bit less textural breadth than the very best years. Dried herbs, cedar, tobacco and scorched earth linger on the savory finish. Another few years in bottle should do the trick. The understated side of Il Poggio comes through beautifully. - Antonio Galloni
So much lavender and sage with lemon blossom and cherry aromas. Medium-bodied with firm and fine tannins that give a crunchiness instead of a chewiness. Needs time to soften but already impressive and precise. A classicism that is hard to find in Italy.
A muscular red, with iron, almond, tar and underbrush aromas, which lend a savory element to the core of cherry and blackberry fruit. Dense, dusty tannins and a vein of mineral lend austerity as this red announces "hands off" on the tightly wound finish.
Concentrated, vivid fruit to this, with an intense nose of morello cherries, cassis, baked strawberries, grilled herbs, licorice and semi-dried tomatoes. Lemon zest, too. Medium-to full-bodied with ripe, integrated tannins. Long and delicious. Fantastic depth and energy.
Il Poggio-marken leverer år efter år vidunderlig vin fra zonens øverste hylde, og det gælder selv i de svære år som 2017. Det slår denne vin atter to streger under. Familien har lavet den siden 1962, og den er - berettiget - en af områdets ikoniske vine - ikke mindst kendt for sin utrolige holdbarhed. 1968’eren var stadig i fuldt vigør, da jeg var heldig at smage den for et par år siden. 2017 har måske ikke samme monumentale skarphed og faste kerne som eksempelvis 2010’eren, men mindre kan også gøre det, og man kan bruge lang tid på at dykke ned i 2017’erens vanedannede univers. Fuldkommen ubesværet intensitet og nerve her. Lækker, tobakket frugtsødme går hånd i hånd med muldet kompleksitet fra start til slut. Smagen er forbandet harmonisk, ingen hårde kanter her, og finalen har de sødeste tanniner. Noget af en præstation, det må jeg sige. - Morten Bundgaard
With vines ranging from 25 to 45 years old, Monsanto’s six-hectare Il Poggio site is divided into three parcels that ripen up to one week apart. They are vinified separately and assessed after ageing to determine what makes it into the final blend. While extroverted on the nose - expressing peppery juniper, tarragon and iron - Il Poggio 2016 is still rigid, firm and linear on the palate. Compact and full, it will need more time to unfold. For now, it hints evocatively at a stone-walled herb garden. Powerful and savoury with a sappy finish.
Balsamic aromas and flavours of juniper, rosemary, sage and loamy earth give way to plum , cherry and iron notes in this dry, powerful red. Burly tannins complete the package. The lasting impression is of ripe fruit, showing some heat ind the balance. This screams terroir and needs time to find equilibrium.
The 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna il Poggio is a beautiful and compelling wine. High-toned floral and savory notes emerge first, with plenty of sage, cedar, sweet pipe tobacco and crushed rose petal aromatics. Pliant and open, the 2015 is already quite showy. It will drink well with minimal cellaring. In fact, it's already pretty expressive. The one thing I would do is open it well in advance to allow some youthful Sangiovese funkiness to blow off. - Antonio Galloni
Still nascent, the 2015 slowly divulges stunning aromas of cherry blossom, blood orange, eucalyptus, and raspberry. It starts out tight and linear then unravels expanding across the palate with ripe woodland berries underscored by slate. Chalky tannins maintain a firm grip throughout. This will continue to deliver its complex nuances for at least a couple of decades.
The 2014 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna il Poggio is going to need a number of years to come into its own, and may very well be the sort of wine that only delivers true pleasure at full maturity, as the tannins are fierce and the acids are piercing. Even so, the 2014 possesses tremendous drive and intensity in its wild, savory Sangiovese flavors and overall structure. Translucent, expressive and beguiling, the 2014 Il Poggio is a winner from Monsanto.
Glänzendes, sattes rubin-granat. Schöne gereifte Nase mit satten Noten nach Brombeeren und dunklen Kirschen. Dann viel Lakritze, etwas zimt, sehr einladend. Kraftvoll und dicht in Ansatz und Verlauf, zeigt viel dichtes, herzhaftes Tannin, sehr gut platziert, reife Beeren-frucht und dezente erdige Noten ergeben ein feines Spiel, sehr langer Nachhall.
The beautiful 2013 Chianti Classico Riserva Il Poggio is drinking very nicely at the moment. This cool vintage wine opens to a darkly saturated appearance with pretty tones of dark berry, cassis, tar, smoke and crushed river stone. Slightly evolved aromas of licorice and road paving add a whole new level of dimension and complexity. - Monica Larner
Monsanto's 2013 Chianti Classico Riserva Vigneto Il Poggio is a super-classic, if somewhat austere wine, that is going to need at least a few years in bottle to come around. Today, the elements aren't fully put together, especially on the palate, where the wine is quite awkward. Even so, the wine's aromatic intensity and overall persistence make me hopeful for the future. - Antonio Galloni
a 5,5 ha cru on stratified galestro at 310 m. Still shy, but slwly reveals gorgeous scents of mint, redcurrant bush, rosehip an orange peel. Adeceptive lightness of texture belies the underlying concentration. Classically austere, stern tannins and taut acidity, but perfumed nuances of lavender, cherry blossom, cherry pits ad tobacco promise years of enjoyment.
The 2012 Chianti Classico Riserva Vigneto Il Poggio is dark, sensual and inviting. Silky tannins give the wine immediacy, and sweet red cherry, blood orange, herbs and sweet tobacco are all nicely delineated. Readers will have to give the 2012 at least a few years for the wine to shed some of its youthful intensity. Even so, this looks to be a relatively approachable vintage for Il Poggio that won't need a ton of time be accessible. If opened young, though, the 2012 needs quite a bit of air. - Antonio Galloni
The 2010 Chianti Classico Riserva Il Poggio is a toned and elegant wine with an enormous sense of inner harmony and grace. The wine is splendent in this classic vintage with clear pulses of forest fruit, spice, toasted almond, balsam herb, cola and dark licorice. Those balsam notes are one of the wine's most elegant features because they are delivered at perfect pitch. Silky tannins and bright acidity keep the wine very much alive in the mouth. Castello di Monsanto offers us a very authentic Chianti Classico. Castello di Monsanto is a leading force in one of the least-explored sub zones of the Chianti Classic appellation. Its prestige and reputation is a guarantee for the larger Barberino Val d'Elsa area and my hope is that as these sub zones continue to grow in identity, Castello di Monsanto will enjoy even higher recognition. In my mind, the style presented here (that is more streamlined and elegant) is a blueprint for this exciting area of Chianti Classico. - Monica Larner
I still swoon recollecting this wine - perhaps it was the label that inspired Princess, bride-style adventures. But it is regal - made from well bred fruit, coming from the 5,5 ha single vineyard Il Poggio. Fragrant and graceful with deceptively delicate tannins
The 2010 Chianti Classico Riserva Vigneto Il Poggio is superb, but readers are going to have to be patient, as it is a wine for the cellar. It is quite evident the 2010 has already begun a move into a closed phase, as it is quite shut down in its aromatics. At the same time, the structural profile suggests it will enjoy a long drinking window starting around age 10-12, although that may be optimistic. Energetic, powerful and beautifully layered in the glass - with plenty of translucent energy - the 2010 Il Poggio is a wine to buy and forget about for another decade or so. - Antonio Galloni
