Grape blend: Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Canaiolo
Aged: 24 months; partly in large oak casks, partly in barriques
Alcohol content: 14.5% vol
Acidity: 5.7 g/l
Residual sugars: 0.37 g/l
Chianti Riserva is a wine that has an age-old tradition in Tuscany. For us, at La Vialla, it is also a tradition of the La Franco family; it was Grandfather Gianni who started it, on a hillside just outside Siena in the late 1960s. Today the tradition continues with an excellent “Riserva”, already pampered in the vineyard with scrupulous, meticulous care. Great attention is paid to the selection of its grapes, as it is to vinification and the work in the cellar, where the wine “rests” for two years in specially chosen oak casks. And it “thanks” those who cultivate it so lovingly, with generous, elegant aromas, soft, almost silky tannins, and noteworthy body. The 2021 season, which was hot and dry, yielded small but juicy bunches of Sangiovese and firm Cabernet grapes with thick skins. After soft pressing, the musts macerated slowly on the skins. The Sangiovese and Canaiolo aged in Slavonian oak casks containing 25 hl, the Cabernet in barriques, which are smaller and give the wine softness and elegance. After 12 months the base wines were blended, followed by another 12 of ageing together in large wooden casks, and three months in which the Riserva was “perfected” in the bottle.
Tasting – Colour: intense ruby-red; it leaves elegant, bright red legs in the glass. The nose: first of all the characteristic aroma of violet of Sangiovese, followed by plum and pomegranate, and more evolved notes of leather and clove. In the mouth: ample, with assertive tannin that the period of ageing in wood has made silky smooth; good freshness, the aftertaste is broad and harmonious.
Wine and Food Pairing – It makes great company on its own as a “meditation wine”, but it also goes well with robust traditional Tuscan dishes: pappardelle with porcini mushrooms or wild boar sauce, “strozzapreti” pasta with chestnuts and mushrooms, lasagne with Sugo Finto... it’s also excellent with steak (the famous “Fiorentina”), cold cuts and mature cheeses.
Awards – 90/100 points at 5Star Wines 2025 - Vinitaly, Verona, Italy – Best of Show Chianti and Gold Medal for the 2020 vintage at the Mundus Vini Spring Tasting 2025, Neustadt, Germany – Gold Medal for the 2020 vintage at the Berlin Wine Trophy Winter Edition 2025, Berlin, Germany.