The world-class value in an Italian Chianti

Castello di Radda Chianti 2019 | Italy | LCBO Code # 16448 | $23.95 | 750 ml, 14% alc. | 2 g/l res. sugar

I’ve been collecting wine long enough to reflect fondly on the good old days when you could get a top wine for under twenty dollars and cellar it for twenty years. Many of these same wines have now more than tripled in price and it becomes simultaneously exciting and onerous to try to find world class value in the Ontario market.

Well the Castello di Radda Chianti is one of the top buys of the year so far. If you can manage it, buy a case or split it with a friend and you’ll have plenty of terrific Italian wine for the year ahead.

With the exception of the British Decanter magazine, I’m often not aligned with wine reviews of other publications. In this case Decanter awarded this wine 97 points and I’m on board with a higher rating for a wine at this price.

The sangiovese grape always plays a dominant role in Chianti and this is no exception and it does have smaller amounts (five percent each) of canaiolo and colorino to add complexity.

The tannins are so well integrated that I wouldn’t even call them “soft.” They are seamlessly woven into the overall appealing palate of black cherry, cedar, tobacco leaf and black pepper. It has a mature and masculine character yet it is supremely approachable and frankly a little too easy to drink. In this case that’s not an issue because the price really is a relative bargain.

It’s a wine to be enjoyed over the next four years. As of this writing there are more than 600 bottles in the Ottawa market.