In the bottle with the black label, the organic 2020 Chianti Classico Riserva offers ripe fruit with measured intensity that never feels heavy or overdone. Achieving this level of balance is not easy in a hot growing season such as this. This wine is characterized by an especially linear and direct personality that pushes it over the palate with good momentum. An ambitious 60,000 bottles were released.

Here's a wine I highly recommend. Packaged with a black label, the Volpaia 2019 Chianti Classico Riserva is certified organic Sangiovese from a site with sandstone soils that rises up to a cool 600 meters above sea level in Radda in Chianti. These well-priced results are perfumed and vibrant with black fruit, crushed stone and wild rose. I especially appreciate those drying mineral tones that match the wine's elegant, mid-weight mouthfeel. Some 60,000 bottles were released.

If you have a platter of fatty porchetta and are looking for a worthy Tuscan wine for that party, look no further. Packaged in a black label, the Volpaia 2017 Chianti Classico Riserva Castello di Volpaia (made with organic fruit) does a great job of showing purity and freshness in what was a challenging vintage for sure. This Riserva reveals delineated tones of cherry and dark berry with crushed limestone, blue flowers and some of the wild herbs and bramble that I often recognize in wines from this corner of Tuscany. I happily recommend it to all Sangiovese enthusiasts.