This is really velvety and open with a caressing texture that entices with every sip. Medium-bodied with gorgeous brightness and complexity. So hard not to drink now. So why wait, but will age beautifully.

Marchesi Antinori's 2019 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Badia a Passignano embraces a ripe fruit profile with sweet cherry and baked plum. Fruit at the Badia a Passignano estate matures very nicely, Marchesi Antinori General Manager Renzo Cotarella tells me. He describes the 2019 season as having abundant rain in the spring and then showing heat that lasted for a good part of the summer. This estate has a total of 56 hectares of vines, but this bottle is born from a selection from 20 hectares. The resulting annual production is 100,000 bottles. The wine offers sweet tannins, lots of dark cherry, spicy sensations, rich fruit weight and hints of salinity on the close.

The Marchesi Antinori 2017 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Badia a Passignano reveals the soft and generous side of this vintage with ripe aromas of blackberry, plum, spice, sweet tobacco and campfire ash. The wine is giving and rich to all the senses and it ends with softly integrated tannins and a fleshy, fruit-forward style. Serve it with a platter of real Tuscan rosemary schiacciata with slices of culatello.

Badia a Passignano is one of the last vineyards to mature and one of the first to start, so it always has a very long growing cycle. The spring began with good weather with budbreak coming about ten days early, followed by a cool, early summer and a hot August. The Sangiovese-based 2016 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Badia a Passignano shows some real ripeness on the close with more red and purple fruit rather than black fruit characteristics. This is a very traditional expression of the Tuscan grape and the least international of Marchesi Antinori's offerings. It's the kind of classic Sangiovese that belongs on the table next to a pappardelle with your favorite ragù.

The 2015 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Badia a Passignano is a pure expression of Sangiovese. Fruit is sourced from the San Donato area of the appellation that is not an official subzone yet but is increasingly emerging as such. This wine is distinguished by a beautiful level of openness and softness (on the Sangiovese spectrum, which means you also get a bright dose of acidity). That softness or lushness comes in part due to the warm vintage but also thanks to the winemaking approach that relies on larger barrels (from 300 to 500 liters) and Hungarian oak that tends to be more porous and thickly textured for increased passage of oxygen. The wine offers beautiful balance between its dark fruit and savory spice comments. This Chianti Classico Gran Selezione was not produced in 2014.