Places compared
Chianti Classico vs Brunello di Montalcino: the two appellations
Tuscany’s two great Sangiovese appellations, at very different prices.
Which to choose
Choose
Chianti Classico
You are eating — tomato, olive oil, cured meat — and you want the acidity working for you.
Choose
Brunello di Montalcino
You want power and you have the budget, or the occasion justifies a wine that has already had five years of someone else’s patience.
Worth knowing
Rosso di Montalcino is the same grape from the same delimited area with a one-year ageing requirement instead of five, at roughly a third of the price. It is the honest way to find out whether you like what Montalcino does.
Where they differ
Written rather than computed. A place has no taste profile of its own — the wines made there do, and they vary — so averaging one into existence would produce a number for every dimension and a meaning for none.
Blend
Chianti Classico
A minimum of 80% Sangiovese, so other varieties — including Merlot and Cabernet — may make up the rest.
Brunello di Montalcino
100% Sangiovese. Nothing else is permitted.
Climate
Chianti Classico
Cooler and higher, at 250–600 m, with a wide day-night swing that keeps acidity up.
Brunello di Montalcino
Warmer and drier, sheltered by Monte Amiata. Sangiovese ripens more fully here than anywhere else in Tuscany.
Weight
Chianti Classico
Medium-bodied, with sour cherry, dried herbs and tomato leaf over firm tannin.
Brunello di Montalcino
Fuller and darker, with dried fig, leather and balsamic notes and more alcohol.
Ageing requirement
Chianti Classico
Twelve months for the basic tier, longer for Riserva and Gran Selezione.
Brunello di Montalcino
Five years from harvest before release, with at least two in oak. The longest of any Italian DOCG.
Price
Chianti Classico
Wide range, with genuine quality available at everyday prices.
Brunello di Montalcino
No cheap tier exists, because the ageing requirement alone makes one impossible. Rosso di Montalcino is the alternative.
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Place
Chianti Classico
The original Chianti — the hills between Florence and Siena, delimited in 1716, and a separate appellation from the Chianti that surrounds it.
Place
Brunello di Montalcino
Sangiovese alone, from one warm Tuscan hilltop, held for five years before release — Italy’s most powerful expression of the variety.