2019 Bibbiano Vigne di Montornello Chianti Classico Gran Selezione 750 ml

The Chianti Classico Gran Selezione designation—reserved for the region’s top estate-grown bottles and established less than a decade ago—is rising rapidly. Since the category is so new, the market has yet to catch on to how under-priced these wines are, but it won’t always be that way.

The 2019 Bibbiano Vigne di Montornello is a 100% Sangiovese that’s easily on par with Brunello bottlings that cost SIGNIFICANTLY more. Our Master Sommelier Sur Lucero called this wine “an exceptional example of terroir, producer and vintage” with a “poised and sophisticated nose.”

Tenuta di Bibbiano, an august estate of Castellina-in-Chianti, was established in 1865. Now in its fifth generation of family ownership, it’s farmed organically by brothers Tommaso and Federico Marrocchesi Marzi. Legendary consulting winemaker Giulio Gambelli, who looms so large in Tuscany that a prestigious winemaking award is named after him, consulted for Bibbiano from 1942 (really!) to 2002, and his influence is why this bottling is so special. Gambelli was one of the greatest enological consultants Italy has ever produced, and luminaries like Biondi-Santi and Montevertine treasured his counsel.

Montornello is the cooler of Bibbiano’s top sites—a northeast facing vineyard that excelled in the hot, breezy 2019 vintage. The calcareous clay soil is studded with plentiful pebbly rocks, forcing roots to grow deep in search of water to create beautifully concentrated fruit. 

Once in the winery, Bibbiano employs a lengthy maceration in concrete tanks to extract fruit and build structure befitting a wine this serious. They age the wine for a full two years in a mixture of concrete and French oak, combining the freshness the former brings with the polish and depth of the wood—and the result is spectacular.