Wine Advocate 93
“This is a 100% expression of Sangiovese that was fermented in large oak casks and aged in stainless steel (for six months) followed by 16 months in tonneaux. The 2014 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Montebello Sette is truly elegant and beautiful despite everything you may have heard about this challenging vintage. The wine reaches for a level of finesse and nuance that can only be achieved when the winemaking team is pushed to obtain the highest quality despite adverse conditions. The fruit is generous, round and supple. Delicate notes of licorice, cola and crushed rock add to the complexity.” - ML

This is a sensual wine with notes of cherry fruit, tobacco, leather and hints of licorice and spice. The elegant tannins balance nicely with the fruit, all underlined by a fabulous stratum of acidity, making this a complex wine with incontestable structure and power. A long and satisfying finish confirms this Sangiovese is true to its terroir. Organic

When the Tolaini team of enologists discovered that the spectacular clay and galestro soil, slope and exposition of Tolaini Montebello vineyard number 7 produced impeccable Sangiovese: pure in spirit, and transcendent in quality, their mandate became clear: to create a single vineyard 100% Sangiovese, Chianti Classico Riserva.

Produced solely in the best vintages, Gran Selezione is a single vineyard wine; the 100% Sangiovese estate fruit is born in Tolaini's organically farmed Montebello Vineyard "numero sette".

The harvested grapes, once debunched, go through the optical selection machine where the grapes must meet the preset criteria to pass through: any small, green or squished grapes and all debris are ejected and only the ripe whole grapes make it into the vats. The vats are cooled to 5C-10C (41F - 50F) and the grapes are added whole to each tank for a cold soak before natural selected yeast strains are added to initiate fermentation. Vinification at Tolaini is done in 26 stainless steel temperature-controlled tanks with a two chamber system, while the best grapes from each harvest are fermented in open-top fermenters made of French Allier oak (12 units of 4500 liter capacity), a time-proven touch that increases the complexity in the wines. The generous array of tank sizes allows for individual parcels of grapes to be fermented and stored separately. These batches are kept apart through subsequent barrel aging in new French oak barrels between 18-25hl before blending.