2016 Valiano 6.38 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Tuscany 750 ml

In Chianti Classico, the Gran Selezione category is meant to denote a lofty level of exclusive luxury.

Accounting for just 6% of the denomination’s total production, grown exclusively on estate vineyards, these wines tend to be the best and most expensive releases of the highly competitive appellation—“statement” bottles that show off the best of an estate, like Castello di Ama’s 100-point Vigneto La Causuccia ($280) or Fontodi’s Vigna del Sorbo ($106).

That makes the 2016 Valiano 6.38 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione—a 94-point star release that costs less than $30—one of the most extraordinary values in Tuscany, and our greatest Gran Selezione deal to date.

Grown in one of the finest vintages Chianti has ever seen, this best-in-class bargain is named for the size of the Castelnuovo Berardenga vineyard it hails from. Sitting 1,100 feet above sea level, these 6.38 hectares (15 acres), produce Sangiovese with beautiful, broad-shouldered structure and herb- and mocha-tinged concentrated fruit.

We were knocked flat by this bottling at a Gran Selezione tasting in New York City in June. The 2016 vintage—a historic season that will be talked about for years to come—was on glorious display, showing the extraordinary balance and harmony that led Vinous to declare the year “a modern-day benchmark.”

Grown on organically farmed vines, the grapes for the 2016 Valiano 6.38 were handpicked and then underwent a long maceration and fermentation, after which the wine rested 18 months in a mix of French oak barrels and barriques, plus additional time in bottle. 

Already softened by age and oak influence but with years still to go, this is a winner in every respect.