2020 Pieve di Campoli Cortine Chianti Classico 750 ml

Pieve di Campoli’s 2020 Cortine Chianti Classico was a total rock star at our judging panel—and once we saw that Andrea Paoletti was the winemaker, it made perfect sense. 

Paoletti is a legendary consultant in Tuscany, cutting his teeth running Antinori’s iconic Tignanello and Solaia wineries, before starting his own consultancy—where he advises legendary estates like Ornellaia. 

It’s amazing that, despite the circumstances, wineries in Chianti would almost certainly love to go through 2020 again. The pandemic raged, making labor tough to come by and the status of the fine wine market uncertain. But the conditions Mother Nature provided were absolutely stunning. Wine Industry Advisor described the year as “perhaps one of the greatest in living memory,” based on widespread enthusiasm from growers in Chianti. 

It began with a gentle, mild winter, transitioning into a spring that danced between sunny days and refreshing light showers. As summer arrived, the days turned hot and dry, creating the perfect conditions for the grapes to achieve early phenolic ripeness. The cool, serene nights played their part by preserving the grapes’ acidity and enhancing their aromatic character. By the end of September, the harvest revealed a bounty of healthy, ripe grapes—and Pieve di Campoli were major winners.

The winery’s sites sit between 300 and 370 meters in elevation, perfect for growing lush Sangiovese, and Paoletti makes sure to draw out its beautiful fruit with longer macerations during fermentation in cement tanks. After fermentation finishes, he polishes the wine with a full year in second-fill French tonneaux barrels, before extra time in bottle before bottling. The result is simply a stunning bottle of Chianti Classico.