Buondonno, Chianti Classico

If you share my infatuation with truly micro-production, handmade-in-the-basement Italian reds, then get ready! In the last 4-5 years, Gabriele Buondonno and his son Errico have ascended to the highest echelon of terroir-obsessed, antique-style Tuscan wine. Though only a small allocation of these wines is imported into the US each year, it feels like whenever it lands, every last bottle is immediately vacuumed up by top restaurants in New York and California. And in Italy, Buondonno has seemingly become THE Chianti Classico for cutting-edge sommeliers. We don't have many bottles to share today, but take my word that the wine, and the story behind it, is one for the ages!

It's difficult to overstate the historic and prestigious legacy of the Buondonno family's hand-farmed vineyards and tiny cellar. In the early 1500s, the family of the great High Renaissance artist Michelangelo purchased a small rural homestead with a reputation for producing world-class wine just west of Florence. It is believed that these vineyards—and the small basement winery still located directly beneath the Buondonno family's present-day home kitchen—were acquired specifically to produce the wine Michelangelo enjoyed while sculpting David and overseeing work on the Sistine Chapel. And after one sip of today's stunning 2023 Chianti Classico (especially between bites of medium-rare beef), you won't question why one of history's greatest creative geniuses may have cherished wine from this remarkable place as his own private-label bottling.

Tucked into the hills of Castellina in Chianti, among the windiest, highest-elevation, and most prestigious sub-zones of Chianti Classico, Gabriele Buondonno and his son Errico dedicate themselves to organic grape, vegetable, and olive farming. Their vines, predominantly Sangiovese, with smaller plantings of Canaiolo, Trebbiano, Cabernet Franc, and other varieties, are rooted in stony clay-limestone soils. Farming organically since purchasing the property in 1988, the Buondonno family has long been a pioneer of natural viticulture in Chianti Classico, allowing the rugged terroir and high-altitude exposures to speak clearly through the balance, energy, and cellar potential of the wines. In the cellar, the two generations rely on spontaneous native-yeast fermentations and a restrained use of oak and sulfites,this is the way Chianti was made in the 1950s and 1960s: patient, trusting, and not reliant on modern technology. The result is a collection of wines that emphasize purity over power, producing bottles that are transparent, savory, and unmistakably Tuscan. Their Chianti Classicos are celebrated for vibrant red cherry fruit, wild herbs, bright acidity, and earthy mineral depth, old-school, soulful wines that capture the timeless spirit of Castellina rather than the fashions of the moment.

Gabriele and Errico's masterful 2023 Chianti Classico was fermented with native yeasts in a combination of tank and concrete egg fermenters. Aging takes place primarily in large, neutral Slavonian oak casks, the goal is not to impart oak aromas, but rather to integrate tannins, open the wine's vibrant fruit, and slowly reveal its savory complexity and mineral nuance. The 2023 was bottled in mid-2025 and then allowed additional bottle age before release.

The 2023 Buondonno Chianti Classico pours a brilliant, translucent ruby-red color with flashes of garnet and dark blood-orange beginning to emerge at the rim, a visual clue to the wine's traditional pedigree and steadfast devotion to Sangiovese. The nose is immediately captivating, offering soaring aromas of wild cherry, crushed berries, blood orange peel, fine leather, dried roses, and Tuscan herbs, layered over subtle notes of air-dried meat, iron-rich earth, tobacco leaf, and sun-warmed limestone. On the palate, the wine is vibrant and energetic, driven by mouthwatering acidity and finely woven yet assertive tannins that frame flavors of black cherry, red currant, savory herbs, and stony mineral complexity without ever obscuring the wine's remarkable transparency. The finish is long, lifted, and intensely aromatic, echoing with notes of cherry skin, dried flowers, and the unmistakable salty-earth character that has made Buondonno one of Chianti's rising stars. For maximum enjoyment, decant for 30 minutes and serve at 62°F in a large Burgundy glass. Paired with a perfectly grilled, medium-rare flat iron steak, this is the kind of Chianti Classico that reminds you why Sangiovese remains one of the world's greatest food wines; it is absolutely delicious today. Still, as longtime Buondonno devotees know, the cardinal rule of the estate is, "The older, the better,”and this bottle has every indication of rewarding at least another eight years in a cool cellar.