Buondonno, Rosso 'Campo ai Ciliegi'

Today’s 2021 Buondonno “Campo ai Ciliegi” combines much of what makes a great Bordeaux vin de garde so compelling—the savory perfume, structure, and capacity to evolve—with the warmth, wildness, and unmistakable soulfulness of Chianti Classico. Built primarily from Cabernet Franc and Merlot, with just a small amount of Syrah, this complex and expertly crafted red has the bones of a serious Bordeaux but the heartbeat of Tuscany. Nothing about it feels internationalized or polished into anonymity. Instead, it overflows with vivid dark fruit, herbs, earth, and old stone, landing on the palate like a luxurious blend of French varieties that have spent enough time in the Tuscan hills to acquire an Italian accent. It’s entering its perfect, perfect prime drinking window—and I can’t imagine a better red for grilled steak au poivre or a classic Tuscan rabbit dish.

The setting has an almost absurd amount of history. Gabriele Buondonno’s Casavecchia alla Piazza estate lies near Castellina in Chianti, in one of my favorite corners of Chianti Classico, and the property has a remarkable connection to Michelangelo’s family. Sixteenth-century maps identify the estate as belonging to Lionardo Buonarroti, Michelangelo’s nephew—a reminder that vines have been part of this landscape for centuries. Gabriele arrived much later, purchasing the property in 1988 after studying agriculture, and from the beginning approached it first and foremost as a farmer. Organic agriculture wasn’t adopted later as a marketing proposition; it was foundational to his conception of the estate. That seriousness in the vineyard is essential to understanding Campo ai Ciliegi. Cabernet Franc and Merlot may be French by birth, but here they are being asked to communicate a very old Tuscan landscape.

The wine itself is made on an almost wonderfully intimate scale. Fruit from the Campo ai Ciliegi vineyard is brought into Buondonno’s ancient cellar and transformed with remarkably little technological interference, then vinified and raised in a handful of small barrels beneath a property whose agricultural history stretches back more than five centuries. There is something deeply appealing about that juxtaposition: varieties associated with Bordeaux and France’s great age-worthy reds being handled not in a gleaming modern winery, but in an ancient Tuscan cellar by a grower whose entire philosophy revolves around organic farming and minimal disruption. The barrels provide shape, oxygen, and texture, but the wine never feels constructed around oak. What emerges instead is wonderfully composed—dark and substantial, yet energetic, aromatic, and alive.

This is where the idea of vins de garde becomes important. The great age-worthy wines of France are rarely compelling simply because they are powerful; what makes them fascinating is the tension between fruit and everything that isn’t fruit. Campo ai Ciliegi works in much the same register. Cabernet Franc contributes perfume, graphite, herbs, and a wonderful leafy savoriness; Merlot brings flesh, dark plum, and breadth; that little touch of Syrah adds spice and another layer of Mediterranean personality. Tuscany supplies the rest: warmth without overripeness, dusty earth, dried herbs, ferrous minerality, and an acidity that seems to illuminate the wine from within. It has enough tannin and concentration to develop beautifully in bottle, but there is no need to wait another decade. With air, the 2021 is already beginning to reveal the secondary, savory complexity that makes cellar-worthy reds so addictive.

In the glass, expect deep ruby moving toward garnet, with black cherry, red plum, and cassis giving way to violet, tobacco leaf, graphite, rosemary, black olive, cracked pepper, and warm Tuscan earth. The palate is structured but wonderfully fluid, with dark fruit wrapped around savory herbs, fine tannins, and fresh acidity rather than sweetness or sheer extraction. Give it a good decant and serve it around 60–62°F in a large Bordeaux stem. Alongside it, make rabbit cacciatore: rabbit slowly braised with tomato, wine, garlic, rosemary, olives, and whatever combination of herbs your household considers non-negotiable. The rabbit has enough delicacy not to overpower Cabernet Franc’s perfume, while the tomato and herbs engage the wine’s acidity and savory Mediterranean character; the braising juices, olives, and browned meat draw out its darker, earthier register. It is a pairing that makes Campo ai Ciliegi’s identity beautifully clear: French grapes and the structural language of a great vin de garde, translated through an ancient Tuscan landscape into something entirely its own.