The Chianti Classico zone grows titles of nobility as profusely as it does vines, and the two are nowadays closely linked. Hundreds of years ago, marchesi, baroni, even principi may have earned their rank by successful careers as Florentine merchants or Lombard warlords, but nowadays they’re all winemakers, and most of them quite famous and accomplished as such. Which makes it all the more surprising and noteworthy to find that one of the now most prestigious and forward of Chianti Classico wineries is, by the standards of this historic zone, a rank newcomer, founded by an untitled “foreigner” – i.e., a non-Tuscan.
I am referring to Rocca delle Macìe, whose wines I suspect most of my readers have tasted and enjoyed. Founded in 1973 by Italo Zingarelli, a very successful Roman movie producer who had a lifelong dream of vines and wines, Rocca delle Macìe started with 93 run-down hectares, only two of which were in vines. From this less-than-inspiring beginning, the Zingarelli family has built up an estate that now covers over 200 hectares of vines and 54 more of olives spread over six locales, plus an elegant relais hotel.
Italo’s son Sergio, who has just finished a term as president of the Chianti Classico Consorzio, is now running the family business, and Rocca delle Macìe has become a fixture of the Chianti Classico landscape.
A little over 20 years ago, the family undertook a major renovation of the vineyards, seeking better microclimate/soil/Sangiovese clone matches 
for maximum quality in their wines. One result was the designation of the Le Terrazze vineyard in Castellina, which they consider their finest vineyard, as the source of their Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Sergio Zingarelli. Just recently, I was able to taste nine vintages of that wine, courtesy of Rocca delle Macìe’s American importer Palm Bay.
This was a very illuminating as well as enjoyable experience. The wines shown started with the 2010 vintage, followed by 2011, ‘12, ‘13, ‘14, ‘15, ‘16, ‘17, and ’18 – no cherry-picking of only fine vintages, but an honest display of nearly a decade of Gran Selezione wines. That line-up allowed us tasters to trace the evolution of Sangiovese from year to year, as well as to experience the continuity of the vineyard’s and the family’s style. The latter is quite classic. These wines, even in the lesser vintages, all showed beautiful Sangiovese character, with great restraint – no fruit bombs here – and balance. My thought at the time was that these are Chiantis for grown-ups, and I’ll stand by that.
Here are some brief notes on the wines, all Sergio Zingarelli Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG, in the order we tasted them.
2010: Lovely wild cherry aroma; fine, elegant palate. Very nice Sangiovese acidity under-strapped by soft wood tannins. Long finish. A great vintage and a harmonious wine.
2011: A difficult hot, dry summer grudgingly yielded a good but not excellent wine, smooth and round in the mouth, but with a slightly cellar-y aroma. This vintage demanded much care and effort in the field and in the cellar.
2012: Similar to the 2011, but slightly smoother and softer on the palate. Not great, but good.
2013: A step up from the preceding two vintages. Rounder and fresher both in the nose and on the palate. More pleasing and immediately enjoyable.
2014: Darker and more concentrated than the ’13, with its tannins nicely softened. Enjoyable now, with a good fruity finish. All the preceding vintages had been 90% Sangiovese blended with 10% Colorino; starting with 2014, this Gran Selezione became 100% Sangiovese.
2015: A good growing season makes a good vintage. This wine is very pretty, well-balanced and lively. You could almost call it perky.
2016: Not quite as fine as ’15, but still a lovely Chianti, with fine Sangiovese flavors and character. Opens beautifully in the glass.
2017: Very fresh smelling, with the palate equally fresh – dark cherry-ish flavors. A very young and pretty wine, from a growing season hot and dry, like ’11 and ’12. The vineyard team has clearly learned how to deal with that.
2018: Smells more tannic, even though you’re not supposed to be able to smell tannin. Must be the new barrels. Big and soft, but still closed. It needs time, but it should be fine. Sergio called it “a classic vintage for Sangiovese.”
All these wines showed well, though 2010, 2015, 2016, and 2018 stood out. It was almost a shame to have started with the 2010, since it was the only one of these vintages that was, for this lover of mature wines, truly ready to drink. But that’s why cellars were invented.
Tom's Wine Line 
Tom – On the subject of Bordeaux – first, very jealous of your trip – all the good and all the bad (well, maybe not the boat trip and food). Recent vintages of Bordeaux have been tipping the scales at 14-15% ABV. I had La Vieille Cure 2016 (Fronsac) with dinner tonight and ABV was 15%. Can you recommend recent vintages and estates that deliver quality and value with ABVs less than 15%? Thanks.
Honestly, I can’t. With global warming, alcohol levels are climbing everywhere, and everything depends on now highly variable growing seasons.
Hi Tom:
Perhaps I’ve become a bit cynical in my old age, but I really wonder about this relatively new designation.
I have now tested a few of these grand selections and while I found most of them superior to many Chianti Classico riservas, the whole thing still smacks of a scheme.
Perhaps what troubles me the most is that the designation was granted retroactively to many wines that would have been called Riservas. While this manoeuvre does not rise to a Tuscan fiasco, it results in extracting more money from the wine consumer by fiat.
Time will tell I suppose.
I originally shared your skepticism about the Gran Selezione designation, Joe, but I’ve changed my mind, as it seems to be working: I find the quality of most Gran Selezione wines to be at a significantly high level. I think you have to see it as the Classico growers’ attempt (the most recent of several they’ve made) to reclaim the prestige and quality that marked their zone before they were forced (in the 1920s, by a legal decision they still deplore) to share the Chianti name with a cluster of satellite zones. Now, we are talking here about organizing and regulating a few hundred Tuscan wine growers and makers, which — to use a good cliche — is like trying to herd cats, so inevitably there will be some wines labelled Gran Selezione that will not be up to the level of others. But I think that overall the Gran Selezione category is raising the quality and consistency of Chianti Classico’s top rank.