2019 Castellare di Castellina 'I Sodi di San Niccolo' Toscana

Some wines tell a story. Others are the story.

Back in the 1970s, when the so-called Renaissance of Italian wine was just beginning, Paolo Panerai had a radical idea. While everyone else in Tuscany was racing to blend in Cabernet and Merlot to compete with Bordeaux, he decided to take the harder path. He would make a wine using only indigenous Tuscan grapes—Sangioveto and Malvasia Nera—to prove that Tuscany didn’t need to borrow from anyone. The world didn’t need another Bordeaux copy. What it needed was a wine that could stand tall on its own, a wine that would take Chianti Classico’s soul and elevate it to something even greater.

The land itself seemed to agree. The vineyards of Castellare di Castellina sit on sodi—hard, unforgiving soils that force the vines to struggle, digging deep into the earth for survival. That struggle gives birth to greatness, producing wines of structure, intensity, and elegance. It’s no wonder that the very first vintage of I Sodi di San Niccolò didn’t just impress—it shook the wine world. In 1988, when Wine Spectator released its first-ever Top 100 list, I Sodi di San Niccolò placed sixth in the world, outranking some of the most legendary names in France. It wasn’t a fluke. The next vintage repeated the feat, cementing its status as the true aristocrat of Tuscany.

The journey didn’t stop there. Great wine attracts great minds, and Panerai’s passion for perfection led him to one of the most influential wine families of all time: the Rothschilds of Bordeaux. When Edmond de Rothschild, already a shareholder in Château Lafite, decided to create something new—his own Lafite for the modern era—he invited Panerai and legendary oenologist Emile Peynaud to Château Clarke to explore the question: What makes a wine truly great? The answer was clear: passion, patience, and the relentless pursuit of perfection.

Fast-forward to today, and the 2019 vintage is another chapter in this legend. This is Sangioveto in its purest, most noble form, with Malvasia Nera adding just a whisper of mystery. The wine is deep, complex, and effortlessly powerful, filled with dark cherry, cassis, wild herbs, and the scent of sun-warmed earth after a summer rain. The tannins are structured but polished, the acidity vibrant, promising decades of evolution.

This is not a wine that rushes. It is a wine that rewards patience, a wine that speaks of its land, its history, and its ambition with every sip. From the hard Chianti hills to the refined cellars where it matures, I Sodi di San Niccolò is a monument to tradition, passion, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. It has no need for shortcuts, no desire to be anything but itself.

And that is exactly why it belongs in your collection.

Tasting Notes

Sangioveto (85%-90%) and Malvasia nera (15-10%). Intense red with hints of garnet. Deeply sophisticated and showcasing its full pedigree in terms of both the bouquet and palate of the wine. The fruit quality is exceptional and each individual aroma can be distinguished with total clarity, from the cherry to the spices, whose focus and integration are exceptional.