Dievole

Dievole sits at Vagliagli, in the hills of Castelnuovo Berardenga about twelve kilometres north of Siena, at the southern end of Chianti Classico. The name is genuinely old. It first appears in a contract dated 10 May 1090, in which two men called Rodolfino and Vinizio paid two capons, three loaves of bread and six silver Lucchese denari for the promise of a vineyard. Seven centuries later Count Giulio Terrosi-Vagnoli bought the place for 361,632 lire and gave it to his future wife Ildegonda Camaiori, who was the last noblewoman of Dievole.

The modern estate is large. Six hundred hectares in total, of which a hundred and fifty-eight are planted with vines, between 270 and 420 metres above sea level. The soils are partly sandy and partly silty clay, with a lot of fossil material and marl in them. Sangiovese dominates, with the traditional Tuscan supporting cast alongside it: Canaiolo, Ciliegiolo, Colorino, Trebbiano and Malvasia. The whole vineyard has been certified organic since 2017.

Dievole began a gradual overhaul in 2012 and the wines have moved on noticeably since. The cellar tells you most of what you need to know about the intention. Fermentation happens in bare, unlined cement tulip-shaped vats set under brick arches, because cement is porous and lets the wine settle without stripping its freshness, and ageing is in untoasted Allier oak. Untoasted is the significant word. Sangiovese is thin-skinned and high in acid and it disappears under new-oak char faster than almost any other grape, so choosing barrels that give structure without adding flavour is a decision about wanting to taste the fruit rather than the barrel.

They now bottle three named crus, Casanova at 400 metres, Catignano at 370 and Petrignano at 350, alongside the estate Chianti Classico, a Riserva, a Vin Santo and the Gran Selezione from Vigna di Sessina. Gran Selezione is Chianti Classico's top tier: fruit from the producer's own vineyards, a minimum of thirty months' ageing before release, and, under the rules as they now stand, at least ninety per cent Sangiovese. It is also the only tier permitted to carry one of the eleven Additional Geographic Units on the label, and Vagliagli is one of the eleven, which matters here because Vagliagli is Dievole's own village.

The Chianti Classico is the estate wine, the one to buy by the case for a Tuesday. The Vigna di Sessina Gran Selezione is the serious end, a single-vineyard bottling with the full thirty months behind it. Between them they show the two things Chianti Classico can be, an honest weeknight red and a wine you sit down with, and I am happy to drink either.