94pts Vinous
Drinking Window: 2028 - 2040
The 2023 Chiesamonti is terrific. It offers a bit more depth, energy and structure than Le Trame in this vintage. Crushed rocks, slate, mint, blood orange and white pepper convey notable tension and energy. Grippy yet well-integrated tannins shape the long, vibrant finish. - By Antonio Galloni, August 2026

Le Boncie is one of the crown jewels in Chianti Classico. Here, in this small corner in Castelnuovo Berardenga, proprietors Giovanna Morganti and Giorgio Serao craft some of the most unique wines in the region, eschewing the conventional constructs in favor of their own deeply personal choices. Fifteen years ago, Morgante began bottling Le Trame, her top wine (and later Chiesamonti), as IGT rather than Chianti Classico because she did not agree with regulations. More recently, she abandoned biodynamic preparations, choosing instead to follow a path somewhere between organic and biodynamic farming she feels suits her better.

Le Trame and Chiesamonti are vinified in small upright oak casks with natural ferments. Malolactic fermentation happens quickly these days because of relatively low malics in the grapes. Time on skins is 24-25 days. Most of the adjustments from year to year are done with changes in punchdowns, pumpovers and how casks are covered — all manual operations here — rather than through a modification of time on skins. Some vintages, those where the skins allow, see extended submerged cap maceration.

In tasting, the 2023s feel decidedly slender. “It was a tough year in the vineyard,” Morgante explained. “It felt like we were playing catch-up all year, trying to stave off Peronospora with treatment after treatment. The vines were just exhausted by the time harvest arrived.” Indeed, that’s exactly what I saw when I visited Le Boncie the day before harvest started. Usually, these wines need a few years in bottle. The 2023s, on the other hand, will drink well on release. The 5, a Sangiovese-based blend of five varieties, is predominantly a young-vines bottling intended for early drinking.

“Chiesamonti” is a 1.3-hectare parcel adjacent to the town of San Felice in Castelnuovo Berardenga, with a stonier soil profile and a lower clay content than Giovanna’s home turf. The vines, now over a decade old, used to be blended into “Cinque” in their younger years, but she now feels they are ready for prime time, and this wine—bottled on its own for the first time in 2018—provides a fascinating counterpoint to “Le Trame”: silkier, higher-toned, and overall prettier, with a more blatant mineral underpinning and less sumptuously fleshy fruit. It spends two years in Stockinger barrels, just like its sister wine, and it comprises nearly entirely Sangiovese, with just a touch of Canaiolo.

Grapes: Moslty Sangiovese (95%) or so, the rest Canaiolo
Farming: Practicing organic, with some biodynamic practices
Abv: 13%
Vineyard: From a .3 ha parcel on a gentle slope near Castelnuovo Baradenga of Alberese (Limestone-clay) soil. High-density Albarello training planted at 7,000 vines/ha in the late 1980’s
Fermentation: Destemmed, the wine ferments spontaneously in open-top, neutral Slavonian and Austrian oak vats with only punch-downs during fermentation (no pumps)
Élevage: 24 months in neutral, 500-l barrels and Slavonian and Austrian oak tini. Unfined and unfiltered
Sulfur: Minimal, but plenty to keep things stable 40 mg/l total sulfur