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Thus, the Riserve stand out from the Annata and the Gran Selezione from the Riserve not necessarily through even more power, but through greater complexity and depth, ideally combined with finesse. This is not always successful. The Gran Selezione in particular can be impressive, sometimes great, but sometimes also quickly saturating, in the worst case rather coarse and rustic. Our favourites in all categories are always the wines that have managed to retain freshness and subtlety. One might therefore think that the cooler years would have more of an advantage today, but it is not quite that simple. The topography of Chianti Classico is rather uneven, so that each year it depends on the respective vineyard sites who comes out on top. And, of course, on the skill and sensitivity of the producers. That, too, has increased noticeably in the last 20 years. Because there has probably never been so much well-made Chianti Classico from so many different producers. We tasted a good 200 wines for the BEST OF. As always, we present the best here and in PDF format. Links to all the wines tasted can be found at the end of the list, sorted by vintage.