97/100 WINE SPECTATOR TO I SODI DI S. NICCOLÒ 2020

With the 2020 vintage, Castellare di Castellina’s Super Tuscan receives the highest score from Wine Spectator

97/100 score to the 2020 vintage of I Sodi di S. Niccolò from Bruce Sanderson, Wine Spectator senior editor, at the top of the most authoritative wine critics in the world. The “terrific energy” of Castellare di Castellina’s Super Tuscan won him over and in his review he describes the wine as “a red supple and beautifully integrated”.



“The 2020 vintage – explains Paolo Panerai, founder of Castellare di Castellina – marks the 35th harvest of I Sodi di S. Niccolò since 1985 when it was, together with Barbaresco by Gaja, the first Italian wine to be placed at the top ranking of the Wine Spectator Top 100 List. The same happened in 1989 with the 1986 vintage. We are particularly happy to celebrate this anniversary with such an important score”.

Top 100 1988 WS
“The 2020 vintage of I Sodi di S. Niccolò stands out for its great olfactory intensity and reveals a dense and elegant texture of sweet and silky tannins” says Alessandro Cellai, winemaker and vice president of the Domini Castellare di Castellina group. “The acidic shoulder of the Sangioveto then gives great freshness and makes the sip particularly pleasant and crisp, with a long and persistent finish. Ready to drink, it is at the same time a wine suitable for a very long ageing”.

I Sodi di S. Niccolò was born with the 1977 harvest, and is therefore among the first five in the history of the new denomination, as well as being one of the few Italian Super Tuscans made exclusively with native vines: 85% Sangioveto and 15% Malvasia Nera. The iconic bird appears on the label, always present on Castellare red wines, a symbol of the daily commitment to sustainable viticulture that the company has been carrying out for over 40 years by not using synthetic chemical products in the vineyards.

The 2020 Harvest
The 2020 winter in Chianti Classico was rather mild, with a consequent early budding followed by a rather cool spring that ensured a correct growth of the plants. The summer was moderately warm but without excessive temperature peaks, with sporadic rains that contributed to a beneficial reduction in temperatures, mainly in the month of September. The harvest was completed in the first week of October.

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