Medium red. Dried flowers, field herbs and minerals on the vibrant nose, with exotic hints of framboise and all-spice. More botanical herbs and some intrusive nutty oak flavors complicate the slightly roasted flavors of blackberry, black cherry and graphite. Suave in texture but with a firm edge to its tannins, this finishes long and pure, with sneaky acidity. Keep in mind that Il Poggio has the ability to be one of Chianti's longest-lived wines: for example, well-kept examples from 1977 are still excellent today, and though the furnace-like conditions of '03 won't allow this wine to age as long as that one, it still ought to last longer than most of its colleagues from the same vintage.

The 2003 Chianti Classico Riserva Il Poggio is a firm, weighty version of this wine. The heat of the vintage has produced a plump, opulent Il Poggio redolent of earthiness, tobacco, smoke, spices and dark fruit. The tannins are big, yet well-integrated, the only open question is whether the fruit will last as long as the wine’s structural components. Still, this is a pretty Il Poggio with plenty of upside. In 2003 Il Poggio was aged in French oak barriques of which 40% were new.

Aromas of blackberry, leather and cedar follow through to a medium body, with soft tannins and a ripe fruit finish. Hints of chocolate. Big and rich.

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