One of the downsides of the generally salutary Italian wine revolution of the last couple of decades has been the dramatic increases in prices, increases that have all too often far exceeded the very real increase in quality. This has been particularly true of the traditional wine of Tuscany, Chianti, whose prices have ridden the ever cresting wave of increases regardless of whether their quality warrants it or not.

This has done little to enhance their reputation. Recently the sommelier at one of New York’s best Italian restaurants was complaining to me that he could sell almost anything on his multi-page list, except for the Chianti.

It is a category that’s worth persevering with however because there are some reasonably priced bottles out there. When the winemaker gets it right, the classic grape of Chianti, sangiovese, can be a pure delight, as it is in Castello Gabbiano’s Chianti Classico Riserva 2005 ($24).

When you start with poor sangiovese, it definitely helps to beef it up with the addition of cabernet sauvignon, merlot or syrah, and it is this practice that spearheaded the aforementioned Italian wine revolution. But now, thirty years on, there are winemakers who are producing the sorts of high quality sangiovese grapes that are capable of standing on their own. When you crop low yields from old vines situated in steep, high altitude vineyards, and treat the wine with respect in the winery, you wind up with a gem like the Castello Gabbiano.

It is absolutely à point at the moment – the perfect balance of fruit and oak and soft, easy tannins. It’s fresh and vibrant with the charming exuberance of sangiovese, but rounded out with intriguing hints of earth and smoke that make me think of Tuscan truffles and cinghiale, and dusty roads in summer lined with poplar trees.

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Castello Gabbiano also operate a finely appointed restaurant and small hotel in the recently renovated medieval castello. And being only 15 km from Florence….