Monteraponi, Chianti Classico

This offer comes from SommSelect Editorial Director and Italian wine specialist David Lynch, whose feelings about Chianti Classico, and Monteraponi in particular, are strong (to say the least).When I first started researching my book, “Vino Italiano,” in 2000, Michele Braganti wasn’t yet producing wines at Monteraponi, a property that has been in his family since the early 1970s. To be truthful, Monteraponi didn’t appear on my radar until much later, but, over the last few years, I’ve gotten to know Michele, his wines, and his exquisite property pretty well. To say that this guy is “living the dream” is putting it mildly, and if he didn’t make such authentic, natural expressions of Chianti Classico—a region I believe in more than many people think I should—I’d probably resent him. Many days I’ll open Instagram and there’s Michele holding a beautiful trout he caught while fly-fishing in a nearby stream, a bullet-shaped Tuscan cigar in his grinning mouth. He’s also a sharp dresser who’s