Buondonno, Toscana Rosso

Casavecchia alla Piazza is the name of the small farm in the heart of Chianti Classico that Gabriele Buondonno and Valeria Sodano purchased in 1988. Documents from the 16th century show that it once belonged to one Lionnardo Buonarotti, Michelangelo’s nephew. There’s even correspondence between the two arranging shipments of wine to the Pope as a gift.When Gabriele and Valeria arrived their first order of business was implementing organic agriculture, and they still age their wines in an ancient cellar under the property’s main farmhouse. This place is like a beautifully restored painting or fresco, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that even a $25 bottle of Sangiovese from Buondonno is a little work of art. We’re always declaring this or that wine to be the “value of the year,” and it sure is tempting to do so here, but that might be understating it. This much energy, purity, authenticity, and sheer pleasure doesn’t come along at this price point very often. Another trope we’re fon