2025 Tuscany Vintage

The detailed season account available for Tuscany in 2025 comes from John Fodera's running harvest report, which collects grower photographs and on-the-record comments through the year. Spring across Tuscany started with what he calls a mixed bag of challenges. Budbreak began in a timely fashion in many areas and was advanced in some vineyards, which raises frost exposure, and there was scattered frost damage in April, though not as widespread as in previous springs. When June arrived, so did the heat; rain from the winter and from the spring moderated the impact, but the heat continued into July. By early July the weather pattern had largely returned to normal, with rains replenishing in many areas, alongside some hailstorm damage that was mainly in Chianti Classico and not widespread. A series of storms then rolled across Tuscany with hail observed from Montalcino and Sant'Angelo in Colle to Sant'Antimo, Castellina and Poggibonsi; the damage was not severe but it was widespread. As the calendar turned to August the weather got hotter, though not unevenly so at that stage. Harvest ran from whites to reds: Vermentino was being picked on Sardinia on 19 August, and in Tuscany by early September most producers had completed their white varieties, with Trebbiano, Pinot Grigio and Vermentino all in, Vernaccia still going in some spots, Merlot in and Sangiovese coming in for rosato and dry reds depending on vineyard location and elevation, leaving the highest-elevation sites such as Lamole to finish last. In Castelnuovo Berardenga, Riccardo Losi described the weather as good with setbacks but nothing too severe, naming heat and animals as the main issues and anticipating an excellent vintage. On volume, the Consorzio del Brunello press release relayed in the same reporting says production levels will be reduced.

• Spring started mixed, with timely budbreak in many areas and advanced budbreak in some vineyards
• Scattered April frost damage, less widespread than in previous springs
• June brought heat that continued into July, moderated by winter and spring rainfall
• Early July returned closer to normal with replenishing rains, plus hailstorm damage mainly in Chianti Classico and not widespread
• A later storm series brought hail from Montalcino and Sant'Angelo in Colle to Sant'Antimo, Castellina and Poggibonsi, not severe but widespread
• August turned hotter; whites were largely in across Tuscany by early September, with Sangiovese following by site and elevation
• Yields: reduced production levels in Montalcino per the Consorzio del Brunello press release; no full-region figure is on the record here
• Deer and cinghiale pressure was widespread, countered mainly with netting

The single most direct institutional comment available on 2025 comes via a Consorzio del Brunello press release relayed in Fodera's reporting. It confirms that in Montalcino and the surrounding Brunello zone, 2025 is shaping up as an excellent vintage. There has been a degree of hail damage, though scattered, and no reports of frost this year. Wildlife pressure from deer and cinghiale remains widespread even where producers have fenced. High temperatures had some impact, although the spikes were not especially long. The Consorzio's summary is that quality is expected to be very high while production levels will be reduced, with producers picking at the time of the report and the official Brunello rating still to come.

• Consorzio del Brunello via Fodera: 2025 shaping up as an excellent vintage in Montalcino and the surrounding zone
• Scattered hail damage, but no reports of frost in the Brunello zone this year
• Deer and cinghiale impacts remain widespread despite fencing
• High temperatures had some effect, though the spikes were not especially lengthy
• Quality expected very high, production levels reduced; the official vintage rating was still pending at the time of reporting

This is as preliminary as vintage reporting gets. At the time of the sources on file the fruit was still coming in or barely into the cellar, so there are no tasting assessments of bottled or even finished wine, and no official Consorzio rating for either Chianti Classico or Brunello. What exists is grower expectation. In Castelnuovo Berardenga, Riccardo Losi anticipated an excellent vintage despite heat and animal pressure. In Montalcino, the Brunello Consorzio expects very high quality on a reduced crop. Fodera's own summary at the point where whites were coming in was that harvest 2025 looked very good for white grapes, with the remaining weeks of September holding the key for reds. Anything beyond that, including style, structure and drinking windows, has to wait for the wines themselves.

• No official Consorzio vintage rating for Chianti Classico or Brunello is on the record in these sources
• No tasting assessments of finished wine exist yet; all comments are harvest-time grower expectation
• Castelnuovo Berardenga: an excellent vintage anticipated, with heat and animals as the main setbacks
• The pattern to watch is high quality on a smaller crop, which is what both the Brunello Consorzio and individual growers describe

With no finished wines to taste, pairing guidance for 2025 falls back on what Tuscan Sangiovese always does well. The regional table is built around acidity, salt and olive oil, and the classics hold regardless of how the vintage ultimately reads.

• Bistecca alla fiorentina: the standing reference match for Tuscan Sangiovese
• Pappardelle al cinghiale: wild boar ragu, a Chianti Classico staple
• Peposo alla fornacina: peppery slow-cooked beef built for young structured Sangiovese
• Pecorino Toscano with salumi: the simplest regional pairing, and a fair test of any new vintage