Fattoria dei Barbi
Fattoria dei Barbi has made this sweet Vin Santo del Chianti DOC at Montalcino since 1870. Trebbiano, Malvasia and a little Sangiovese, dried to raisins then aged for years in oak caratelli: amber, velvety and full of dried fruit, walnut and honey.
Amber, sweet and built on dried fruit: this is what years under the madre in small oak caratelli do to Trebbiano, Malvasia and Sangiovese dried at Montalcino.
The flavours below are the signature of Trebbiano in this style, shown here as shared reference. Tasting notes specific to this bottle are added when we research it.
Orange peel
Apricot
Fig
Raisin
Almond
Chestnut
Caramel
HoneySold as a 0.375L half bottle, usually around 25 to 30 pounds in the UK from GreatWine and Great Wines Direct, with the 2015 and 2019 vintages currently listed.
A specialist after-dinner sweet wine, not an everyday pour. It scores high for occasion and cellaring and narrower for everyday drinking, judged against its 25 to 30 pound half-bottle price.
Built to last. The producer cites several decades of ageing capacity, and the oxidative caratelli style is exceptionally stable, so well-stored half bottles hold and evolve for many years.
Sold in an individual gift box and rated Premium by Italian buyers, this is an after-dinner and gifting wine: a traditional, low-production Vin Santo with real Tuscan heritage behind it.
Around 25 to 30 pounds for a 375ml half bottle of a labour-intensive, low-yield Vin Santo aged for years in caratelli. Fair to good value for a traditional sweet wine of this pedigree and keeping potential.
A specialist sweet wine, superb in its niche of cantucci, blue cheese, aged hard cheese and liver pate, but too sweet to partner a savoury main course, so its overall food range is deliberately narrow.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our editorial methodology.
A compact view of what the Vin Santo del Chianti denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
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Great Wines Direct
Vin Santo is dated by the harvest of the grapes that were then dried and slowly aged in caratelli. Both the 2015 and 2019 are released and drinking, with decades of life ahead.
2019 was a classic, even Tuscan vintage. The dried-grape must went into small oak caratelli with the madre, and the wine keeps fresh acidity beneath its sweetness, built for very long ageing.
2015 was a warm, balanced Tuscan growing season that gave ripe, healthy Trebbiano and Malvasia for the drying lofts. After years in caratelli it is drinking beautifully now and will hold for decades.
Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.
The genuine article: grapes raisined until December to 18 to 19 Baume, soft pressed, then fermented and aged with the madre in small French oak caratelli, as the DOC and the estate's 1870 tradition demand.
Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.
Vin Santo del Chianti is in the DOC tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.
Vin Santo del Chianti falls within Tuscany , covering Tuscany.
Grapes are dried on mats until December and lose much of their volume before pressing, so the estate makes only a small number of bottles each vintage.
Slow fermentation and maturation in small oak caratelli tie up barrels and cellar space for years before a single bottle is released.
Fattoria dei Barbi holds one of Italy's deepest Vin Santo libraries at Montalcino, and that pedigree supports the roughly 25 to 30 pound UK half-bottle price.
Bottling only in 0.375L in a printed presentation box raises packaging and handling cost per millilitre versus a standard 750ml bottle.
At 16% the wine sits above the standard still-wine band. Roughly 1.70 pounds of duty on a 375ml plus 20% VAT are inside the shelf price before retailer margin.
Selling in 375ml means a benchmark traditional Vin Santo lands near 25 to 30 pounds rather than the 45-plus a 750ml of this quality would command.
Dishes that complement this wine
The estate keeps bottles of almost every vintage going back generations, one of Italy's largest Vin Santo libraries. Oxidative caratelli ageing makes this remarkably stable for very long keeping.
Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
Built to last. The producer cites several decades of ageing capacity, and the oxidative caratelli style is exceptionally stable, so well-stored half bottles hold and evolve for many years.
£25.51 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 7 Jun 2026, 15:21 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighA style read drawn from the grape and the appellation, not from this exact bottle. We mark these notes openly so you know what you are reading.
Confidence · MediumFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.
Confidence · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumIt is a traditional sweet Vin Santo del Chianti DOC made at Montalcino by Fattoria dei Barbi, which has produced Vin Santo since 1870. The blend is Trebbiano, Malvasia and a little Sangiovese, dried to raisins and aged for years in small oak caratelli. It is bottled at 16% alcohol in a 375ml half bottle.
Amber in the glass and sweet but balanced, with dried fruit, raisin, candied citrus, walnut and chestnut honey, and a very long finish. Vivino drinkers rate it 4.1 out of 5 across more than 400 ratings, often noting caramel, toffee and almond from its long oak ageing.
Pour it with cantucci, the Tuscan almond biscuits made for dunking, or with almond tarts and panettone. Served a little cooler it is excellent with blue cheese, aged pecorino and other hard cheeses, and with liver pate.
The grapes are picked and hung to dry until December, when they reach a high sugar concentration. After a soft pressing the must goes into small oak caratelli together with the madre, the yeast-rich residue from earlier Vin Santo, where it ferments and matures slowly to build its amber colour and nutty, honeyed aromas.
Decades. Fattoria dei Barbi keeps bottles of almost every vintage in its cellars, one of the largest Vin Santo collections in Italy. The oxidative ageing style makes it very stable, so well-stored bottles hold and evolve gracefully for many years.
In the UK it is usually around 25 to 30 pounds for a 375ml half bottle. Current listings include the 2019 and 2015 vintages from GreatWine and Great Wines Direct. The half-bottle format suits a sweet wine poured in small glasses after dinner.
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