Chianti?

Chianti is both a region of Italy (in Toscana or Tuscany in English) and a wine. All Chianti must contain a certain percentage of Sangiovese grapes. Wine made from grapes within the delimited Chianti region are labelled merely "Chianti". Similar wines are produced in Toscana from the same grape varieties, but not of the same mix or quality, may be called "Sangiovese di Toscana" or some such name.

Chianti comprises several sub-zones, of which the most important are Chianti Classico and Chianti Rufina. I prefer Rufina to Classico wines.

The subzones are: Colli Aretini, Colli Fiorentini, Colli Senesi, Colline Pisane, Montalbano, Montespertoli and Rufina.

In addition to Chianti, there is another wine extremely similar to Chianti produced in an area near Chianti, which is called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

Both Chianti and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are produced in plain and riserva versions, the latter of which are made with greater care and aged longer, and of course sell for a higher price. Yet another somewhat similar wine from Tuscany that is worth looking into is called Carmignano (named after a town),.

Look at this site, and roll the cursor over the names and the mapo will highlight the region.

Other wines of note are Morellino di Scansano, Bolgheri or Bolgheri Sassicaia, and Brunello di Montalcino, the most intense and expensive wine made in Tuscany from traditional Tuscan grapes. Bottles of Brunello di Montalcino start at around $50.

Is this also called Montepulciano, without the preface?

Jose

No, that's Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, an entirely different wine and grape.

Sheesh. Those Italians. They have a different word for everything!

Jose

Or - more precise - the /grape/ is Montepulciano. Wines from this grape produced i the region Abruzzo can belong to the /DOC/ Montepulciano d'Abruzzi. The grape is very common all the way down from Marche to Apulia. But not in the wellknovn comune di Montepulciano where the grape Sangiovese rules but under cover using the name Prugnolo gentile. Confused?

regards Jan

May be you meant their "Vin Santo", did you?

DM

Joe "Beppe"Rosenberg skrev i a7CdnSlMpf1MNxvYnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com dette:

Probably. On the other hand - now I'm confused? What constitutes one of the most charming hill top towns as a bus stop? In my book that term is rather degrading - but may be its just a lack in my understanding of the english language.

Let's hope they never do! But the time when Montepulciano was a well kept secret is over - it's getting overrun by tourists theese days.

And if You get the chance: taste their Vino Nobile - and hear the angels sing.

You forgot Poliziano - imo the best of the big producers. Also Del Cerro is worth mentioning (also for their great Montefalco estate, Colpetrone, but that's another story).

Only midrange imo.

regards Jan

Poliziano and Tiberini are the best I have been able to secure around here.

I can actually get 2 vintages of their Vin Santo locally - the 1989 and

Can anybody here comment about whether or not they're "worth it"? I usually splurge right around this time of the year, when my bonus check arrives...

- Chris

You're absolutely right.

regards Jan

Chris Sprague skrev i snipped-for-privacy@l12g2000cwl.googlegroups.com dette:

I have tasted the '89. It's a wonder - no less. But if any drinkable stuff - except perhaps a sip of the Well of Youth ;-) - is worth $140 for half a bt. is imo not a question with a rational answer. I and a few friends sometimes buy an exceptional bottle for tasting - and in that context i would find the Vin Santo '89 recommendable. On the other hand - I do not see myself as a very qualified advisor regarding such incredible expensive bottles - my experiences are to few to have reliable references.

regards Jan

UC skrev i snipped-for-privacy@80g2000cwy.googlegroups.com dette:

Oh - I have not tasted the Tiberini. Is it the 'Podere Le Gaggiole'. The price seems to be reasonable, so i could be worth trying.

regards Jan

It did seem rather expensive. That being said, the store that is selling it, so I've heard (by way of eavesdropping on a conversation an employee was having with someone during a wine tasting) that they'll be liquidating this winter, and will close for a few months while they search for another location.

If they have a firesale, maybe I'll pick it up. Maybe I'll save the money and put it towards an old vintage Madeira, something that's been on my wish list for awhile.

The Tiberini Riserva sells for about $25 in Ohio .

bus stop--I was being facetious---at one time I represented "the other Gracciano" which has since has been sold to Ruffino--I was in and out of the area twice and just rode through the town---did eat in the Avigonesi's restaurant with Marco & Yano DeGrazia (in 1985).

Mark Lipton wrote:

Excellent remark. And, may I add, it is a very tiny subregion of Tuscany: just the extension of three "comuni" (local councils): Gaiole, Radda and Castellina (plus an ultra-tiny fraction of the Greve local council: Panzano, basically). Of course, attempts (even successful ones) to brand with the name "chianti" wines originated well outside of the historical Chianti district started very soon in history (at least as early as the beginning of the 18th century: the 1716 date boasted by the Consorzio Chianti Classico as the beginning of something, not surprisingly left unspecified marks exactly the first of these successful attempts. If of interest to anybody, plaese let me know and I can post details). Then, in the Thirties of 20th century, an act of authority of the Italian government of the time (PM was..uh..B. Mussolini) defined two big production areas: one for the plain "Chianti" (to be optionally specified by a "subzone", i.e. a zone of Tuscany entirely different from the Chianti area) scattered all around the hills of central Tuscany; another for the "Chianti Classico" (supposedly linked to the original Chianti area, but in fact more than twice as large as the real Chianti district, and extended to at least part of 8 local communities, as opposed to the original 3). Both of these "areas" were totally invented in 1932. You can see what I am talking about, e.g. here:

So far, the "brand" Chianti (deriving its strength from the original area's history and environment) has been used to sell wine (maybe even better than the one coming from the original area, that is not my point) coming from more or less the largest part of the hilly central part of Tuscany, in some cases from areas which are distant from the original Chianti area even five or six times the very extension of the area itself. On the other hand, the opposite is now happening: the commercial fortunes of the Chianti wine (of today's "Chianti") spawn a new concept of "Chianti area", mostly coincident with today's production area, so that people arriving in San Casciano Val di Pesa (at very convenient reach from Florence, for instance) believe they are "in Chianti". After all, why bother driving all the way to Radda or Castellina or Gaiole, up and down those hellishly bendy and narrow roads? What could we ever find "there" which is not "here" as well? Hope you can see my point.

It must be added that Sangiovese is a very polimorphic class of grapes, even by limiting ourselves to the "sangiovese piccolo" sub-variety, different from the Brunello di Montalcino one which is best thought of as another variety altogether.

See above. If you see the real Chianti "region" spot in the framework of the "Chianti" wine producing area, you may start wondering what the word Chianti has to do with all that..;-)

Sure. I am not saying anything about quality. I am just adding a few remarks concerning the "truth" behind a name. If you consider that it is not the absolute extent of an enlarged area that matters, but rather the relative amount by which the original area has been enlarged, it is more or less like branding as Champagne every French white wine produced north of Dijone.