Chianti Classico is Finally Unconnected

Chianti is Italy’s most famous wine, and Chianti Classico is, by general consensus, its best Chianti. The region, located in the heart of the Chianti-producing zone in Tuscany, is the oldest and most prestigious area for Chianti.

A wine called “Chianti” has been made there for at least 800 years--although the earliest wines were actually white. Chianti has been only red for several hundred years--and today, in fact, no white grapes are now allowed in making Chianti Classico wine (as of 1996)--although up to 10 percent of white grapes are still allowed in other Chianti wines.

At the heart of all Chianti wines is the Sangiovese grape variety. Perhaps more than any other grape, Sangiovese is extremely difficult to grow successfully. It is at its best only in the rolling hills of Tuscany, with its dry, fairly warm climate--but not every year by any means. Nowhere else in the world, including California, has Sangiovese really been successful.

Chianti Classico at its best is a very dry, medium-bodied red wine with a good amount of acidity, firm tannins, and tart cherry or berry flavors, with a dry finish. It is subtle and elegant, expressing more flavors at mid-palate and on the finish than at the front of the mouth (which is more typical of New World wines). As with all fine wines, Chianti Classico improves with bottle aging, up to 15 or 20 years in the better vintages.

Due to over-production and generally poor winemaking, Chianti wines went through a bad period after World War II, from the 1950s through the 1970s--especially the Chianti wines made outside of the Chianti Classico zone. In an effort to distance itself from the rest of Chianti, in 1996 the Chianti Classico Consorzio managed to have laws passed giving Chianti Classico its own DOCG appellation, and just this year, 2010, Chianti Classico is now its own autonomous zone, completely apart from other Chianti wines.

Of course, some good (non-Classico) Chianti wines are being made today (Frescobaldi and Selvapiana from the Chianti Rufina sub-zone come to mind), but the batting average for top Chianti is definitely higher for Chianti Classico wines as a group.