Avanti Chianti- and make mine Classico please
A friend’s wife, who loves her husband immensely, faithfully loves Tuscan wines too. Ask her the difference between Chianti and Chianti Classico and you will draw a blank. Ditto for Tuscan wines and Chianti!
Perhaps a majority of wine drinkers don’t know either. Chianti Classico is to Chianti what Chianti is to Tuscany and what Tuscany is to Italy, if you know what I mean.
It is a designated area, within Chianti, Tuscany, between Florence in the North and Siena in the South. It finds a very special place because of its terroir and personality when one talks of Tuscan wines.
It used to be a part of the Chianti DOCG appellation until August 5, 1996 when it became a separate Appellation through a government decree. Earlier, since 1984 the Classico was still considered a sub-denomination of Chianti DOCG, although with separate regulations that imposed production rules more stringent than those for Chiantis.
It is a common knowledge that Chianti was in doldrums during late sixties, seventies and even in the early eighties when it had become a notorious wine and a region for producing high yielding, cheap plonk bottled in special chianti fiascos (flasks). The producers started pulling up their socks to get the quality up, a process which still continues. Chianti is still synonymous with affordable quaff that washes down Tuscan cuisine well- better aged Riserva being an exception.
The new Chianti Classification appellation brought in different proportions of the grape blend to start with. The local grape, Sangiovese has to be 80%.-100% - which meant that producers could work only with this soul of Chianti grapes, if they so desired. Other regarded regions of Montalcino and Montepulciano in Tuscany could already use only Brunello and Prugnolo Gentile respectively, the highly rated variants of Sangiovese.
Producers are also allowed to use other indigenous red varieties like Canaiolo and Colorino; or the international varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with a maximum of 20%.
Tuscan Trebbiano and Malvasia white, both white grapes, allowed in Chianti can no longer be used, beginning with the 2006 vintage. The minimum alcohol level is 12° for the regular wine and 12.5° for the Riserva.
For a wine to be labelled a Chianti Classico, other important production requirements have to be met too. A new vineyard may only begin production four years after planting. Compare this with India where sometimes the second crop goes into the bottle and the wineries claim excellent quality!
It also reminded me of my meeting with Filippo, son of legendry Livio Felluga in Friuli a couple of months ago. Traversing through their vineyard, he told me they let the fruit drop off for at least 4-5 years while planting new vines. Do they sell these grapes during this growing period? Negative, was the reply. ‘Our business is making quality wine. We are not in the grape business and won’t waste our time selling grapes!’ he had exclaimed.
The viticulture world had started appreciating the low yield- better wine equation, at least theoretically. So the yields have been limited to 3.34 tons an acre, the equivalent of . Output per vine is also limited to 3 kilos, though most quality producers are increasing the density of vines with lower fruit weight per vine to minimise green harvest and get proper concentration.
To ensure a better balanced wine , the release for consumption is authorised only after October 1 of the year following the harvest. For the Riserva, minimum maturation of 24 months in wood, including at least three months in the bottle ageing is mandatory.
In addition to the alcohol level already indicated, Chianti Classico wine must have some predefined characteristics of colour, aromas, flavour, sugar (must be dry at less than 4 gms/lt. sugar), min. extraction and total acidity.
The famous Black Rooster has become the Chianti Classico emblem since 2005, irrespective of whether the producer is a member of the all powerful Chianti Classico Wine Consortium or not, although the 612 members represent most of the growers and producers in the appellation-Antinori is the most notable exception.
So what makes the Chianti Classico special? Characteristics of the soil in which it grows, and bouquet which evolves according to the terrain, is one reason. Sandstone is responsible for the wine's flowery bouquet; calcareous soils produce scents of wild berries. Volcanic soils yield fresh aromas of tobacco.
But a perfume of violets, which is a characteristic and specific element of Chianti Classico, is always present no matter where the vines grow. Wines are more complex, concentrated and generally longer maturing.
The passion with which the producers have taken to the new technology and improved wine making techniques by visiting Bordeaux, Burgundy and even US speaks in the glass.
Talk to Marco Pallanti, President of the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico, who is also the President of Castello di Ama, a premium quality producer , and he says,’ we are proud of our tradition, our soil, our advantages of 200-500 meters high sun facing vineyards. But we are not tied to tradition either and are constantly looking for change and modernisation.’
‘After all, Venice is today basking in the glory of action taken by their forefathers 400-500 years ago. We must do our best to keep on innovating so our children and grand children can have the benefits,’ he adds.
Baron Francesco Ricasoli, the CEO of Castello di Brolio agrees. ‘We are co-operating in a 4-year viticulture research project financed by the Italian government, in collaboration with various Italian universities.’ Sensors are placed on the vines, sending millions of bits of data daily, in an effort to find different ways of cultivating the vines for producing quality grape. Antinori is involved with the vinification part of the project. Similar projects are going on at other wineries as well.
Filippo Mazzei, owner of Fonterutoli, and Andreas Cecchi of Cecchi are just two of the owners who are busy making state-of-the-art wineries looking at future and the benefits of new technology that can help them further improve the quality of the Chianti Classico or super Tuscan wines.
The constant improvement in quality of Chianti Classico wine has been helping it win many laurels. L’Espresso proclaimed the Chianti territory as the most honoured wine-producing area in Italy last year. The number of zone wines recognised was 20, only one less than those awarded to the whole of Piemonte.
Gambero Rosso, through one of the Italy’s most revered wine guides, Vini d’Italia 2007 lists Tuscany winning 55, the highest number of Tre Bichhieri, the top wine award, pipping Piemonte by 3.
Out of 55 Chianti winners, 9 are Chianti Classico while 14 of the C.C. wine producers have won this recognition for their Super-Tuscans, making it a total of 23, or 40%. This is an improvement over last year when out of the 42 top medals, 6 were won for the Chianti Classico and 9 were awarded the Tre Bichhieri for their Super Tuscans, making it 36% for the Chianti Classico appellation.
Chianti DOCG did not win any Tre Bichhieri in either year.
Chianti is perhaps the most commonly used wine word in Tuscany. If there is another word I hear quite as often, it is Avanti, which implies ‘Come, C’mon, Come forward!’ I would love to say, ‘Avanti Chianti, and make mine Classico please!’
