I was given a bottle of wine. It is a 3 lt. bottle. The label says Casalbosco Chiant. Bottled for C.L.P by F.C.L.P. imported by Schenk USA. It is spiral type bottle that tapers smaller toward the top. It has a wicker basket bottom.
Answer From Expert Roger Bohmrich MW
The Casalbosco property has a very good reputation and produces a range of Tuscan wines starting with a basic Chianti in a rather traditional beige label. They also offer numerous wines with proprietary names with a contemporary look featuring labels with horizontal white and black stripes. You don't mention a vintage, so that leads me to think it is not a current one as the era of the so-called "basket" Chianti is behind us for the most part even though some wine drinkers have a sentimental attachment to this bottle. This type of presentation, called the "fiasco," was for many years the most recognized of all Italian wines around the world. The wine in the fiasco was in the main not of remarkable quality as the best wine of a given property was usually packaged in a conventional glass bottle without a basket covering. The particular large-format bottle you have is very distinctive: very tall with a long thin neck in a spiral pattern. Considering all the evidence - and regardless of vintage - my advice is to open the bottle in the near future at a party as it is a conversation piece at the very least. You might want to pull the cork and taste the wine in advance, particularly if the year is not a recent one.
