Chianti-Doodle-Doo

July 24th, 2024

At some point as a wine merchant you have to look around and say, how did I find myself selling roughly thirty different Chianti? As such, this week’s topic of consideration concerns a wine region that I’ve developed a certain fondness for over time without even realizing it, an appellation found in the picturesque, rolling hillsides of Tuscany. This Italian wine region originally based around the hills of Chianti and the towns of Radda in Chianti, Gaiole in Chianti, and Castellina in Chianti has historically produced wines from all of the way from skunk to hunk. Hubba hubba.

The requirements for what makes a Chianti as a wine have changed over time meaning that the stuff has seen some noteworthy qualitative changes through history. Early mention of the towns came when the Lega di Chianti (the Chianti League) was formed as a local militia between the aforementioned municipalities. It wasn’t until the late 1300s that Chianti was written about as a wine, but at the time it was a white wine.

By the 1700s Chianti had come to be known as a red wine, but it’s lost to history what the most common blending style was, though it is likely that the now lesser known grape Canaiolo played a much larger role at the time. In the mid-1800s the sharply mustachioed Baron Bettino Ricasoli was instrumental in developing a modern “recipe” that would highlight Sangiovese, the grape now synonymous with Tuscany. He was credited with outlining Chianti as requiring a composition of 70% Sangiovese, 20% Canaiolo, 10% Malvasia Bianca Lunga.

Shortly thereafter, less than scrupulous winemakers subbed in the easier to farm but more neutral Trebbiano in for the more complex Malvasia, bastardizing the recipe enough that by the mid-1950s up to 30% of the juice in a bottle of Chianti was Trebbiano, which left for very bleak wine drinking. Sour, acidic, low quality juice was bottled in what were fittingly called “fiascos,” globular glass receptacles wrapped in straw, almost more famous as the candle-stuffed table decorations than the wine. This in combination with the expansion of the appellation to further towns afar from the original three led to a noticeable drop in quality.

By the 1980’s growers from the original growing region of Chianti (Chianti Classico) and winemakers with actual pride from the different subzones of Chianti (Rufina, Colli Senesi, Colli Fiorentini, etc) decided that they’d had enough of the nonsense and wanted to make wines that were 100% Sangiovese. Especially since wines like Sassicaia and Ornellaia were achieving high scores (and high prices) as Super Tuscans foregoing the existing labeling rules for the region.

Thankfully in the mid-1990’s it became legal to make Chianti out of 100% Sangiovese and now the current recipe is for the wines to be made of 70 – 100% Sangiovese with other local red grapes and some French varieties being allowed to fill out the blend. The percentages change a little depending on the tier of Chianti, but the important takeaway is still that Sangiovese is now the main grape used for the wine.

Sangiovese as a grape can produce a range of weights and flavors, but some of the hallmarks are different varieties of cherry, thyme, leather, oregano, strawberries, and dried rose petals, amongst others. It can be pale in color or densely red depending on clonal type and handling. It can be light and fruity or dense and tannic, I’ve had some Chianti aged north of 20 years that are still showing well. Don’t get me wrong, I love the wines from Tuscany’s other famous appellation Brunello, but Chianti really does it for me.

If you haven’t tried one recently, no time like the present. You can skip the fiasco, unless you need a new candle holder.

-Joe Buchter, Import Wine Buyer