Where To Find Italian Chianti And What To Notice

Problem
Where does Chianti come from and how will I find one I like?

Answer

Chinati has been called, "The unmistakable Taste of Tuscany". Tuscany is the area on the West coast of Italy.

I went to a guided tasting at Prowine Singapore in 2018 when we tasted six different wines, with information from speaker Edwin Soon. He told us that the Chianti region has hills to catch the sun, and terraces to stop erosion. A river keeps the temperature even, not too cold in winter, but cools the vineyards in summer. Too much water leads to watered down wine.

Where Is It From

Chianti comes from a region stretching between Rome and Pisa and Florence. A prime attraction in Tuscany is the leaning tower of Pisa, leaning like a tipsy bottle of wine. Since these are some of the most popular tourist destinations, if you've been to Italy the chances are you have drunk wine from the local Chianti region, whether or not you knew it, chose it and liked it.

In the old days there was plenty of cheap Chianti, drunk young and not necessarily good, in a bulb-shape bottle, so it had not established a great reputation. However, local producers got together to enforce standards and classify the wines so buyers knew which was which.

The locals wanted to protect their regional name and identity.  Now you will see D.O.C . , quality wine from a specified region the Italian equivalent of the French AOC, Appelation or name, of Origin Controlled, in Italian D.O.C. Denomination of Origin Controlled.

Chianti Classico
I assumed that Chianti Classico was old style, like Classic Coc Cola. I was wrong. Chinati Classico is a region.

What about D. O. C. G?  The extra G for some wines shown on the labels? G stands for guarantia, guaranteed, the upper stratum, or very best of the DOCs.

What is the difference between a co-operative and a consortium? A co-operative is a group which co-operates, operates together, to make wine. A consortium is a group, a trade body, people who have already made wine who come together to market and sell it.

If you get a chance, on holiday or business, go to a place which offers tastings so that you can compare wines, or order two different wines or glasses of wine with a meal and make a note of which you prefer and why?

Red and White
For years I did not drink red wine. It tasted sour and gave me headaches. Later I larned this was due to tannins. Is it an allergic reaction, or just an intolerance? An allergic reaction would make my eyelids and mouth swell up. Panic-stricken. An intolerance just makes me feel headachey and nauseous. Unhappy.

Dry or Sweet?
Do you prefer a dryer or sweeter wine? Can you tell the difference when drinking a wine of a specific good year? I discovered that I like sweet wine and if it's dry the year doesn't matter to me because I don't like it anyway so no point in paying more for myself.

I tried five dry wines, and the Chianti Rùfina D O C G Riserva 2011 had a distinctive aroma. If I had to choose a dry wine to please others or to go with savoury food or because I had no chance to choose a sweet wine, this is the one I would go for.

Colours of red wine.

Compare the colours of two wines of different ages. The one on the right is browner and older. Wines deepen in colour as they age, like apples going brown. Like ripening fruit, the wines from late-picked grapes are sweeter.

Many people would choose a sweet wine only to go with sweet food, with dessert. My firm favourite was the sweet Chianti - I had not even known anybody made sweet Chianti. The one I sampled was Vin Santo del Chianti Monespertoli D O C Riserva 2007.

How can we remember the name? Vin Santo means holy wine. Del Chianti means of the Chianti region. Monte - mountain. Spertoli - that's the only hard part to remember. I'll just think of myself and the wine maker as experts. Montespertoli. It is a riserva, reserved from 2007, not just bottled early and sold off cheaply when it was plentiful, but has already spent more than ten years maturing.

Italian - English
colli - hill
del - of (the)
consorzio - consortium
Fiorentini - from Florence
Superiore - superior or better
Riserva - reserved or saved - extra special, worth your time and money reserving it and storing it to sell later
santo - saint
vin - wine
vin santo - holy wine
vino - wine (noun)

Useful websites
WINES FROM CHIANTI IN ITALY
General Information
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chianti
Information from the Chianti suppliers
www.consorziovinochinati.it
READING WINE LABELS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_wine_terms
TRAVEL TO ITALY
http://www.italia.it/en/home.html
WIKIVOYAGE
Information in the free encyclopaedia without the advertisements.
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Chianti
WIKITRAVEL
The free travel website which also carries advertising which could be handy if you are ready to book and need companies and prices.
https://wikitravel.org/en/Chianti
TRIPADVISOR
Reviews from members of the public plus travel ads and price comparisons.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g187895-c3060/Florence:Italy:Tuscany.Chianti.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts. See later post on tannins and quality.