Chianti

WINE TALK
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According to Cellartracker, we drink as much Sangiovese as any other wine or grape. Some of that is Brunello or even from Montepulciano, but most is Chianti. Despite our consumption habits and having been to several of the Chianti Classico towns years ago, I realize I really don’t know that much about the different styles from the different towns. For background, most of our consumption is Felsina and Monsanto, followed by Castell’in Villa, Fontodi, Selvapiana, Castellare di Castellina, Carpineto, Volpaia, and Rodano.

I know it is a large area, with different soils and exposures so is it even possible to generalize when talking about a particular area?
If you were going to do a Chianti tasting with wines that are most typical of the particular towns or areas like Castellina, Radda, Gaiole, Berardenga and Greve, what would you recommend?

I’d like to do a tasting for comparison purposes and my first thoughts are these producers. (Edited as I learn more)

Berardenga – “forceful rather than subtle” – Felsina/Castell’in Villa
Radda – “ultimate in elegance, lacking power perhaps” - Tenuta di Carleone/Montevertine/Istine
Greve – “ a very heterogeneous lot” - Candiale/Fontodi
Lamole - generally higher elevation, elegant, lithe - I Fabbri
Gaiole – Baddia a Coltibuono
Castellina – Castellare di Castellina
Barberino Val D’Elsa - Monsanto/Isole e Olena

*quotes are from Nicholas Belfrage’s The Finest Wines of Tuscany and Central Italy

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I don’t know very much at all, so will defer to others, but I would say that Selvapiana give the vibe that getting a feeling for Chianti Rufina would be best done by putting them to one side and focusing first on the other estates. Not that Selvapiana are bad (quite the opposite IMO), but that they are an estate that marches to their own tune, that would be very happy not to be called ‘typical’. After all, how many winery owners (and in times gone by he was also the winemaker I believe) would be teetotallers?

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San Giusto a Rentennano in Gaiole
Isole Olena from Barberino Val d’Elsa
Bibbiano has been on the upturn in Castellina
Hard to leave Fonterutoli off from the same area.

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And don’t forget Montenidoli from Chianti Colli Senesi - that’s another style that’s pretty representative :wine_glass:

I’ll be waiting for my invite - I might even have a wine or two that could work with your theme :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

And if you are doing pre-tasting research, Bill Nesto’s book “Chianti Classico” is very good.

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Candialle’s Chianti Classicos from Panzano have been my go-to CCs, definitely worth checking out!

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Le Boncie Le Trame is a must try from Berardenga. Not classified as Chianti these days.

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Bob, I was hoping you would be interested.

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So I think that one of the problems you’re going to run into here is the wide variety of producer styles in Chianti overshadowing the character of the village. For example, Volpaia’s take always seems dominated by the Merlot and (to me) they seem to use the altitude of Radda to allow for exceptionally long hang-times. Sure they still have acidity, but the wines are dark and very ripe-fruit dominated, which is very different than the wines of Montevertine.

Likewise, the wines of Castell’in Villa have an elegance that I think is in some ways closer to Montevertine in style than Felsina (though that’s partially because of terroir—one really fascinating tasting to do is Felsina, Pagliarese [owned and made by Felsina] and Castell’in Villa. Pagliarese sits between the two estates, I believe, and definitely doesn’t show as rich and lush as Felsina).

Other ideas for you might be Monteraponi or Istine in Radda (both of which I find more traditional than Volpaia), Le Trame and Lecci e Brocchi (though not their Riserva as much) in Berardenga, and also I Fabbri in Lamole/Greve.

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I might have time later this afternoon to answer with more depth but the short story is that you really can’t, and the Belfrage quotes, particularly that for Greve, are not helpful at all.

Consider in Greve you could compare Fontodi, Le cinciole, I Fabbri, Querciabella, Montefioralle, Vecchie terre di Montefili, Calcinaia, Castello di Verrazzano, Vicchiomaggio, Terreno, and Castello di Querceto. There is nothing heterogenous about this lot.

If you factor in altitude, exposition, and soil it quickly become obvious that classifying Chianti Classico by commune make little sense. Which is not to say that one shouldn’t try to at least learn about the wine in each commune, but not towards discovering the nature of the commune but rather toward discovering its diversity.

I did some work on this and have a map somewhere that breaks down the Chianti Classico region into 23 subzones if I remember correctly, based on soil, average high and low temps, altitude and exposition. I’ll see if I can find it and put together a tasting based on that information.

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Greg,

I’ve heard some stories that they might start adding ‘official’ subzones to Chianti beyond the village appellations, have you heard anything concrete about that?

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Thanks for responses, guys. I see on Vinous that Querciabella has a Sangiovese from Greve, Radda and Gaiole. That would be a fun comparison but I don’t see them available around here. I did find Otto’s recommendation for Candialle La Misse. That is a new one for me.

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Good discussion. I also think it’ll be hard to find a typical benchmark CC for each major region/sub region, just too much variability between the resulting wines you find, for whatever reason (climate, soil, house style, marketing strategy…). But a comparison of styles and variety within that region is a great idea regardless.

And thanks for the Nesti book rec, I just ordered it. I have the Belfrage book and like it since it goes beyond CC and gives nice backgrounds for the estates along with the owners and winemakers, at least at the time it was published.

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It always surprises me to read posts about Chianti and never see Podere Poggio Scalette mentioned. Top notch Chianti Classico from the hills of Ruffoli in Greve.

And if you want to up the game further, there’s Scalette’s Il Carbonaione.

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La Misse is probably my favorite everyday Chianti Classico, a super versatile food wine. It’s their 2nd wine, a bit lighter and more approachable than their very serious Chianti Classico, which is the estate grand vin. Although neither see much/any new oak (depending on the vintage), La Misse is mainly aged in concrete tanks (finished with a short period in old oak barrels, IIRC), so the emphasis is really on freshness and the purity of fruit, whereas the CC is more savory, tightly-knit and structure-driven. Both of them are excellent, CC La Misse for early-drinking purposes and the “plain” CC for cellaring.

They also make tiny amounts of Mimas, which is a terrific wine that is basically a Chianti Classico, but labeled IGT Toscana. 100% Sangiovese aged in spherical, ceramic Clayver vessels. This is really all about pure, dry and fresh Sangiovese fruit!

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I have not had any of those producers other than Fontodi. Are you saying those producers are all very similar, or were you thinking I said homogeneous?

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I think Greg is saying the microclimates in each commune are too varied to allow a tasting comparison that would give you insight. You could taste wines with similar microclimates but the wines would likely be from different communes.

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Greg,

Even if time won’t allow today, I’d love to see your detailed reply in due course [bow.gif]

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Bob, thanks for the recommendation. I picked this up just started on it. I think I will learn a lot.

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Jeff, I love the maps he includes on the various wineries in each subzone - I think we could almost use this to some degree if we wanted to do a tasting focused on, say, Greve or Radda, etc. They start in Chapter 10 (in case you hadn’t seen them yet).

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+1 for Isole e Olena and for Querciabella.

And I’ll add Montesecondo.

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