Vineyards & Estates

 

Chianti Classico Area

 

In 1716 Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany issued an edict legislating that the three villages of the Lega del Chianti (Castellina in Chianti, Gaiole in Chianti, and Radda in Chianti) as well as the village of Greve and a 2-mile (3-km) stretch of hillside north of Greve near Spedaluzza as the only officially recognized producers of Chianti. This delineation existed until July 1932, when the Italian government expanded the Chianti zone to include the outlying areas of Barberino Val d'Elsa, Chiocchio, Robbiano, San Casciano in Val di Pesa and Strada. The 1932 expansion was canonized into DOC regulations in 1966. Since the mid 1980s, the Chianti Classico zone has had its own DOCG recognized area separate from the greater Chianti region. As of 2006, there were 17,640 acres (7,142 hectares) of vineyards in the Chianti Classico region.
The Chianti Classico region covers an area of approximate 100 square miles (259 square kilometers) between the city of Florence to the north and Siena to the south. The four communes of Castellina in Chianti, Gaiole in Chianti, Greve in Chianti and Radda in Chianti are located entirely within the boundaries of the Classico region with parts of Barberino Val d'Elsa, San Casciano in Val di Pesa and Tavarnelle Val di Pesa in the province of Florence as well as Castelnuovo Berardenga and Poggibonsi in the province of Siena included within the permitted boundaries of Chianti Classico. The soil and geography of this region can be quite varied, with altitudes ranging from 820 feet (250 meters) to 2000 feet (610 meters), and rolling hills producing differing macroclimates. There are two main soil types in the region: a weathered sandstone known as albarese and a bluish-gray chalky marlstone known as galestro. The soil in the north is richer and more fertile with more galestro, with the soil gradually becoming harder and stonier with more albarese in the south. In the north, the Arno river can have an influence on the climate, keeping the temperatures slightly cooler, an influence that diminishes further south in the warmer Classico territory towards Castelnuovo Berardenga.
Chianti Classico wines tend to be medium-bodied with firm tannins and medium-high to high acidity. Floral, cherry and light nutty notes are characteristic aromas with the wines expressing more notes on the mid-palate and finish than at the front of the mouth. As with Bordeaux, the different regions of Chianti Classico have unique characteristics that can be exemplified and perceived in some wines from those areas. According to Master of Wine Mary Ewing-Mulligan, Chianti Classico wines from the Castellina region tend to have a very delicate aroma and flavor, Castelnuovo Berardenga region wines tend to be the most ripe and richest tasting, wines from Gaiole tend to have been characterized by their structure and firm tannins while wines from the Greve area tend to have very concentrated flavours.

 

History of Gallo Nero

 

The fame of wine produced in the Chianti lands has ancient origins and, as all that have success, it left along its street legends and curiosity about its origin and traditions. The Gallo Nero, symbol of the Chianti and its wine, of the association representing a great number of producers, born on the background of the disagreement for the possession of the true Chianti area between Florence and Siena. True Chianti area because generically we call Chianti also the wine produced in other Tuscany areas, that has the Sangiovese as its base.
The origins of this symbol can be found in a legend telling about the rivalry between Florence and Siena, due to the disputing for the possession of the Chiantishire lands, in the medieval period. to put down this interminable and bloody war, the two communes decide to entrust the definition of its own borders to a trial between two knights, one with the colour of Florence and the other with the colour of Siena. The place where the two knights met, leaving their respective cities to dawn, when the cock crows, there would have been the boundary. The Sienesi grew up and stuffed with food their white cock, convinced that this would sing stronger, while the Florentines choose a black cock and left it on an empty stomach. The fatal day, the black Florentine cock was very hungry and so began to crow before the sunrise, while the white Sienese cock was full of food yet.
The Florentine knight, woken up early by his cock, began to gallop covering much more street than his rival: almost the whole land of the Chianti was annexed to the lily Republic. Legend or not, the Lega of Chianti, authentic military alliance, created by the Florentine republic to unite the populations of the Chiantishire villages to defend their lands and its first statue dated 1384, choose the Gallo Nero in a golden land as its symbol.
After a century , reduced the dangers of war and invasions, the Lega gave up to the wine problems, finding out the best vines to grow, the rules of wine-making and fixing a series of rules for the Chianti Classico, for example the obligation of the vintage in the right time and to bottle the Chianti Classico Gallo Nero in the land of production. Today big, middle and little producers, social and industrial wine-cellars are united in the respect of the rules that the association imposes.