Wine 101: Chianti

This past Saturday, Tony Sirico from The Sopranos stopped by our Woodbridge store to meet his fans and sign bottles of the Sopranos Chianti Classico. While everyone waited to meet him, the owner of the Sopranos wines told the crowd a little bit about the particular wine, I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to foray into the world of Italian Wines and learn a little more about Chianti!

I've always been intimidated by Italian wines because they're not as cut-and-dry as other wines, where if you "know your grapes" you pretty much know what to expect out of the wine. With Italian wines, thet are named after the regions they hail from rather than the grapes within, so you need to know which grapes are grown in which region.

The region of Chianti is in the wine growing region of Tuscany, which sits in North-Eastern Italy. Chianti is composed of mostly the grape sangiovese, and the law requires that in order for a Chianti wine to be named as such it must be composed of at least 75% sangiovese. Other grapes in Chianti are canaiolo, and two white grapes: trebbiano and malvasia. Chiantis that are blended with more of the white grape varieties tend to be lighter bodied, while varieties with mostly the res grapes have a fuller and richer feel.

There is a region in Chianti called Classico that spans for roughly 100 square miles, and wines from that region tend to be medium-bodied with firm tannins and high acidity. Chianti Classico wines have to conform to vigorous rules from the Italian government. The different regions of Chianti Classico have unique characteristics that come through in the wines.

The black rooster (or gallo nero) is a symbol of the Consorzio Chianti Classico, a foundation of producers in the Classico region. The foundation was founded with the aim of promoting the wines in the region, improving quality and preventing wine fraud.

What to eat with Chianti? Well, it's a great table wine and it's perfect for every day drinking. Traditionally it goes well with anything with a tomato-based sauce. However, Chianti is very food-friendly and goes well with a wide range of things from white meats or even with fish like swordfish or tuna.