The first article of a series dedicated to Chianti, the famous wine region of Tuscany. A journey into the history of Chianti. Illustrated by a timeline infographic!
The Chianti region may well epitomise Tuscany. A romantic setting adorned by luscious villas, gentle rolling hills, earthy food and of course delicious red wine. Truly, Chianti could be a paradise for any wine or food lover.
But when you go beyond the curtain of the idealised countryside of Tuscany, you suddenly realise that Chianti (as a wine region) is a diverse conglomerate. Chianti, like most Italian things, is often confusing. Hence this series on Chanti in Wine and Other Stories. I’m convinced that part of Chianti’s charms lies in its long and prestigious past. So before delving into appellations and grapes (which I will deal with in my next article), let’s start with the history of Chianti!
Chianti in the Middle Ages
The name “Chianti” first appeared in the 13th century. Back then, Florence was the financial capital of Europe. Aristocracy of the like of the Medici or Frescobaldi had just invented banks. These rich families controlled the finances of half of Europe. As a result, copious amounts of money spilled into Tuscany. The region’s nobility built grand and elegant villas in which to pursue their extravagant lifestyle.
At the beginning of its history, the name Chianti was ascribed to a geographical district rather than a wine style. The Chianti Mountains referred to the area surrounding the towns of Castellina, Radda and Gaiole. This district was known as the League of Chianti. The League was created as a political and military institution whose aim was to protect the Chianti territory on behalf of the Republic of Florence. Curiously enough, the first records mentioning Chianti as a beverage described it as a white wine!
Enlightenment and Chianti
Chianti was the world’s first officially demarcated wine region. In 1716, an edict by Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, formally designated the area allowed to boast the Chianti nomenclature for their wine. Incidentally the edict also defined the border of what later became known as Chianti Classico. The towns of Radda, Gaiole, Castellina, Greve and Panzano delimited the area.
Little is known about the exact varietal composition of Chianti wine before the 19th century. Some documents suggest this praised wine could have been made up of a red blend dominated by the canaiolo grape. Apparently sangiovese accounted for only a small part of the old-style Chianti.
The birth of modern Chianti
The formula for contemporary-style Chianti is ascribed to the Baron Bettino Ricasoli, the second Prime Minister of Italy. In a letter dated 1872, the statesman synthesised years of experimentations dictating that Chianti should be a red blend dominated by sangiovese (for its bouquet and vigour), with the addition of canaiolo to soften the wine. The addition of the white malvasia grape was suggested for wines intended for early-consumption, but was discouraged for Chianti destined for cellaring.
Chianti Classico
The Italians were always (rightfully I would say) on the lookout for counterfeit and misappropriation of their heritage. For this reason, in 1924 the Chianti Classico Consortium (more lengthy “Consortium for the defence of Chianti wine and its symbol of origin”) was created. Its aim was to “protect, oversee and valorise the Chianti Classico denomination“. The Consortium chose a black rooster as its effigy (see below), rebranding the original coat of arms of the medieval League of Chianti. Today, you can still find a black rooster on the neck of every bottle by the members of the Consortium.
The Black Rooster of Chianti Classico
Historically, the black rooster crest belonged to the League of Chianti, founded in the 13th century. In the Middle Ages the rivalry between the Tuscan town of Florence and Siena was legendary.
At that time, an argument arose between Florence and Siena over control of the Chianti territory. According to local folklore, the two towns decided to use the outcome of a horse race to settle the dispute. The plan was for two knights to depart from each town at sunrise, heading towards the other. The exact point where they met would define the boundary between the two cities. A rooster’s crow at dawn was the signal for the knights to start riding.
With regard to the rooster, Siena and Florence took two different approaches. Siena opted for a white rooster, feeding it regularly and abundantly until race day. Florence chose a black rooster and trained it harshly. The Florentines kept the black rooster in a small and petty box for days, refusing to feed it. On the day of the ride, when both roosters were freed, the black one was the first to crow, giving a considerable head start to the Florentine knight. As a result, the two knights met only 12 km away from Siena. Thus Florence gained control of almost all of the territory of Chianti.
Throughout the history of Chianti, the word “Classico” appears in a rather confusing fashion. However, it was the Consortium who officially defined “Chianti Classico” for the first time. Their members purposely used the term “Classico” as a point of difference for their products. Since the Consortium’s foundation, they’ve strived to protect Chianti Classico and make the difference between it and generic chianti clear to the general public.
The struggles of the Consortium
You would think that the birth of the Chianti Classico Consortium smoothed all the controversies about the prestigious Chianti name and its usage. Wrong. In fact, the battle had just begun. On one side, the members of the Consortium. Quality-orientated, eager to protect their high-tier wines from the mass of inoffensive and quaffable red wines that – in their opinion – spoiled the very name of the Chianti denomination. On the other hand, big exporters, mass-producers and winemakers from contiguous districts, whose interests of course collided with the Consortium.
In theory, the Italian Parliament would have been the impartial referee of this quarrel. In practice, at least in the early stages, the Italian legislator showed little sympathy for the Consortium. When the latter demanded an official commission to strictly define the Chianti Classico nomenclature and its rules, the Italian Parliament did more or less the opposite. In 1932, the Dalmasso Commission enlarged the original Chianti Classico zone to approximately the entire area which today is covered under the Chianti DOCG. The Commission defined six Chianti sub-zones. Apart from Chianti Classico (originally a sub-zone of the larger Chianti area), the Commission also defined Chianti Colli Fiorentini, Chianti Colli Senesi, Chianti Rufina, Chianti Montalbano, Chianti Colline Pisane and Chianti Colli Aretini. A few years later, Chianti Montespertoli was added.
The division of the Chianti area into sub-zones was clearly driven by political and administrative concerns. Little attention was paid to common viticultural aspects, mesoclimate and terroir. Furthermore, the Commission set relaxed requirements for the production of wine, for example in terms of (generous) yield limits. Understandably, the Consortium’s frustration was palpable.
Despite the initial defeats, the members of the Consortium were fully determined to defend their interests and the superior value of Chianti Classico. They focussed on the “brand” as we would now say. Eventually their efforts were recognised. But the Consortium still had further struggles to face.
The challenges of the 20th century
The history of Chianti was affected by the major events of the 20th century. World War II stopped all viticultural activities. In the aftermath, during the 1950s and 1960s, the old sharecropping system was abolished throughout Italy. Workers left the countryside and poured into big cities. Italian and European laws promoted a viticulture based on mass-production. Quantity was much preferred over quality. High-yielding clones were promoted. A higher percentage of white wine (including the often insipid trebbiano) creeped into the blends. If you had asked for Chianti in those days, you would probably have been given a pale, diluted red served in a typical fiasco-shaped bottle.
Under these woeful circumstances, the Chianti DOC was created in 1967. The “Ricasoli formula” was the inspiration for the DOC regulations. The latter required 70-90% of red grape varieties and 10-30% of white varieties in the blend. Generous yields were also permitted.
The Chianti DOC rules de facto lowered the quality requirements of the wines and frustrated those producers interested in quality over quantity. Moreover, 100% sangiovese was not even permitted by the DOC. Some producers felt that the only way to preserve quality was to opt out of the DOC altogether. In the 1970s the Super Tuscan movement was created.
Chianti in the 1970s and 1980s
Paradoxically in the 1970s and 1980s the best wines in the Tuscan scene were found outside the Chianti regulations. In fact, the crème de la crème (for example, Tignanello by Antinori or Flaccianello by Fontodi) was labelled simply as Vino da Tavola (table wine). This embarrassing situation made it clear to the Consortium that something needed to be done.
The first change appeared in 1984, when Chianti became a DOCG. The stricter appellation regulations showed the will to focus on quality. But probably the major event that completely reshaped the viticultural image of Chianti (and Tuscany) took place in the late 1980s. I’m talking about the “Chianti Classico 2000” project.
Over a long period of time, the Consortium thought of ways to improve and modernise winemaking in the Chianti region. With this in mind they started the Chianti Classico 2000 Project in 1989. Numerous experiments were carried out to identify the best clones for each specific terroir, along with finding out the best methods of cultivation (rootstock, trellising methods, etc.). It was an ambitious project, that proved to be the turning point of different sangiovese-based wine appellations in Tuscany. The Chianti Classico 2000 project spanned for 16 years and led to the mapping of 239 clones of sangiovese. Its results were made available to everyone free of charge.
Chianti Classico in the last 25 years
Over the last 25 years, the efforts of the Consortium have concentrated upon strengthening the image of Chianti Classico. In 1996, the top-quality calibre of Chianti Classico was officially recognised. In this year, Chianti Classico became an autonomous DOCG appellation (no longer a sub-region of Chanti as before). On one hand the new appellation rules followed the quality-oriented trend already traced for Chianti. On the other hand, these rules allowed more flexibility. The grape composition requirements were changed (80 to 100% sangiovese) and 49 grape varieties were admitted (both Italian and international).
In the meantime, the Consortium defined a three-tier quality pyramid. Perhaps some French wine regions (maybe Burgundy?) inspired this classification. In 2014, the Consortium changed the DOCG regulations introducing the “Gran Selezione” denomination. This is supposed to be the top-tier of the quality pyramid, followed by Chianti Classico Riserva and regular Chianti Classico.
The “Gran Selezione” denomination was welcomed with mixed feelings by wine critics. Some praised the DOCG for becoming more structured and defined. Others lamented that the “Gran Selezione” requirements were too similar to those for “Riserva”. However the critics’ main reproach was that the 2014 amendments refused to acknowledge the different communes existing in Chianti Classico. In other words, these detractors would have preferred a system based on the Cotes du Rhone model, where you are allowed to append the commune name after the common appellation name to distinguish the unique character of the terroir.
Probably the new regulations of the Chianti Classico DOCG didn’t help wine lovers to have a real understanding of the different nuances in terroir in the vast Chianti territory. For example, the wines of Gaiole have a marked acidity because of the higher altitude. Wines from Castellina in Chianti (lower in elevation) are fuller in body and richer. Nevertheless the “Gran Selezione” style does allow producers to release single vineyard wines, where the vineyard name would give away the specific wine character. Perhaps this will make top Chianti Classico similar to Burgundian Grand Cru in that you need to know the location of the vineyard and its characteristics to infer its prestige and value. If you want to look on the bright side, that means that if you want to become a Chianti expert you need to visit a lot of vineyards. Have you already booked your tickets to Tuscany?
I hope our journey into the history of Chianti inspired you to discover this great Tuscan wine and whetted your appetite for more of this series. Stay in touch!
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