Chianti, the low-priced Italian red wine that came in basket-swathed bottles, was the darting red wine of the youth of the U.S. in the 1950s and was promptly forgotten by the 1960s.
A rather ignominious fate for something that was so popular for so many years but, tempus fugit, and wine enthusiasts moved on to wider fields. Chianti fell so far from grace that by the 1970s it was no longer widely available. An occasional bottle would show up on dealer’s shelves or in Italian restaurants, but they were few and far between. Needless to say, the Italian vintners were hard hit by this loss of sales and searched around for an answer to their dilemma. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Chianti Classico was born.
So what is the difference between the chianti of old and the present Chianti Classico besides the name? The Italian government set up a series of mandatory quality and grape variety ratings for their wines; you do not put a misleading rating on the label or suffer the wrath of the Italian government. The rating of the common chianti is very low on the scale but, to be called a Classico, it must receive the government’s highest rating: Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG), which translates as Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin.
Folonari Chianti 2012 DOCG ($10)Although not swathed in a straw basket of the past, the Folonari Chianti 2012 DOCG is as true an old-fashioned Tuscan masterpiece as you can get.
The brilliant deep garnet color heralds the fresh and pleasant aroma of violets and dried plums with a hint of wild berries in the background. The flavor is full and powerful, accenting blackberries, plums and an earthy flavor that has become synonymous with chianti.
I Bastioni (The Ramparts) DOCG Chianti Classico ($20)The I Bastioni Chianti Classico is a picture-perfect example of the modern, high-quality evolution of the style.
The color is an inviting ruby red heralding an aroma of dark cherries combined with that of summer red fruits and spices, which continue on to the flavor. The finish is very long and perfect for accompanying red sauce Italian meals or heavier red meats.
Melini Chinti Riserva 2011 DOCG ($13) Although not nestled in a straw basket, this wine is presented in a large, bulbous, easy-to-find bottle.
The wine inside that bottle offers a complex fruit aroma with an accent from plums and cherries. The flavor exhibits the same plum and cherry elements, which mingles with sweet raisins and just the slightest hint of oak. As you may well imagine, this wine will go well with Italian foods.
Melini La Selvanelia 2010 Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG ($28) This well aged wine is big, bold and a credit to the name chianti. It has spent over 30 months in oak barrels and a year after that resting in the bottle, allowing for the perfect marriage of all the elements and developing an incomparable smoothness before its release.
The aroma stresses violets, raspberries and cranberries with oak and vanilla quietly lying in the background. As with all premium chianti wines, this wine has a long, smooth, and elegant finish.
Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico 2012 DOCG ($21)This wine is a slight side step from the usual chianti blend as it is made of mostly sangiovese, the classical chianti grape, with 10 percent merlot added to round it out.
The aroma is a mixture of red summer fruits and the signature aroma of violets. The flavor stresses cherries, raspberries and that unmistakable but indefinable element that marks this wine as truly Italian - reflecting all of the facets that have made chianti so popular since Roman times.
Nixa resident Bennet Bodenstein is a wine columnist and manages ArticlesOnWine.com. He can be reached at frojhe1@att.net.
