SUB-ZERO WINE BLOG

Almost everybody’s tried Chianti at some point, either in a neighborhood pizza joint with red-checked table cloths or, for the less fortunate, at a vegan potluck. Even Hannibal Lecter liked to wash down his morsels with a nice Chianti. In some ways, Chianti has been a victim of its own success. During the 1960 and 70s, producers eager to cash in on the demand for quaffable Chianti pumped the stuff out in volume with little regard to quality. The Sangiovese grape (which, according to a formula created by Baron Ricasoli in 1872, traditionally made up the bulk of the Chianti blend along with the darker red grapes and the white varieties Trebbiano and Malvasia) can generate lots of fruit, and growers did nothing to discourage it from overproducing. Overcropped grape vines mean low quality. Chianti was a wine for the masses, not the elite — and darn it if those cute straw-covered flasks didn’t make cute-as-heck candleholders after you finished the bottle!

Today, Chianti has returned to being a quality-oriented region. Newer winemaking techniques from a younger generation of enologists – including reducing crop yields, later harvesting, and aging in French oak barrels – have put a polish on Chianti that it hadn’t seen in decades. The wines of Chianti – especially those from the historic Chianti Classico area – have never been better, and the region has benefitted from a series of very good to superb vintages lately, including 1997 (the vintage of the decade), 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. Modern Chiantis have generous, intense black-fruit flavors, abetted by dusky earth and tar flavors. They age much better than their ancestors did: the best bottles can be laid down for easily for a decade, if not longer, developing rich bottle bouquet and a lovely brick color. The Riserva versions benefit from older vineyard sites and extra aging before release.