Tuscany

Tuscany, in the central part of Italy, is home to some of the best quality, and thus most famous (and most expensive) red wine in Italy.

‘Chianti’ is almost universally recognised and the name Brunello is enough to make some fine wine drinkers (those whose pockets are deep enough, that is) go weak at the knees. Perhaps less well known is Vino Nobile de Multipulciano, not to be confused with Montepulciano d’Abbruzzo, which is a completely different wine from Italy’s East coast.

What these three wines, and indeed most red wine made in Tuscany, share, is that they are made from the noble grape Sangiovese. As with France and many of the ‘old world’ wine making countries, the name of a wine rarely tells you what grape(s) it contains.

The appellation area of Chianti Classico covers a wide area and is divided into a number of communes which produce wines of differing character, largely due to variations in altitude, aspect and soil, before the effects of what the winemakers choose to do in the vinification process.

Montalcino and Montepulciano also produce reds from Sangiovese, although each from different clones, which is said to make a significant difference to taste. The wines of Montalcino, particularly the Brunello di Montalcino (as opposed to its younger sibling Rosso di Montalcino) are particularly popular in the United States and indeed attract a premium price. This premium is also the case, although less so, with Vino Nobile de Montepulciano.

In general, Chianti Classico vines are grown at higher altitude that Montalcino or Montepulciano, and so tend to be lighter in body.

There are also a number of other, smaller, appellations in Tuscany, most producing reds from Sangiovese, such as Morellino di Scansano.

In addition to wines from Sangiovese, there are the so-called Super-Tuscans – wines produced from so-called ‘international’ grapes not allowed in the appellation rules originally, such as Cabernet Sauvignon. These were originally made in the 1960s to prove that great wine could be made there, by taking the gold standard, the grapes used in the great reds of Bordeaux.  Now, some of these wines, such as Sassicaia and Ornellaia, command some of the highest prices in all of Italy and have their own appellations, such as Bolgheri, recognising the quality.

Tuscany does make white wine too and the most common grape planted is Trebbiano. But the most distinctive white is Vernaccia de San Gimignano, which has its own DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata)

Click on the links below to find out more about some of these wines, from a trip I took in 2016.

Montepulciano – Bindella (aka Tenuta Vallocaia)