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Tasting Wine: Me and my Chianti
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SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Ever since spending a week in Chianti Classico region 10 years ago, I’ve been a champion of this vinicultural underdog. While the Super Tuscans and Brunello di Montalcinos surged in the 1970s and 1980s, much of Chianti Classico watched and did not do anything to improve the reputation of this important historical area. Others, such as Felsina, Castello di Fonterutoli and Castello di Rampolla, heard the wake-up call loud and clear. It was time for Chianti Classico to change or it would continue to be considered inferior.
Chianti has a long and rich history that is marred by politics and economics. The area that is considered Chianti Classico was created in 1932 as a response to a dispute between the traditional Chianti zone producers and those in the surrounding areas. During the phylloxera outbreak in France of the late 1800s, the demand for Chianti increased and bordering appellations labeled their wines as Chianti without much of a problem.
However, once France’s vineyards revived, the demand slowed down and the producers in the original zone were not too happy with others calling their wines Chianti. As a compromise, the historical Chianti zone was knighted Chianti Classico, while the other areas were still allowed to use the term Chianti but not the term classico.
Historically, white grapes were used throughout all of the Chianti areas in conjunction with sangiovese and canaiolo. The wine could not be composed entirely of sangiovese or contain any nonindigenous grapes. These restrictive and archaic regulations helped give birth to the Super Tuscan, which, as “vino di tavola,” had much more flexibility.
A handful of producers did not entirely follow the rules anyway and (wink, wink, nod, nod) added a little cabernet sauvignon and other grapes to their Chianti Classico. Finally, in 1996, the rules changed, allowing for Chianti Classico to be composed entirely of sangiovese and contain up to 20 percent of nonindigenous grapes. As of the 2006 vintage, white grapes are no longer permitted.
Since the mid-1990s, there has been a vast improvement in Chianti Classico. I think some of the most interesting wines made in Tuscany wear the signature rooster neck label. Here are three.
Villa di Geggiano Chianti Classico, 2004 — The Bianchi Bandinelli family has been on this property since 1527 but only started making wine commercially a few years ago. With mushroomlike, tree-bark earthy aromas and austere cherry-tinged chocolate fruit, this is a very good, layered wine at a great price. Suggested retail: $20
Terrabianca Chianti Classico “Scassino,” 2005 — Terrabianca makes some Indicazione Geografica Tipica wines as well as a riserva called Croce, but if you’re looking for juicy, yet terroir-driven Chianti Classico, look no further. With dried flowers, tobacco, currants, plums, black cherries and moderate tannins, this is a great wine to drink with pizza but will also stand up to complex meat and pasta dishes. Suggested retail: $24
Castello della Paneretta Chianti Classico Riserva, Vigneto Torre a Destra, 2003 — This is a single-vineyard wine made entirely from sangiovese. Absolutely world-class in quality, it has slightly leathery, licorice aromas, sweet red currants, cherries, strawberries and a dusty minerality with a terrific, long finish. Suggested retail: $42
Pamela S. Busch is the wine director and proprietor of CAV Wine Bar & Kitchen in San Francisco.
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nancy orr said:
Prosecco is made in Italy not Burgundy. Thanks
3 agree | 1 disagree
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Ron Walter said:
I agree that the 4/21 response to my comment shows restaurant wine pricing isn't simple and is something I hadn't considered. While your example demonstrates a retail pricing problem, I don't see it as a good parallel to a restaurant's wine pricing - no restaurant carries 500 different types of wine with a 2000% difference in minimum and maximum price (if anyone has an $8 cheapo a 2000% difference would have a top price of $16,000 - not even a bottle of 45 Lafite). Also, I think the problem could be simpler when there is a cross the board price change for a significant amount of the merchandise - as there is when the $ devalues against the Euro - the problem described in the column. That said, I don't have an answer as to how to price wine. Still, it's grating to hear pricing explained the way Ms. Bush has explained it - there should be a fairer way. If I'm reacting this way, my guess is that it's turning off more diners than just me.
4 agree | 4 disagree
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Ron Walter said:
I agree that the 4/21 response to my comment shows restaurant wine pricing isn't simple and is something I hadn't considered. While your example demonstrates a retail pricing problem, I don't see it as a good parallel to a restaurant's wine pricing - no restaurant carries 500 different types of wine with a 2000% difference in minimum and maximum price (if anyone has an $8 cheapo a 2000% difference would have a top price of $16,000 - not even a bottle of 45 Lafite). Also, I think the problem could be simpler when there is a cross the board price change for a significant amount of the merchandise - as there is when the $ devalues against the Euro - the problem described in the column. That said, I don't have an answer as to how to price wine. Still, it's grating to hear pricing explained the way Ms. Bush has explained it - there should be a fairer way. If I'm reacting this way, my guess is that it's turning off more diners than just me.
5 agree | 3 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Regarding Ron Walters' comments on wine mark-ups: while this wholesale-times-2.5 seems illogical in your example, a broader look at retailing might help clarify. Say I sell 500 individual items in the course of a day in my shop, and they cost (wholesale, to me) between $.25 and $50 each. Now, say I know from creating my quarterly budgets that I need a 30% gross profit to cover all my costs -- purchases, labor, overhead, capital improvements. How long would I last if I marked each item up $5, regardless of cost? And I don't know what calculation would arrive at that $5 anyway. No, markup by percent is the only sensible way...and some restaurateurs do use a combination of (lower)percentage, and fixed add-on, to give increasing relative value to buyers of higher priced bottles.
6 agree | 5 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
i have tried Monte dei Ragni Ripasso and their Amarone, after 1/2 an hour it was still on the palate....just outstanding. a real gem if you can find it...
10 agree | 6 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The best Ripasso i have tasted is "Fratelli Vogadori", it's very good wine. Very strong and better than other more know Ripasso
13 agree | 8 disagree
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Ron Walter said:
Dear Ms. Bush I'm stunned by the logic in 'Tasting Wine: The business of the wine business'. Why must the correspondent (wine buyer) always multiply the wholesale cost * 2.5 to arrive at the client's cost? A simple example: the wholesale cost rises by $3 for a wine currently priced in the restaurant at $50; the new price could be $53. I'd like to understand how that has affected the restaurant's bottom line? This seems logic seems similar to a real estate agent demanding a 6% commission when selling two houses - one for $300,000 and the other $3,000,000 - you should demand much more in the latter case or ask for a lower commission. Is your restaurant doing something special for the client with their additional $7.50 markup in the previous example?
8 agree | 13 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
One would think the author, in an effort to retain her credibility, would check the spelling of the late Joe Swan's son-in-law. All through this article, his name is spelled incorrectly. It should be "Berglund." The author has, at least, included three wines in keeping with the theme of the article: wines of the Joseph Swan winery. ((Last week's article featured wines from France's Rhone Valley and, curiously, one was from the Joseph Swan winery in Sonoma!)) Why the author would review the same wine in back-to-back articles is a mystery. A professor of journalism would cite misspellings as diminishing the credibility of an article. Ms. Busch does so by, as she did last week, spelling "Vacqueyras" incorrectly. Interesting, the price of the "mystery red" is different in this week's article in comparison with last week's!
97 agree | 78 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The article regarding Tawny Ports mentions a lovely wine from the house of Ferreira, but "Duque" is spelled incorrectly. At least she got Dow spelled correctly (although the brand name on the label is "Dow's."
132 agree | 86 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Pamela Busch is marvelously enthusiastic as a wine-taster, but she's a poor writer and terribly sloppy in checking her work. This week's column regarding Rhone reds asserts that Syrah is the only grape grown in the northern Rhone Valley. Two sentences later readers are told that Northern Rhone Syrahs sometimes have white grapes in them! She claims to be "sticking" to Southern Rhones for the article and one wine comes from California's Sonoma County. Readers are advised to buy a wine from the Gramenon estate called "La Segasse," but the actual wine is "La Sagesse." Ms. Busch refers to an appellation in the Southern Rhone, misspelling the name "Vacqueyras." These little errors should not be made by a professional journalist. A course in writing would certainly be helpful in polishing her skills. Paying more attention to the details would also be a good idea.
69 agree | 79 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Dear Readers, I left a message hear yesterday. It was not deragatory and was written in proper English regarding the topic of the above article. One can only assume since my opinion was not the same as the author's that my comment has been deleted. While I truly do hope it is a computer glich, I find myself lowering my expectations after this happened. Best of luck to all of you on this website.
192 agree | 158 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Why go to Austria, Germany, and Spain for Pinot Noir? We have kick butt Pinot in our own backyard! There are so many beautifully produced wines from the Santa Lucia Highlands, Santa Rita Hills or Russian River. If anything tell this writer to find me more hidden secrets like Testarossa, Seasmoke (ok not so secret), and P&H.
155 agree | 137 disagree
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sue yu said:
vin rose is nothing, it's more of dinner wine that's light. i'm not sure if it was ever really popular. when you drink wine, you want to taste the bouquet, and certainly get a big punch out of it. drinking without the punchies is not worth it.
226 agree | 157 disagree
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