Chianti revival an up-market success story
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ISACS is the founder and CEO of EnjoyGourmet, a leading gourmet digital (www.enjoygourmet.com.cn) and print media company in China. He has authored over a dozen wine and food books including the awarded ISACS Guides and other gourmet books and is a wine consultant to governments, wine regions and organizations. He also hosts wine events for leading organizations and companies throughout China. Contact John via jcolumn@enjoygourmet.com.
Winemakers and wine lovers have elevated mankind’s greatest beverage to lofty levels of connoisseurship and status, making it the envy of other beverages. Today’s Ideal section delves into the growing sophistication of tea culture in China. In this evolution toward “premiumization,” tea — along with coffee, sake, whiskies, craft beers and other aspiring beverages — have all taken their lead from wine.
The word premiumization didn’t even exist when I started my wine life, but today its all the rage. Several market analysts sighted premiumization as the single most important trend in the beverages industry in 2016. This movement means much more than just higher prices, it also relies on the authenticity, culture and heritage of a product and has aspirational implications for consumers. In effect, what and how you drink can raise your lifestyle. One premiumization essential is a good story.
With their long histories and highly developed cultures, the worlds of tea and wine boast more resonant stories for consumers than the nebulous and contrived stories of most luxury brands. Today we live in a world where less, but better, is more.
The long and intricate cultures of tea and wine share several fascinating parallels. Both are plants that need very specific climatic conditions and environments to thrive.
The time of picking is critical to the quality of the final beverages. High altitude and the slopes of hills and mountains have a positive effect on the ripening and quality of both tea leaves and grapes.
Grapes and tea leaves need to be harvested and processed as quickly as possible to retain their natural flavors. The finest quality grapes and tea leaves are carefully picked and sorted by hand while cheaper mass produced versions may be harvested by machines. A select number of teas, like wines, go through a natural fermentation and some of the best examples of both benefit from aging.
Drinking both wine and tea is much more than just an act of quenching one’s thirst. When done properly, consumption becomes a ritualized art form. The effect of crystal glasses on wine and suitable pottery cups on tea are similar as they both highlight and even augment the natural aromas, flavors and textures of the beverages. Tea lovers may be aware of many of the parallels with wine, but one thing they may not be aware of is that one of the most enjoyable ways to enjoy the flavors of tea is with wine.
I’m not suggesting putting tea leaves in wine, rather I’m referring to wines that commonly exhibit the scents and flavors of tea.
Sangiovese
Sangiovese is Italy’s most planted red variety, making wines that often offer secondary or tertiary sensations of tea. This is an ancient grape cultivated before Roman times and many ampelographers believe the variety is a mutation between indigenous native varieties from the southern Italian region Calabria and the Tuscan Ciliegiolo grape. More recent DNA tests suggest genetic relations to several other native Italian varieties.
Sangiovese wines express themselves in many ways. In their youth, they tend to be fresh and fruity with plenty of strawberry, red cherry and other red fruit and sometime floral qualities along with plenty of acidity and herbal-spice elements. More mature examples may exhibit plum, bitter cherry, leather, tobacco and, of course, tea sensations.
Tuscany is arguably Italy’s most famous red wine-producing region, and its most famous red wines are based on Sangiovese, including Brunello di Montacino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Chianti and Chianti Classico as well as some Super Tuscans. This week let’s take a closer look at Chianti.
Chianti and Chianti Classic wines range from eminently easy-drinkers to formidable wines. The brand Chianti gained a bad rap in the mid-to-late 20th century as straw wrapped bottles of Chianti wines flooded the US market. These cute little bottles hid a nasty secret inside, namely an insipid low quality wine. The damage to the Chianti brand was severe, but starting in 1966 with the implementation of the DOC regulations — and later the more lofty DOCG designation — the quality of Chianti wines improved dramatically.
Chianti producers started selecting better quality, low-yield Sangiovese clones and upgrading the entire winemaking process. As a result, even basic Chianti DOCG wines are usually pleasant, easy-drinking fresh wines.
At the top of the Chianti quality pyramid are the Riserva and Gran Selezione wines that are among Italy’s best red wines. One reliable way to get positive Chianti results is to choose the best producers. I recommend Chianti specialists like Mazzei, Ricasoli, Strozzi, Bernardino, Castello d’Albola, Ruffino, Carpeneto and Castello di Queceto.
In addition to Chianti wines, other good expressions of the Sangiovese grape are the Sangiovese di Romagna IGT wines and a select number of New World producers like Segheshio, Shafer and Swanson in California and Coriole and Pizzini in Australia.
Varieties: Sangiovese must comprise at least 75 percent of the Chianti blend; with local grapes Canaiolo, Trebbiano and Malvasia and also international varieties Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot completing the blend.
Key term:
The round squat bottles wrapped in raffia baskets that were used for Chianti wines for much of the mid-to-late 20th century were call “fiasco,” which also means “complete failure.”
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