CHIANTI CLASSICO REGION AND PIENZA

A few weekends ago PJ and I took a trip to Pienza for one night. We decided to drive through the Chianti Classico area of Tuscany and stop at a few vineyards for tours and tastings.

The Chianti area is located between the provinces of Firenze and Siena. It has beautiful rolling hills with vineyards and olive groves, as well as narrow, curvy roads, some of which are not paved. Most vineyards do not start their tours until the end of March/early April, and with the cold and rain lasting longer than usual, it was hard to find many places open for tours. We do, however, have a nice list of places to visit once the weather clears up.

We left our apartment early on Saturday morning and headed out to our first stop, Borgo Casa al Vento, an organic grower, and where we were scheduled to have a small tour and tasting. It is a newer vineyard, having only been around for few years, but it still maintains a very traditional process such as harvesting by hand. The tour was short but informative and we got to try 2 of their wines [which we later bought].

Chianti Classico Aria, Chianti Classico D.O.C.G.

This wine uses 100% Sangiovese grapes. It is aged for 12 months in oak barrels and then 6 months in bottle aging.

Chianti Classico Riserva Foho, Chianti Classico D.O.C.G.-Riserva

This wine uses 90% Sangiovese grapes and 10% Merlot grapes. It is aged for 18 months in oak barrels, 6 months in bottle aging.

Both wines were delicious but the FOHO was my favorite. Our tour guide also mentioned that a large majority of their wines are exported to the US and the UK because Italians wont pay the higher price for a bottle [around 15-18 Euro]. She said that because you can get bottles of good wine for 3-5 Euro all over Italy, that many Italians wont buy the really great wine for a more expensive price…interesting.

Our next stop was at Enoteca di Fonterutoli, and was for a tasting only, as their tours of the castle had not started for the season. All of the wines at the tasting were produced from the 3 vineyards owned by Marquises Mazzei: Castello di Fonterutoli (Chianti Classico), Belguardo (Maremma Toscana) and Zisola (Sicily). I personally enjoyed the wines from the vineyard in Sicily the best, but by then I had so much Chianti Classico that I think the Sicilian wine was a nice break.

We then headed to our destination for the night, Pienza, Italy. Pienza is southeast of Sienna and is one of my favorite small town that I have ever seen. There are lots of cheese and bread shops along the cobblestone streets, and the views of the rolling hills around the town are very picturesque. We checked into our hotel, Hotel Corsignano, and headed out to have a late dinner at an Italian restaurant called Trattoria Fiorella, which I would highly recommend going to if you’re ever in the area.

On Sunday we spent the morning walking around Pienza, which didn’t take long, and headed to our last tour and tasting at Castello Vicchiomaggio. This was one of the few castles that were open for tours in March and we were glad we were able to get a spot on the tour. We were able to see acres upon acres of olives and grapes being grown, and then headed up to have a short tour of the castle. This place was interesting because you can rent out apartments of different sizes and stay there for a weekend or longer to visit. They also have oil tastings, cooking classes, and many other events if you stay with them.

After the tour we headed down to the main building where we were able to taste 3 Chianti Classico wines [San Jacopo, Gustavo Petri-Riserva, and Vigna La Prima-Riserva] and 1 dessert wine [San Jacopo Il Santo], which should be had with biscotti to dip in it because it is very sweet! We were also able to taste about 6 different olive oils that the castle produced.

After we had the main tasting there was one wine that was an additional 25 Euros for simply a tasting, but I had to try it. It was their FSM [Federico Secondo Matta IGT Toscana]. It is 100% merlot and 14.5% Vol. It retails in stores for over 205 Euro a bottle and, depending on the year, that is on the cheap end! How could I resist?! I have to say that it was the best Merlot I have ever had, and definitely worth the 25 Euros for a tasting.

And that ended our quick trip. We were very lucky that the rain held out for us, as all of Europe is experiencing colder temps and a lot of rainfall. We learned quite a bit from this trip, below are a few fun facts!

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You can always tell a wine from the Chianti Classico Region by the pinkish red label with a Black Rooster seal. This seal prevents wine fraud and validates that it is from where it is said to be from.

The Chianti Classico Region was awarded to D.O.C.G. status, which means that the wines are tasted and analyzed, and if it meets government approval then it is sealed with a number which is registered with the government. Each vineyard can only produce so many bottles each year.

In order to be named a “Classico” wine it has to have a blend of at least 80% Sangiovese grapes and no more than 20% other red grapes.

The best Sangiovese grapes are used to make the Riserva wine, such as in the FOHO wine we tasted and bought at Borgo Casa al Vento

The alcohol content must be at least 12% and be aged for at least 12 months in oak barrels.