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Well, when it comes to wine I adore this my fruit, above all these old grapes and especially in this particular form. Good food needs good wine, they are twins, even more, they are in charge to please each other, to form a unison of pleasure and happiness. For my friends, guests and customers every year in winter time I select wines to offer some treats and maybe new tasty adventures. I am talking about wines which still have been created in the vineyard, based on traditional blends and manufactured with the knowledge and techniques of centuries. Pushed and popped-up wines won´t be selected. Trust your Chef and come with me to experience some of the most beautiful wines and many other Tuscan delicacies you hardly will find in the common guides.
Some facts and history: Chianti D.O.C.G. is produced in central Tuscany starting with the Chianti Classico, Colli Fiorentini, Montalbano, Rufina, Montespertoli, Colli Aretini, Colline Pisane and Colli Senesi. The original Chianti (first mentioned in 1398) blend has been introduced by Bettino Ricasoli in 1834. This blend was composed by 4 - 5 grapes, two (three) reds as Sangiovese (75 - 90%), Canaiolo (5 - 10%) and to give more colour to the wine very often dark-red Colorino (2 - 5%) was used. The two whites are Malvasia and Trebbiano (2 - 5%)
The black rooster, the symbol of Chianti Classico, is connected with the singular mediaeval duel between the ancient Republics of Florence and Siena, constantly at war with one another. Here`s the story: It was in the year of Our Lord 1208 that the Florentines and the Sienese came to an agreement to establish the border between the territories of the eternally rival cities. One morning, as soon as the cock crew two knights were to depart on horseback from Florence and Siena respectively; the border would be marked at the point where the two met. It is told that the Florentines succeeded in acquiring a juicy slice of Chianti through the use of a ruse. For the starting signal they used a rooster which had been starved and kept in the dark, with the result that, once released, it crowed well before dawn, thus giving the Florentine horseman a head start which enabled him to arrive as far as Fonterutoli, very closed to Siena, just in front. |
