14 Feb Chianti Lovers: a Valentine’s Day preview tasting of the wines to be released for the Chianti Docg
A preview tasting of wines dedicated to everyone.
On February 14th, not by chance, on Valentine’s day, the Ex Factory for the Tobacco Manufacturing in the Cascine neigborhood of Florence, acted as the staging place for the preview of Chianti Docg wines. This was the second edition for this preview event – and judging by the numbers, enjoyed a very successful second year.
This event, quite differently and more democratically than other preview tasting events held every year here in Tuscany which herald in the most recent vintages, sports a very winning philosophy in our opinion: it is open to both press and to the public. We at Wine Qualia would like to see this more often in the future as it is more democratic and allows wine territories to express themselves not only to the wine “elite” but also to the general public – who in the end are the ones who will be enjoying and purchasing the wines showcased at such events.
The numbers for this event are very encouraging that this is indeed a winning formula (press/public): over 3,000 “lovers of Chianti” showed up to learn and discover more about this amazing wine territory. And, there were more than 350 journalists and people involved in the wine trade present as well for Chianti Lovers.
When asked where most of these wines ended up, the winery owners remarked that majority of the Chianti Docg wines were distributed abroad (about 70% of the wines can be found between the USA, Germany and Japan). A much smaller amount of these wines are available in Italy.
The Chianti production area consists of territories which are demarcated by law, located in the provinces of Arezzo, Florence, Pisa, Pistoia, Prato and Siena. These areas were granted the first Registered Designation of Origin (DOC) by means of a decree of the President of the Republic in 1967, which then became elevated to DOCG status in 1984.
The basic grape varieties utilized in the Chianti Docg are: minimum 70% Sangiovese, additional grapes up to 30%, with a maximum of 10% for white grape varieties and 15% for Cabernet Sauvignon.
The event featured wines from the following Chianti Docg wine territories: Chianti Docg, Chianti Colli Fiorentini Docg, Chianti Colli Pisane Docg, Chainti Montespertoli Docg, Chianti Colli Aretini Docg, Chainti Colli Senesi Docg, Chianti Montalbano Docg and Chianti Rufina Docg.
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