The Wine Camp Blog

Chianti is without a doubt the most famous of Italian wines. Some of that fame is well earned by great winemakers, but more often than not the Chianti DOCG label is slapped on thin mediocre wines. The marketing of Chianti continues to be a real fiasco.

In Italian, a fiasco is the quaint straw wrapped bottle that Americans associate with restaurants sporting red-checked table cloths and Italian flags on the menu. The word came to English via the French, who used it in the eighteenth century to insult the French pronunciation of Italian actors: implying that they had been drinking too much of their Italian wine before performing. The concept of a business fiasco must surely have come when, after the war, Italian companies shipped thousands of cases of terrible (or worse) wine to the United States and damaged the reputation of Italian wine for decades. Much of this wine was shipped under the name Chianti in those quaint straw wrapped bottles and the image of Chianti has never completely recovered. The fact that a great wine like the Felsina Chianti Classico Riserva and that cheap Chianti wrapped in straw at your local pizza joint both qualify for DOCG strip labels that include the word Chianti is yet another fiasco in Italian wine marketing.

Not so many years ago only Chianti Classico came to mind when you thought of top quality Chianti, but things have changed all over the Chianti zone that stretches from just north of Firenze south. It is a large zone with many DOCG wines that include the name Chianti, in addition to the generic overall simple Chianti DOCG. Excellent wines can be found under all of these DOCG areas and some very good wines can even be found under the simple Chianti DOCG, but the consumer must do some homework to discover the growing number of good producers in the Chianti regions outside of the more famous Chianti Classico zone.

La Querce, in the rolling hills directly south of Firenze, is one of those producers. This estate is located in the Chianti Colli Fiorentini, one of the zones oldest winegrowing regions and the home of many excellent producers often overlooked in the Chianti Classico focused American market. As usual, the term overlooked equates with good value. This estate can trace its wine and olive growing history to the year 1000. Today Le Querce is led by Massimo Marchi, who has been leading the estate towards higher and higher quality since 1999 and now produces a range of excellent wines and extra virgin olive oils. Their wines include: Sorrettole, a great value in basic Chianti; La Querce, their richly flavored ‘super Tuscan’ and the Chianti Colli Fiorentini La Torretta, a wine that offers excellent complexity, depth and delicious classic sangiovese balance and character. Classic sangiovese and Chianti has an angular, firm structure that is often misunderstood by wine drinkers brought up on the easy, sweet flavors of Californian and Australian wine. However it is this balance of fruit and structure that makes sangiovese such an extraordinary food wine. Those who love the classic style of sangiovese will not be disappointed in this wine and will shake their heads in disbelief at the reasonable price.

Tasting Notes: Brilliant scarlet with ruby hints. Just translucent. The aromas are firm with full ripe dark fruits, a bitter tar note and just a hint of oak. The wine is full and ripe on the palate with a firm, but not harsh tannin grip. The finish is long with bitter cherry flavors and apparent, but well integrated tannins. A good match for a classic bistecca fiorentina, the classic giant local steaks from incomparable Chianina beef.