A case of ‘Chianti sounding’ institutionalized in the fascist era has in fact inflated the denomination, hiding the true nectar among hundreds of completely different wines, but with the same name. The justification: to attract precious currency to the homeland and bring the Lira to ninety. But what about the real Chianti? Does it still exist?
Chianti is a short mountain range (about 20 km) straddling the provinces of Siena, Florence and Arezzo, which however does not fully coincide with the area known worldwide as ‘Chiantishire’.
The product par excellence of the Chianti area contributed to creating the misunderstanding: the famous wine, which enjoys protection as a geographical indication and has become an icon of ‘good drinking’ worldwide.
It is a pity that often it is not known that what is drunk is very different from the original Chianti, the prerogative of a small area composed of four municipalities which, in 1932, saw the denomination usurped to the benefit of producers from nearby areas, suddenly included in the denomination.
But let's see how things went.
Some historical notes on Chianti
There are numerous testimonies that recall the presence of the Etruscans and Romans in the Chianti area, but it is from the Middle Ages that Chianti begins to acquire the architectural landscape that still distinguishes it today.
Following fierce wars among the local lords, the area enjoyed a period of peace in the late Middle Ages, which acted as a catalyst for the region's agricultural economy. Most of the farmhouses and rural holdings, still existing today, date back to that period. It was the consecration of the bond that since the Etruscan era connected the people of Chianti with their land. One of the expressions of this symbiosis was wine production, already called “Chianti” in documents from the 1400s.
From the first articles Medieval of 1398, however, Chianti was a white wine. Only in 1874 was the Chianti blend defined, which would later inspire, more than a century after, the 1984 regulations.
The Black Rooster
The territory of Chianti However, it acquired such prestige that, in 1716, the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo III protected its name, establishing by decree the boundaries of the production area, reduced to just under the municipalities included in the Province of Chianti (with its capital in Radda and comprising the 4 Municipalities of Castellina, Gaiole, Greve and Radda) and established in the second half of the same century following the subdivision of the Grand Duchy into Provinces by Ferdinando III.
To protect the production of Chianti, on May 14, 1924, a group of 33 producers met in Radda in Chianti to create the Consortium for the defense of this wine and its origin. The chosen symbol was the Black Rooster, an emblem that identified the ancient Military League of Chianti and which had also been reproduced by the painter Giorgio Vasari on the ceiling of the Hall of the Five Hundred, in the Florentine Palazzo Vecchio.
Mussolini and the extension of the production area
Until the era of the fascist regime Chianti was thus produced in 4 municipalities located between Siena and Florence, specifically: Castellina in Chianti, Gaiole in Chianti, Radda in Chianti and Greve in Chianti.
During the regime A specific economic-financial direction was imposed on Italy. In 1926, the attention of then Minister Giuseppe Volpi focused on the devaluation problems that afflicted the lira, depreciating its value by about 20% compared to the period before the First World War.
At that moment The exchange rate was 153 lire to one pound and the goal was to reach Quota 90, promoted by Mussolini during the Pesaro speech on August 18, 1926.
From 4 to 11 production areas
Also being considered limited the production of Chianti wine in the aforementioned territory, Mussolini, influenced by the then Ministry of National Economy, issued a decree by which the Chianti production zone was extended, particularly including production areas within the provinces of Pisa, Arezzo and some previously excluded areas still belonging to the provinces of Siena and Florence.
Besides the four zones described above, the name Chianti was given to wines obtained from grapes grown in 7 other production areas, namely:
▪ Chianti Colli Aretini,
▪ Chianti Colli Fiorentini,
▪ Chianti Colli Senesi,
▪ Chianti Colline Pisane,
▪ Chianti Montalbano,
▪ Chianti Montespertoli,
▪ Chianti Rufina.
It is appropriate to specify that in the text of the ministerial decree, prompted by the Consorzio per la difesa del Vino Chianti, the suffix ‘Classico’ was introduced for the above-mentioned area between the four original municipalities, precisely to distinguish the original from other Chiantis produced outside that territory.
The business of Chianti
The result of such a policy, however, led to an alteration of the product due to the loss of the connection between product and territory.
The ministerial decree thus caused a decline in product quality and a devaluation linked to an increase in production per hectare and consequently lower production costs for the newly introduced areas.
Despite the extension to an excessive size of the Chianti area, the farmers in the Montepulciano area refused to join this extension, maintaining an identity linked to their own area and defending their bond with the territory, refusing to be absorbed into the ‘business’ of Chianti.
Chianti nowadays
Initially Chianti Classico was not part of a specific denomination but was a sub-denomination of the broader Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) Chianti and was reserved exclusively for wines produced in the Classico subzone.
The Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin (DOCG) Chianti was authorized by DPR on July 2, 1984, and subsequent amendments. It refers to a single disciplinary regulation which includes all production subzones, including the Chianti Classico area, which however does not overlap with the original one.
Even the blends are no longer the same as those of the ‘true Chianti’, resulting in the consumer not clearly perceiving the difference between a Chianti and a Chianti Classico.
Chianti soundingAn unknown inflation
The inflation of which the denomination was a victim severely damages the producers of the areas where Chianti was produced before the extension of the area.
The story is unknown to the millions of consumers who uncork Chianti bottles every year, some now even sold off in foreign distribution chains. As well as to tourists who crowd into the ‘Chiantishire‘, without really knowing the boundaries of the small area where a particular type of wine was once produced long ago, which even today retains peculiar characteristics and which, in large numbers, are known and appreciated only by a few skilled connoisseurs.
Once upon a time the Chianti, what today is a Chianti among many Chiantis.
All the damages of Chianti sounding
The situation above described unfortunately constitutes a disruption of the initial framework that had been created ante litteram by Grand Duke Cosimo III precisely to counter any possible commercial abuse that – evidently – was being perpetrated against the 4 wines subject to the 1716 decree.
The race of Mussolini to the ‘precious currency’ has in fact legalized a phenomenon of ‘Chianti sounding’ and has deprived consumers of the pleasure of fully understanding the true story of one of the most famous wines in the world.
A commercial phenomenon which, however, has created unfair competition among producers and considerable inequalities.
To the detriment, as well as the most virtuous producers who have kept the tradition alive in the four municipalities of the ‘old’ Chianti, also of consumers who, despite their budgets, today drink a wine that is anything but Chianti for 5 or 6 euros.
