This story is from an installment of The Oeno Files , our weekly insider newsletter to the world of fine wine. Sign up here. In the popular imagination, Chianti comes in a straw-wrapped bottle that’s served at an Italian restaurant where red checkered tablecloths accent the space and the red sauce flows freely.
Far from luxury, it would be safe to say. But 10 years after the creation of a top-tier Chianti designation—Chianti Classico Gran Selezione—the region is really hitting its stride. Today’s high-end Chianti Classico wines show the skill of the winemaker’s hand combined with the best selection of Sangiovese from the finest terroir of the Chianti zone.
The heart of the region, Chianti Classico, had long been considered the best growing and production area, with Riserva at the top of the quality pyramid, until the addition of the even higher Chianti Classico Gran Selezione in 2014. These wines are considered so special that under the production code of the local consorzio they must be packaged in a Bordeaux-style bottle and may not be sold in the traditional straw-covered fiasco toscano . What sets Gran Selezione wines apart is that they must be made with 90 percent Sangiovese , as opposed to 80 percent for other Chianti Classico wines and 70 percent for wine simply labeled Chianti.
Other allowable grapes include Ciliegiolo, Colorino, Mammolo, Malvasia Nera, and Pugnitello. They have to be grown and bottled on the estate and produced from a single vineyard or a s.