The Chianti Wine Consortium is a self-governing association of winegrowers operating in Tuscany, Italy. It was founded in Florence in 1927 with the aim of ensure the quality and authenticity of Chianti wines, which have a long-standing tradition and recognition both in Italy and abroad.[2] The Consorzio protects and promotes the interests of Chianti wine producers from the provinces of Florence, Siena, Arezzo, Pisa, Prato, and Pistoia.
In the early 20th century, the Chianti region faced a challenge meeting the increasing demand for its renowned red wine. To address this, winemakers from neighboring areas began producing a similar wine using the same methods and grape blends but outside the Chianti origin zone. Initially called "in the style of Chianti," this wine was eventually sold as Chianti. However, this raised concerns about protecting the original Chianti wine from counterfeiting, adulteration, and imitation.
To preserve the unique identity of Chianti, producers from the region established different associations to safeguard the quality and branding of Chianti wine by defending its heritage, traditional practices, and unauthorized use of the name. One was the Consorzio Vino Chianti, in 1927.
The areas of Chianti in Tuscany
On February 22, 1927, the consortium was initiated by 30 pioneering Florentine winegrowers.[3] In 1932, through a ministerial decree on July 31, the production territory of the typical "Chianti" wine was delimited by law for the first time. Seven production zones were identified, and the oldest original zone was recognized as having distinctive characteristics to be called "Chianti Classico." This and the other recognized zones (Montalbano, Rufina, Colli Fiorentini, Colli Senesi, Chianti Colli Aretini, and Chianti Colline Pisane) were located in five provinces: Florence, Siena, Arezzo, Pisa, Prato, and Pistoia. The decree also legally recognized the establishment of the Consortium for the defense of the typical "Chianti" wine, allowing these zones to use the term "Chianti."
In 1932, with the Ministerial Decree of July 31, the territory for the production of the typical "Chianti" wine was delimited by law for the first time, and seven production zones were identified. The oldest origin zone was recognized for its distinctive characteristics, allowing it to be called "Classico." and it was joined by the other recognized zones - Montalbano, Rùfina, Colli Fiorentini, Colli Senesi, Chianti Colli Aretini, and Chianti Colline Pisane - covering areas located within five provinces: Florence, Siena, Arezzo, Pisa, and Pistoia. The Decree also acknowledged the usefulness of establishing a Consortium for the defense of the typical wine "Chianti," which allows these zones to use the term "Chianti."[4]
In 1967, typical "Chianti" wine obtained Denominazione di origine controllata status (Controlled Designation of Origin, or DOC) with approved regulations to guarantee quality. In the 1970s and 1980s, Chianti gained considerable domestic and international popularity. In July 1984, it received Controlled and Guaranteed Designation of Origin (DOCG) status, the highest level of Italian wine classification.
Current Denominations
The current denominations, including additional mentions and "subzones," provided by the production regulations "Chianti," overseen by the ministerial body Consorzio Vino Chianti, are as follows:
Chianti DOCG
Chianti Riserva DOCG
Chianti Superiore DOCG
Colli dell'Etruria Centrale DOC
Vin Santo del Chianti DOC
Vin Santo del Chianti Riserva DOC
Vin Santo del Chianti Occhio di Pernice DOC
Vin Santo del Chianti Occhio di Pernice Riserva DOC
Activities
The area protected by the Chianti Wine Consortium brings together over 3,000 companies, with a declared productive vineyard area of 15,500 hectares, which produce every year over one million quintals of grapes intended for the distribution of Chianti D.O.P. Wine in about 100 million bottles.
The Consortium's activity is carried out at various levels.
The Chianti informant, year 1, no. 1, 1967
Publications
The Consorzio have been publishing the monthly magazineL'informatore del Chianti. Mensile di informazione del Consorzio del vino Chianti (The Chianti Informant) since February 1967.
Recognition "erga omnes"
In September 2012, with a Decree of the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies,[5] the Consortium obtains the Recognition "erga omnes"[6] with the conferral of the task of carrying out functions of protection, promotion, supervision, consumer information and general care of the interests relating to the Chianti D.O.C.G. The mandate, subsequently renewed every three years, also includes the protection of the Designation of origins of Vin Santo del Chianti, Colli dell'Etruria Centrale and Bianco dell'Empolese. The latest renewal of the mandate was confirmed in 2022.[7]
Assistance
Assistance to members in the various phases of their wine-growing activity, including the administrative procedures required by law and by the Regulations of the Chianti D.O.C.G. and other D.O.C.s for which it has the mandate.
Representation
The Consorzio dehandles communication with institutions, the media, and the public regarding the characteristics of the protected wines.
Historical reconstruction at the Chianti Exhibition in Montespertoli (2007 edition)
For this purpose in March 2016, together with 21 other Tuscan protection consortia, it founded A.VI.TO (Association of Tuscan D.O.P and I.G.P. Wines), the first unitary association representing quality Tuscan viticulture[8] which aims to network with institutions, local authorities, trade associations and professional organizations, to enhance and protect the collective interests of the Tuscan wine industry. In July 2018, together with 11 other consortia, it also contributed to the foundation of PROMOVITO,[9] an association that deals with dissemination, information and promotional activities in Italy and abroad by participating in trade fairs and taking advantage of the European funds established by EU Regulation 1305/2013[10] and by the Rural Development Program(PSR) 2014/2020 of the Tuscany Region.[11]
Market surveillance
The Consortium's Inspection Service operates in the marketing phase of Chianti D.O.C.G. wine, both independently and in collaboration with public and private control bodies, in order to safeguard the quality of the wine and protect the consumer. The service is carried out both in Italy and abroad according to specific control plans approved by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry. The service is implemented through the collection and analysis of wine packages, bearing the name CHIANTI on the label, sold by small and/or large retailers (direct sales and HoReCa channel); any discrepancies with respect to the physical and chemical requirements provided for in the Regulations are reported to the competent authorities. Furthermore, the Consortium is very active in Web monitoring in order to combat improper, unauthorized and fraudulent uses of the D.O.C.G.s and D.O.C.s under its protection.
Promotion
It is dedicated to spreading the name Chianti D.O.P. wine in its various specifics, both in established markets[1] and in emerging countries. It organizes trade fair or professional events aimed at commerce, the press, as well as Chianti Lovers. With the "Erga omnes" Recognition, the burdens of these multiple activities are extended to all players in the supply chain, regardless of whether they are members or not.
Name management
The Consortium is the entity that schedules the timing of growth, production or its slowdown and anything else necessary for the proper management of the name, according to the needs of production and market balance. It has also been granted the role of subject suitable for the distribution of State seals,[12] i.e. the seals of guarantee that certify compliance with all the conditions and requirements set out in the wine's production regulations.
Processed products
Law no. 238 of December 12, 2016, specifically Article 44, paragraph nine[13] allows companies that request it to cite PDO and PGI wines in the labeling, presentation or advertising of foods that in their production processes have used PDO or PGI wines.
The Consorzio, by virtue of its "Erga omnes" Recognition, oversees and issues, where the conditions set out in a specific internal regulation are met, the inclusion in the label of the name for which it has the mandate. The most common foods that contain Chianti DOP wine among the ingredients are: salami, cheeses and ragù.
↑ Olinto Guerri Fontanelli, Giuseppe d'Ancona, Lorenzo Guicciardini, Stefano Rosselli del Turco, Luigi Viviani della Robbia, professor Teodoro Stori, Doctor. Emanuele dei Principi Corsini, Guido dei Principi Corsini, Guido Forini Lippi, Guido Chigi Saracini degli Useppi, Domenico Aloisi, Domenico Borella, Giovanni Cateni, Clemente Busi, Ottavio Soderi, Federigo de Filippii Cantini, Giovanni Chiostri, Lamberto Sarteschi, Rodolfo Alamanni, Lodovico Antinori, Lorenzo Corsini, Giuliano Gondi, Guido Ciappi, Rambaldo Fineschi, Giorgio Enrico Levi, Michelangiolo Fonseca, Francesco Giannozzi, Carlo Torrigiani, Antonino Lottaringhi della Stufa, Paolo Aman Niccolini
Peronetto, Lamberto (1967). Il magnifico Chianti: note per una storia del vino Chianti[The Magnificent Chianti: Notes for a History of Chianti Wine] (in Italian). Verona: Enostampa.
Saltini, Antonio (2009). Vino, conti e contadini. Cinquant'anni di scontri per le denominazioni del Chianti[Wine, counts, and peasants. Fifty years of clashes for the denominations of Chianti] (in Italian). Firenze: Nuova Terra Antica. ISBN978-88-964590-5-8.
Chianti is an Italian red wine produced in the Chianti region of central Tuscany, principally from the Sangiovese grape. It was historically associated with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a fiasco. However, the fiasco is now only used by a few makers of the wine; most Chianti is bottled in more standard-shaped wine bottles. In the latter nineteenth century, Baron Bettino Ricasoli helped establish Sangiovese as the blend's dominant grape variety, creating the blueprint for today's Chianti wines.
The following four classifications of wine constitute the Italian system of labelling and legally protecting Italian wine:
Sangiovese is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin sanguis Jovis, "the blood of Jupiter".
Prosecco is an Italian DOC or DOCG white wine produced in a large area spanning nine provinces in the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions, and named after the village of Prosecco, which is in the province of Trieste, Italy. It is made from the Prosecco grape but denomination rules allow up to 15% of the wine to be other permitted varieties. Prosecco is almost always made in sparkling or semi-sparkling style, but a still wine is also permitted. Within the larger designation are two small DOCG areas, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco in the hills between the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, and Asolo Prosecco around the nearby town of Asolo. Prosecco Superiore is always spumante and comes only from these DOCG areas.
Brunello di Montalcino is a red DOCG Italian wine produced in the vineyards surrounding the town of Montalcino, in the province of Siena, located about 80 km south of Florence, in the Tuscan wine region. Brunello, a diminutive of bruno, is the name that was given locally to what was believed to be an individual grape variety grown in Montalcino. In 1879 the province of Siena's Amphelographic Commission determined, after a few years of controlled experiments, that Sangiovese and Brunello were the same grape variety, and that the former should be its designated name. In Montalcino the name Brunello evolved into the designation of the wine produced with 100% Sangiovese.
Italian wine is produced in every region of Italy. Italy is the world's largest wine producer, as well as the country with the widest variety of indigenous grapevine in the world, with an area of 702,000 hectares under vineyard cultivation, and contributing a 2013–2017 annual average of 48.3 million hl of wine. In 2018 Italy accounted for 19 per cent of global production, ahead of France and Spain. Italian wine is both exported around the world and popular domestically among Italians, who consume an average of 42 litres per capita, ranking fifth in world wine consumption.
Soave is a dry white Italian wine from the Veneto region, in northeast Italy, principally around the city of Verona. Within the Soave region are both a denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) zone and, since 2001, a denominazione di origine controllata e garantita (DOCG) designation known as Soave Superiore, with both zones being further sub-divided into a general and Classico designation for the wines produced in the heartland of the Soave region, around the sloping vineyards of Verona.
Morellino di Scansano DOCG is an Italian red wine made in the hilly environs of the village of Scansano, GR, in the Maremma region of coastal Tuscany, which has an ancient but obscure tradition of winemaking. Morellino is the local name for the Sangiovese grape variety. The wine, which was granted DOC status in 1978, then upgraded to DOCG status beginning with the 2007 vintage, is made from at least 85% Sangiovese, which is also the basis of the Tuscan wines Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. The remaining 15% can comprise any non-aromatic black grape varieties included in a list made and periodically updated by Tuscan wine authorities.
Vin Santo is a style of Italian dessert wine. Traditional in Tuscany, these wines are often made from white grape varieties such as Trebbiano and Malvasia, though Sangiovese may be used to produce a rosé style known as "Occhio di Pernice" or eye of the partridge. The wines may also be described as straw wines since they are often produced by drying the freshly harvested grapes on straw mats in a warm and well ventilated area of the house. Though technically a dessert wine, a Vin Santo can vary in sweetness levels from bone dry to extremely sweet. While the style is believed to have originated in Tuscany, examples of Vin Santo can be found throughout Italy and it is an authorised style of wine for several denominazione di origine controllata (DOCs) and indicazione geografica tipica (IGTs).
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is a red wine with a denominazione di origine controllata e garantita status produced in the vineyards surrounding the town of Montepulciano, Italy. The wine is made primarily from the Sangiovese grape varietal, blended with Canaiolo Nero (10%–20%) and small amounts of other local varieties such as Mammolo. The wine is aged for 2 years ; three years if it is a riserva. The wine should not be confused with Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, a red wine made from the Montepulciano grape in the Abruzzo region of east-central Italy.
Marchesi Antinori Srl is an Italian wine company, based in Florence, Tuscany, that can trace its history back to 1385. They are one of the biggest wine companies in Italy, and their innovations played a large part in the "Super-Tuscan" revolution of the 1970s.
Montepulciano is a red Italian wine grape variety that is most noted for being the primary grape behind the DOCG wines Colline Teramane Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and Offida Rosso; and the DOC wines Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Rosso Conero, and Rosso Piceno Superiore.
Tuscan wine is Italian wine from the Tuscany region. Located in central Italy along the Tyrrhenian coast, Tuscany is home to some of the world's most notable wine regions. Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are primarily made with Sangiovese grape whereas the Vernaccia grape is the basis of the white Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Tuscany is also known for the dessert wine Vin Santo, made from a variety of the region's grapes. Tuscany has forty-one Denominazioni di origine controllata (DOC) and eleven Denominazioni di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG). In the 1970s a new class of wines known in the trade as "Super Tuscans" emerged. These wines were made outside DOC/DOCG regulations but were considered of high quality and commanded high prices. Many of these wines became cult wines. In the reformation of the Italian classification system many of the original Super Tuscans now qualify as DOC or DOCG wines but some producers still prefer the declassified rankings or to use the Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) classification of Toscana. Tuscany has six sub-categories of IGT wines today.
The Colli Orientali del Friuli is a Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) located in the Italian wine region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. The region is located in the province of Udine and is sub-divided into three main sections; Ramandolo in the north, Cialla and Corno di Rosazzo. The climate and soil is very similar to the neighboring DOC of Collio Goriziano and the two region share many winemaking similarities as well. The main distinction between the Colli Orientali del Friuli and Collio Goriziano lie in the increased red and dessert wine production of the Colli Orientali del Friuli. The region also includes within its boundaries the three Denominazione di origine controllata e garantita (DOCG) of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Ramandolo and the two passito wine DOCGs of Colli Orientali del Friuli Picolit and Colli Orientali del Friuli Picolit-Cialla.
Carmignano is an Italian wine region located in the Tuscany region and centered on the city of Carmignano, about 10 miles northwest of Florence. Noted for the quality of its wines since the Middle Ages, Carmignano was identified by Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany as one of the superior wine producing areas of Tuscany and granted special legal protections in 1716. In the 1800s, the producers of the Carmignano region developed a tradition of blending Sangiovese with Cabernet Sauvignon, long before the practice became popularized by the "Super Tuscan" of the late 20th century. In 1975, the region was awarded Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) status and subsequently promoted to Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) status in 1990. Today Carmignano has approximately 270 acres (110 ha) planted, producing nearly 71,500 gallons of DOCG designated wine a year.
The history of Chianti dates back to at least the 13th century with the earliest incarnations of Chianti as a white wine. Today this Tuscan wine is one of Italy's most well known and recognizable wines. In the Middle Ages, the villages of Gaiole, Castellina and Radda located near Florence formed as a Lega del Chianti creating an area that would become the spiritual and historical "heart" of the Chianti region and today is located within the Chianti Classico Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG). As the wines of Chianti grew in popularity other villages in Tuscany wanted their lands to be called Chianti. The boundaries of the region have seen many expansions and sub-divisions over the centuries. The variable terroir of these different macroclimates contributed to diverging range of quality on the market and by the late 20th century consumer perception of Chianti was often associated with basic mass-market Chianti sold in a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called fiasco.
Abrusco is a red Italian wine grape variety grown primarily in the Tuscany region where it is a minor blending component permitted in the wines of Chianti. The grape has long history in the region and was mentioned in 1600, under its synonyms Abrostino and Colore, in the posthumously published work by Italian agronomist Giovan Vettorio Soderini Trattato della coltivazione delle viti, e del frutto che se ne può cavare. There Soderini notes that the grape was often used to add deeper, more red color to Tuscan wines.
Bolgheri is a central Italian village and hamlet (frazione) of Castagneto Carducci, a municipality (comune) in the province of Livorno, Tuscany. in 2011 it had a population of 131.
Castiglion del Bosco is a wine estate which produces Brunello di Montalcino and was one of the founders of Brunello di Montalcino Consortium. It is located in the comune of Montalcino in the province of Siena, Italy, within the Val d’Orcia nature reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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