In episode 13, we talked about Chianti (this region is near and dear to my heart because I studied abroad in Florence)…. today I get into Chianti Classico. One of the biggest differences between the two is that a Chianti has to be made with at least 70% of the Sangiovese grape and
a Chianti Classico has to be made with at least 80% of the Sangiovese grape. Diego Finocchi (today’s producer) went to school to be a winemaker and at age 24 bought twelve acres from a local farmer (aka he bought land in a prime location – the historic part of Chianti) in 2006 and created his own wine label (AMAZING).
I get into the different classifications of Chianti Classico (it’s taken very serious in Italy) and the grapes used to finish the Chianti Classico blend (keep in mind some can be made from 100% of the Sangiovese grape). Today’s Chianti Classico falls under the third classification called annata classification which means it has to be aged a minimum of 12 months. The second classification is called Chianti Classico Riserva which means it has to be aged a minimum of 24 months. Lastly, the top tier classification is called Chianti Classico Gran Selezione (I mistakingly say Gran Reserva a couple of times throughout the episode… please know I meant to say Gran Selezione) in which the requirements are that it must be single vineyard grapes or the best grapes available and it must be aged a minimum of 30 months.
I open the 2020 vintage from this producer and let me tell you, it didn’t disappoint at all. I gave it a 9/10….. so you must check this one out!
Hope you enjoy the episode… and a glass of Chianti Classico.
1:35 – Difference between Chianti & Chianti Classico
3:30 – Details about today’s producer
4:10 – L’erta di Radda; name of the vineyard & label
5:10 – 2009 Diego creates his first Chianti Classico
5:40 – Chianti Classico classifications
6:10 – 5 grapes used to finish the Chianti Classico blend
7:20 – Chianti Classico Annata
7:40 – Chianti Classico Riserva
7:55 – Chianti Classico Gran Selezione*
9:20 – Chianti Classico stamp
10:30 – Open up the bottle for tasting
12:50 – Typical color for Chianti Classico’s
14:30 – Olfactory Analysis
15:15 – Where the tannins come from usually
15:55 – Taste the wine
Today’s wine: 2020 L’erta di Radda Chianti Classico $37 (Check your local wine stores to see if they sell it at a lower price, this was the best online deal I found)
https://ny.eatalyvino.com/wines/L-Erta-di-Radda-Chianti-Classico-2020-w5666689id
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You’re listening to sip and grow the podcast the show where we taste awesome delicious wines while having unfiltered conversations about our passions experiences struggles entrepreneurship and life my name is Nicole dequal and I’m a wine enthusiast just trying to pursue her passions and dreams while taking you on the journey with me one
Episode at a time my ultimate goal is to not only bring you wine knowledge and value but also inspire you to enjoy your process and journey in pursuing your passions and dreams because guess what the person you become while enduring the process is more important so sit back
Grab a glass and let’s Sip and grow Together welcome back to another episode of Sip and girl with me your host Nicole dequal um so I wanted to go off I did an episode on guanti and today is the day that we are going to talk about guanti Classico so I want to clear something up
In that guanti episode I forgot to mention I was so excited to talk to you to you guys about wine and all the details and differences between kianti and kianti Classico that I forgot to mention the most important difference between the two so to start this off I
Just want to say that the major difference between aanti and aanti classical is that the guanti wine is made of it has to be made of at least 70% the sanov is a grape and then aanti Classico has to have at least 80% of the sanoa grape which is the most common
Difference um not to say that all the other things I told you aren’t important but that’s like the main thing and I realized once I finished filming the episode that I forgot to mention that and it was in my notes um but anyways I was like ah it’s fine I will let them
Know in the kianti Classico episode so here we are we have made it you have made it um I’m excited because if you don’t know I did study abroad in Florence and Florence is within Tuscany so this is this wine is very near and dear to my heart um and I will always
Love kiantis and kianti classical because they’re just delicious and amazing and the place is amazing so if you want to visit highly recommend um but anyways this wine today we’re doing aanti Classico and I actually so I stumbled across this wine in U Bottle Barn which is the total wine of West Coast
And I like usually when I buy wines I just buy it to try it and then I research them after at home um in this case like when I got home I started like looking up the producer and looking into it and it’s a pretty cool story so the
Guy who created or the producer and owner of this Vineyard his name is Diego Fini um and he decided like he studied wine uh anology and viniculture he did all that studied that and wanted to be a wine maker so in 2006 he basically he
Was 24 and he bought land from an old farmer he bought about it was like 12 acres more or less um from this old farmer and created what is now called um l so that’s the name of his Vineyard L and he is obviously this is a kianti Classico so usually kianti classicals
Fall within the historic part of the kianti area right so this the specific area that he’s located at is R um it’s spelled r a d d a and he decided to call it Lera because era in Italian means um aity which is upward slope um and that’s the land that
He bought is basically in an upward slope so very simple he put He he named it l which is the area that he’s located in um and what was cool about this guy is he’s a 24y old bought his own land because he’s like I’m going to make some
Wine because that’s what I’m passionate about so let me buy this land and start making some wine and then in 2009 he created his first kianti Classico um this is not the 2009 one I wish it was but from then on he has been creating Kean classicos left and right and he
Does produce other wines um but of course the most famous one in that region would be Kean classicos so this one happens to be a 2020 vintage and I kind of wanted before getting into this wine I wanted to talk to you guys about the classifications of guanti
Classical so guanti classical the major differences between a guanti and a guanti classical is that the guanti usually tends to be either like it has to have a minimum of 70% of the sanes grape and then aanti Classico has to have a minimum of 80% of the sanesa
Grape so usually Within These like aanti oranti classical the blends of like grapes that they use to finish the wine basically would either they use the grape like a g saong a s um a Mero or a canolo or colorino those are the five grapes that you tend to see within aanti
Oranti Classico if it’s not 100% the Sano vesa grape now just because they have a minimum doesn’t necessarily mean that a guanti can’t have you know can be made of 100% the sandes grape or a guanti Classico can be made of 100% the Sano vesa grape so these are just little
Fun facts about what differentiates both of them and then on top of that like you have to um like the guanti doesn’t really have classifications but the guanti classical does so the classifications that fall within the kianti classical range are um like let’s say we have a little triangle here right
The bottom layer which would be like the most basic one which is actually this one is called canti Classico anata so anata in Italian means vintage so this is a guanti classical vintage basic most basic one and the only requirements for this is that it’s
Age it has to have a minimum of 12 months of aging and that’s all that has to happen for it to be required a kti classical um anata the next one is called kti Classico Reserva which that one has a minimum it has to be a minimum
Of 24 months in the aging process and then the top top top classification isan Classico Grand Reserva um so that one not only has to be a minimum of 30 months of Aging but also they tend to either select the best grapes in the vineyard or it comes from a single
Vineyard or or the grapes come from a single Vine Vineyard so like all the grapes that are made um on that specific Vineyard are put into the Granda whereas some other grape some other classifications the um the Reserva or the anata um would be made basically from whatever Sano Visa
Grapes in that Vineyard and then they might grab another 20% or whatever they’re missing the 10% or the 20% of grapes they’re missing they’ll grab from another Vineyard um so it’s just like higher end the grand Vera is like the top top quality one that you can get um
But I thought this story was cool cuz it diegito Diego Fini diegito um um was just someone who was passionate about making wines he decided to buy some land started making his own wines and then boom created it uh his own kianti classical in 2009 and then has been
Thriving ever since another thing that you could U that differentiates a kianti and aanti classical is there’s like a certain stamp that will be put on the guanti classical which is like a rooster um and it it’ll either be put up here or in in
This case in the back so this one has it in the back right here um and it just basically it’s a black rooster and then it has like a red trim that says gany classical so that’s like the certification that this does come from the area that it’s supposed to come from
Um and then of course we have this is also a dcg wine so that means that it falls under all the requirements for the top classification in all of Italy for Italian wines um which if you haven’t checked out that episode there’s an episode where I explain what these
Classifications are all about and if you want to go ahead and see that go back to that episode um and I go into detail about that and I also do have a PDF in my link in my bio uh explaining all things Italian wines if you want to go
Ahead and check that out so let’s go ahead and open this one up um and taste it so I tend to love kianti classical um well guanti in general but guanti classicals are one of my favorite which I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this to you guys before but my one of my
All-time favorite kianti classicos are from a producer called fontodi um I actually tried that wine in my restaurant management class yeah I had like a restaurant management class in Florence Italy and um the like the our teacher of that class he was super nice and would always
Like talk to us about wines and he actually got me into one of my favorite wines is daasi um and before I left Florence I actually bought from our restaurant I bought the one of the th thasi wines we were um we had in stock and the font
Kianti Classico which is one of my favorite like kianti classical to drink um they do have different ranges like they do have the Reserva and the grand se but I had the most basic one um and they were both delicious so these kianti classical can range from anywhere from
Like $25 to like 809 $100 um they are on the pricier side I think this one was I’ll put it in the description in the notes but I believe this one cost me like $25 if I’m not mistaken it might be a little bit cheaper or a little bit more
Um but I’ll go ahead and and uh put it in the notes for this episode um and I’ll link the wine just in case you guys want to like read about it or maybe buy it um wow this cork is a little bit a little bit dry let’s see how this wine looks
Today so usually um the most basic guanti Classico tends to be really like ruby red and then if you get a Reserva it could either be really ruby red or like going more towards the garnet since it’s a it’s aged a little bit more um usually
If you have an older red wine it’ll be more towards like the garnet color of things so usually a Reserva or a grand Reserva will be leaning more towards the garnet colors and especially like the grand reservas you can look at it and you’ll be like oh snap this is like 100%
Garnet color oh nice I got a little bit of whatever this stuff is from the floor in my wine it’s totally fine we’re still going to try it um I’m going to take it out because yeah we don’t want to drink that anyways let’s go ahead and look at the
Color real quick so this is the most basic one so it should look ruby red which it does it’s a very nice bright ruby red um and let’s go ahead and smell it usually kianti classicos have a nice balance of like tanins and acidity um
They tend to be more on the tanic side of things but it’s overall very like a very balanced wine which is probably why I really like it cuz it’s not super intense on the tannins but it’s not super acidic either um it’s just the right amount on both
Ends so let’s go ahead and smell it oo I’m already getting hints of like licorice um pepper cinnamon vanilla and I even get that like fresh leather smell like when you just walk into a leather jacket store and you just get that smell of leather I’m getting that in
Here um which all these components probably come out from it sitting in Oak barrels those T like those tannins tend to come out either from the grape skins or um the Oak in the barrel when they’re sitting in the barrel for however month many months they were aged in this case
This one was probably aged 12 months because that’s the minimum requirement of Aging for a guanti glass seal um let’s see if it says it back here no it doesn’t but I’m pretty sure this one was aged 12 months um anyways let’s go ahead and taste this m so automatically it’s confirming all
Those like leathery peppery smells I was getting but also it’s low on the tannins just because it’s not like super harsh on the throat it does go down nicely compared to other Kean classical I had um and also I’m getting hints of very dark berries like I’m getting like Cherry I’m
Getting Blackberry in there even it’s a really really nice guanti classical and I I would say if you’re into intense dark wines like dark berries and you like that tanic feel of almost like cuz this is not too heavy on the tanic but on the tannins but it is it is intense
Um so if you don’t like a like a dry like a super dry intense red wine you probably won’t like this like if you’re a Pino Noir lover you’re probably not going to like this um I tend to like a lot of different wines so I can
Appreciate each and every one of them um but I like one of my favorite types of wines tends to be uh either a guanti or guanti Classico um it’s not my favorite favorite but it’s one of my favorites um and yeah I just I would rate
This a solid N9 out of 10 I think it’s a really good kianti classical the price point isn’t too bad I think I like I’m pretty sure I paid $25 for this which to be fair that’s pretty it’s a pretty good price range for a kianti Classico um and
I don’t know I just I’m I may be biased because I lived there and I drank a lot of kianti classicos but I think this is an amazing wine anyways I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode if you have any questions or comments just you know send me a message
DM me um leave me a review those would be super helpful for the podcast and I really hope that you guys drink your wine tonight and I can’t wait to bring you guys another episode cheers