WTN /Wine Advisor: Basic Chianti, cheap and good

[Robin Garr]

Basic Chianti, cheap and good

Sure, top Italian wines have gone upscale, and a Super Tuscan or big-name Chianti can knock a hole in your wallet. But there's still a place in my heart for the low-end style.

Just about as far back as I can remember (and maybe even before I was legally able to drink wine), inexpensive Chianti - in those days most often packed in a "fiasco" bottle in a wicker basket - was a mandatory element of a good Italian-American dinner.

Nowadays the wicker baskets are hard to find (although they're still made, usually wrapped around mass-market industrial wine, for the family-restaurant trade.

But even in the more classic proportions of the Bordeaux-style wine bottle that became the standard when Chianti started moving upscale in the 1970s and '80s, there's still a pool of modest, low-end Chianti out there. It's usually designated as simple "Chianti D.O.C." without any of that fancy "Classico" or "Riserva" stuff. And as long as you're not expecting an ethereal experience, it can still be quite palatable, and just as tasty as ever with spaghetti and meatballs, lasagne, pizza and other good things.

The other day, planning a simple late-summer dinner of Caprese salad (fresh sliced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, dressed with oil and vinegar and garlic and topped with plenty of fresh basil), I dropped by my neighborhood wine shop with cheap Chianti in mind.

Something called "Via Firenze" looked like it would fill the bill: A simple Chianti from the good 2005 vintage, it was tagged at a pre-inflationary price, just $7.99. The name ("The Way of Florence") struck me as one of those imaginary wineries created to foster a sense of romance. Sure enough, the wine proved to be of anonymous origin, bottled by a firm called C. Campagna Gello in Pisa, and imported to the U.S. by North Lake Wines, a division of the giant beverages conglomerate Constellation Wines.

Industrial stuff? Maybe. Still, at 8 bucks and bearing the Chianti DOC label, it was worth a try. As it turned out, it was simple but fresh, more than just palatable, a very good buy at the single-digit price.

"Via Firenze" 2005 Chianti ($7.99)

Clear ruby, with sunset glints of reddish-orange against the light. Black cherries and light spice, typical of Chianti, a bit on the shy side. More open on the palate, bright tart-cherry fruit and snappy acidity, with more than a touch of tannic astringency carrying into the finish. Nothing fancy, but as a Chianti should be, a fine food wine at an old-fashioned, rational 12% alcohol. U.S. importer: North Lake Wines, Madera, Calif. (Sept. 6, 2008)

FOOD MATCH: Modest Chianti is stereotypical with pasta in tomato sauce, and fine with red meat. This one made an appealing match with a meatless dinner salad, caprese made tricolor with red, yellow and green heirloom tomatoes. The wine married nicely with the fresh tomatoes and creamy fresh mozzarella, and it really sang with the fresh basil.

VALUE: I won't recommend a wine just because it's cheap, but in today's economy, a good, clean and balanced $8 table wine is a thing to treasure.

WHEN TO DRINK: A balanced Chianti will keep for a few years, but I'd drink up the modest bottlings early while waiting for their fancier brethren to age.

WEB LINK:
North Lake Wines, the U.S. importer, is a division of beverages conglomerate Constellation Wines (formerly Canandaigua). Here's a brief Web introduction to North Lake and its portfolio:
http://www.northlakewines.com/home.htm

FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Locate vendors and compare prices for "Via Firenze" Chianti on Wine-Searcher.com:
http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/Via%2 ... g_site=WLP

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It's usually designated as simple "Chianti D.O.C." without any of that fancy "Classico" or "Riserva" stuff.

Robin--
I'm pretty sure even basic Chianti can only be designated DOCG, not DOC. (I think I spy the "Garantita" on the picture of the label you include.) You may well be ignoring that deliberately, since cases like this show that to "G" or not to "G" can be a distinction without a difference.

It's usually designated as simple "Chianti D.O.C." without any of that fancy "Classico" or "Riserva" stuff.

Robin--
I'm pretty sure even basic Chianti can only be designated DOCG, not DOC. (I think I spy the "Garantita" on the picture of the label you include.) You may well be ignoring that deliberately, since cases like this show that to "G" or not to "G" can be a distinction without a difference.

All Chianti is DOCG, even the basic stuff.

[Robin Garr]

I'm pretty sure even basic Chianti can only be designated DOCG, not DOC. (I think I spy the "Garantita" on the picture of the label you include.) You may well be ignoring that deliberately, since cases like this show that to "G" or not to "G" can be a distinction without a difference.

You guys are both right, of course. My mind wandered back to the '60s for a minute there. A minor point, except to wine geeks, but of course you are correct.

Yes, all Chianti is DOCG, but not all Chiantis follow the same rules.

Are we confused yet? That's probably what the Italians intended.

Under the rules, there are different kinds and types of Chianti.

The type Robin is referring to is what is informally called "Chianti Normale"---and no, it's not an official term in legal parlance, but I can assure you it applies in the real world, and it's what ITBers use to distinguish one type of Chianti from another. Even if---or precisely because---there is no term the customer can see on the label.

In short, it is perfectly legal and proper to have a Chianti DOCG that (1) allows white wine to be blended in, and (2) requires no barrel whatsoever, and (3) is allowed to be released by March following the harvest...or in other words, five months old, possibly in stainless steel tanks.

Those rules change when Classico and Riserva start appearing on the label, as age and maturation specifics, as well as appproved consitituencies of grapes come into play.

Odds are, though, if it doesn't say Riserva on the label, has only "Chianti DOCG", and sells for less than $10 (actually, probably less than $15 nowadays), it's good old "Chianti Normale"....cheap, simple, gulpable, fruit-driven Chianti.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, mindy you.

This is what Nicolas Belfrage calls "the unacceptable face of DOCG." The "Garantita" is supposed to be for highest-quality wines, not for everyday stuff.

Regarding cheap and good: The overall level of quality in Chianti is far higher than it was even 25 years ago. It isn't that hard to find decent stuff for under $10.

[Robin Garr]

This is what Nicolas Belfrage calls "the unacceptable face of DOCG." The "Garantita" is supposed to be for highest-quality wines, not for everyday stuff.

Regarding cheap and good: The overall level of quality in Chianti is far higher than it was even 25 years ago. It isn't that hard to find decent stuff for under $10.

Just the point I was trying to make, Dave ... and frankly - with inflation taken into account - most cheap Chianti (even the industrial brand featured in this column) is a cut better than cheap Chianti used to be, and yet even that was sufficient to help me fall in love with wine.

Not to argue or discuss appelations or legal controls, but to reminisce on Gragiano's, a pizza joint in Brooklyn often inhabited by myself and friends prior to my escape from America to Europe (about a zillion years ago). First of all, the waitress there was "Fat Mary" who was an absolute delight who took pity on young high school students and almost always charged us about half of the price listed on the menu for the various pasta and pizza dishes offered. Second, and bless Mary,even though she knew our ages, a bottle of Chianti always made its appearance, in a straw basket of course (the empties used to hold dripping candles). Great pizza and, at least for 15 year old kids, great Chianti. And even though once or twice the pizza had been nibbled on by the house cats before it left the kitchen, great memories.

Best of all was neither the pizza nor the Chianti though. It was our lusting after the beautiful young Italian girls who were there, not one of us having the courage to approach them, and the hope that one day somebody with a machine gun would come in to slaughter one or two of the well known mafiosi that inhabited the place. Never happened, but hope does live eternal.

But then again, as Simone Signoret wrote (the title of her autobiography) "Nostalgia isn't what it used to be".

Best
Rogov

Since we're being nostalgic, and by now we are verging on our dotage, Robin and Daniel, one of my favorite wine-nostalgic stories is years back when I was approached with a deal. Local state wholesaler had opted for a large container of Chianti Fiaschi, and decided they had ordered far too much. No-Name stuff, but neither better nor worse than any other fiaschi out there at the time.

They offered me as much as I wanted to push it out at whatever price I wanted. I said, "Sure." Bought several hundred cases, and stacked them in our various stores as a great deal.

Once again the axiom was proven that some great deals seem to be suspicious, and the Chianti Fiaschi just wasn't moving as fast as I'd hoped at the super-lowball price (I was passing along the bargain, and just hoping to make normal margin off the cost).

After scratching my head, and putting off my President's questions about my "canny" decision, I went down to the local trade mart, bought a gross of mixed red/white/green candles, the kind that melts profusely, and had my store personnel rubber tape a candle to each bottle on display. I then raised the price by a dollar, put up an additional sign advertising "Free candle with every bottle! While Supplies Last! Red checkered table-cloth not included with purchase.)

Sold out in one weekend.

Candles cost approx. 14 cents each.

Sheesh......with that kind of deal I probably would have bought a case.

Great story, Hoke!!!

Best
Rogov

I went down to the local trade mart, bought a gross of mixed red/white/green candles, the kind that melts profusely, and had my store personnel rubber tape a candle to each bottle on display.

A stroke of genius, of course, but so declasse. My family used those very same candles, but only for Mateus bottles.

I went down to the local trade mart, bought a gross of mixed red/white/green candles, the kind that melts profusely, and had my store personnel rubber tape a candle to each bottle on display.

A stroke of genius, of course, but so declasse. My family used those very same candles, but only for Mateus bottles.

You were always a maverick, Clinton.