Chianti Classico Diaries: Gaiole in Chianti

In our third instalment of "Chianti Classico Diaries" we visit the commune of Gaiole in Chianti. The commune can be found on the far east of Chianti Classico, and is one of the smallest in terms of population with only around 2,000 inhabitants.

First up you'll meet Roberto Stucchi, whose family owns Badia a Coltibuono. As far as heritage in Chianti Classico, you don't need to look much further. Badia a Coltibuono translates as "Abbey of the Good Harvest", and from the eleventh to eighteenth century a functional monastery existed and produced, among other products, wine. The Stucchi family bought the property in 1810, and in the 1950s they became one of the first producers in Chianti Classico to make good enough wine to bottle it themselves. 

Roberto makes it clear there has never been a better time to understand Chianti Classico the way it should be. Not only is Chianti Classico an extremely diverse wine region, but the Sangiovese grape that must be used in all Chianti Classico in particular enhances that divers ity. He goes on to say that in his view, the communes accurately categorise the perceivable differences in the wines. Another reason to be aware of the commune distinctions and perhaps move towards an official classification system, he says, is that many tourists who visit Chianti Classico want to buy a wine from where t hey stayed on their return. A move to a commune-centered understanding would help this immensely.

Next, it's off to Castello di Ama to visit owner Marco Pallanti. Like Badia a Coltibuono, Castello di Ama gets its name from a structure – castello/castle – built in medieval times. Marco explains how important it is for him to allow his area of Chianti Classico, Gaiole in Chianti, to express itself. He explains that Gaiole is one of the rockiest areas of Chianti Classico, and that this shows in the wine's elegant and refined tannins. He's perhaps not as excited as Roberto about the idea of actually coming up with an official classification system for each subzone of Chianti Classico given that some subzones have less uniformity than others, but he still sees it as a big move forward to help the consumer appreciate Chianti Classico.