About this wine
Vineyard and terroir
The grapes are grown in the historic Chianti Classico area, where production rules are stricter than those for standard Chianti DOCG. The region covers almost all the land between Siena and Florence.
Vinification
Fermentation and maceration last 12–15 days in stainless steel tanks.
Ageing
The wine is aged for about a year in botti, followed by several more months in the bottle.
Label / history
The Chianti Classico consortium was established in 1987, after counterfeiting increased during the 1980s, and uses the black rooster as its emblem. The emblem on the bottle guarantees the wine's quality and confirms that it comes from the Chianti Classico subregion.
The emblem is tied to a 13th-century story. Florence and Siena, rivals with a long-running border dispute, wagered to settle it: at dawn, when the first rooster crowed, each city would send its fastest rider toward the other, and the meeting point would become the new border. The Florentines kept their black rooster hungry, so it crowed much earlier than Siena's well-fed bird. The riders met only about 10 kilometres north of Siena.
Wines under the Chiantigiane label are made by several small wineries that have pooled their resources. The company's vineyards cover 2460 ha in total, and its cellars are in the provinces of Florence, Siena and Pistoia. Chiantigiane follows traditional winemaking methods.
