Chianti Classico

Chianti Classico’s international successes

2014, an excellent year for the new type of Chianti Classico, Gran Selezione: on the market since February, it was acclaimed in Italy and abroad and is reaping awards and stellar ratings

It’s been a busy year for the Black Rooster’s wineries and its territory, crowned with important recognitions like high positioning in Wine Spectator’s Top 100, the most awaited for and competitive ranking in the wine world, and the prestigious candidacy for“Wine Region of the Year 2014” from the renowned American magazine Wine Enthusiast.

In fact, the recent publication of Wine Spectator’s famous “Top 100” was generous with kudos for Tuscan wines and those of the Black Rooster: in sixth place among the world’s finest wines was the Castello di Ama Chianti Classico Gran Selezione San Lorenzo 2010, followed by the Castello di Volpaia Chianti Classico Riserva 2010 in twenty-first. Among the top twenty there was also another Chianti Classico winery, Fontodi, which got a mention with its Supertuscan Flaccianello 2011 (in fourteenth place). In all, there were 19 Italian labels in the ranking, a good 8 of them Tuscan. And even Parker praised the new kind of Chianti Classico: in the latest issue of Wine Advocate at the end of October, he gave 10 Chianti Classico Gran Selezione wines ratings above 90/100.

These successes justly reward the efforts and commitment of Chianti vintners, who in recent years have invested their greatest skills in a project of heightening the quality of the denomination. So the Gran Selezione is a full expression of Chianti Classico’s enological potential and a locomotive for the qualitative revolution in the territory.

Some figures for an overall picture: to date some 130 labels from 70 wineries have received Gran Selezione certification but the number continues to grow. This year the volume of Gran Selezione on the market is for now 5% of the total Chianti Classico, compared to the 24% of the Riserva (in any case larger than the 22% of 2013). An important indicator showing a strong thrust in the Chianti Classico district towards production of extremely high quality.

“I’m convinced”, says Sergio Zingarelli, president of the Chianti Classico Wine Consortium, “that with the Chianti Classico Gran Selezione we will be able to consolidate, in Italy and abroad, the fame and prestige of what has become a true symbol of qualitative excellence: the Black Rooster trademark, a jewel Made in Italy to safeguard a uniqueness and territorial specificity impossible to reproduce elsewhere.”