Renaissance of Wine: A Taste of Tuscany

By Kathy Ward

Tasting Card • Cosmopolitan Catering

The poetic essence of revival, a renaissance signifies regeneration. It's a rebirth. And what is being reborn in the wine world today is the quality coming from Tuscany.

This program shows how Tuscany has changed from a producer of inexpensive bulk wines to becoming a leading region of quality wines in Italy.

Guest speaker is Gianfranco D'Aniello who was born and raised in Naples. He is Pacific Northwest district manager for Winebow Inc., largest importer of premium Italian wines in the United States.

How deep do historical roots grow in Tuscany? Etruscan wine trade flourished hundreds of years before Christ, then declined under Roman rule. Monks in hillside abbeys reawakened viticulture in the region, as evidenced by Badia a Coltibuono (Abbey of Good Harvest) set on a two-thousand-year-old foundation.

Sangiovese is the leading grape of Tuscany, and Gianfranco explains how wines he selected are representative of the region. "I chose this lineup to show the different faces of Sangiovese, from light and fruity, to big and complex. It will be great to show how this grape can make totally different wines depending on what area of Tuscany it is grown in."

At the heart of Tuscany is Chianti. No, not your straw-bottle college days Chianti. We speak of Chianti Classico, identified by the black rooster mark distinguishing such bottles since 1924. Recent revision in Italian wine laws governing varietals in Chianti now allow more blending liberty. Formerly mandated whites have been eliminated, and grapes not native to Tuscany (such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon) can now be used. Called Super Tuscans, these new wines are outside categories regulated by law.

The Castellare Chianti Classico on our tasting card is the traditional Sangioveto, Canaiolo and Malvasia grapes. Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano is a "noble" wine made mostly from Sangiovese. Sangiovese di Toscana Cancelli is 100 percent varietal, a match for a wide variety of foods.

The Brunello di Montalcino, also all Sangiovese, comes to us following four years in oak barrels and an additional year of bottle aging. Also on the list is a Vernaccia, from an ancient white grape grown almost exclusively around San Gimignano.

For dessert, the Vin Santo "holy wine" of Tuscany is made from grapes laid on racks to dry. This concentrates the sugars, and when crushed the juice is fermented and aged in sealed barrels for up to eight years, producing amber-colored nectar.

Gianfranco, who worked in Italian restaurants when he first arrived in Seattle in 1988 and later purchased his own, says it's amazing to see how each region in Italy has its own defined taste in wine and food. "Italians, generally speaking, make wines to complement their food. These two just seem to complement each other in every aspect. For example, if you go to Southern Italy you will generally find big spicier wines to go with the spicier food they eat there, or if you go to Tuscany you will find fruitier full bodied wines to go with the game and meat they eat."

The food selections by Chef Max Popejoy were based on this premise. He is chef and owner of his Cosmopolitan Catering Company. With his best Mediterranean match-ups, you'll be toasting Salute! throughout the evening.

Read the Wine Enthusiast April 2001 feature "Chianti Reborn" for more background on Tuscan wines. They state: "History runs deep in Tuscany, and change comes slowly; however, the modern era has arrived, and the evolution should continue to accelerate. Chianti's next chapter is just beginning to be written."