Which Tuscan Wine to Buy? | Your Guide to Chianti, Brunello Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

Hello bonjour and welcome to your new Altiwine Exchange video. Welcome to this channel where we explore, we learn and often taste the wonderful world of wine. If you're not familiar with the Altiwine Exchange, a wine investment and trading platform as well as a wine club, check out the link in the video description to learn more about it. Continuing, here we are our tour of all the wine wonders Italy has to offer specifically and continuing our tour of all the classic regions in the world that we've been doing. Today we're talking about a classic and historic, often delicious red wine style or styles I should say produced in the historical heart of Italy, the homeland of Leonardo da Vinci or Dante Alighieri, Tuscany this is of course. We've covered the Super Tuscans in our last episode and I covered the few Tuscan wines that they make there in a previous video about all the Italian whites. So today we'll focus on the historic Tuscan styles, the best ones at that, namely Chianti, of course the very noble Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and the iconic Brunello di Montalcino. And of course let's address the elephant in the room first, Chianti. It is the most famous Tuscan name, obviously it is the largest wine producing area in Tuscany, the most exported, the most debated, the most controversial perhaps in some instances, and the most varied local style. Yes, very varied. So what are the different Chiantis that you can buy? First, let's make sure you know what they all have in common. There are different Chiantis but there is a same base, which is that they are of course all made in the area that is called Chianti. Yes, Chianti is an area before it is a wine. This is an inland area of Tuscany that is famously hilly, beautifully hilly as well. The beautiful hills of Tuscany that we all have in mind, an area just in between the two historic and rival Tuscan cities of Siena and Florence. It is so much in between these two ever-competing cities that they fought each other over Chianti for a long time through history, hence Chianti being covered, populated in not only vineyards but also myriads of castles and fortified villages and towns. All Chianti wines are based on the local typical Tuscan grape that is unique to Tuscany, pretty much, called Sangiovese, which gives it its signature style. Of course, Sangiovese is the signature of Chianti. Soils for the specialists in the audience. I know there are some of you out there. It's either clay and marl chest, a bit of chest in Chianti indeed, or clay and sandstone, two main types of soils, but I'll go very quickly over the soil types just to say that there's no limestone or gravels here. It's not Bordeaux, it's not Champagne, very specific to Chianti and particularly suited to Sangiovese. Now, a significant altitude is a key feature here, between 150 to 600 meters above sea level, 500 to 2,000 feet, which being inland, makes for some very cold nights and harsh winters. Those are our commonalities. Sangiovese, some altitude, the terroir. But within this frame, Chianti wines are quite varied in fact. So the main appellation here is simply called Chianti Diocese, the broadest appellation. It requires 70% of Sangiovese minimum, a maximum of 10% of white grapes in the blends, and you often have blended with this base of Sangiovese all the local grapes, part of the Chianti blend, like Canaiolo Nero and Colorino, and they often blend French grapes like Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah. The French grapes essentially enrich the body, the texture of the wines, which is sometimes welcome for Sangiovese that can be a little light and harsh, and that's when yields aren't controlled well enough in the vineyards, and it happens. Then you have smaller sub areas, each with some slight small differences and distinctive features. So Chianti Colli Arettini, Chianti Colli Fiorentini, Chianti Colli Nepisane, Chianti Colli Senesi are not widely exported and they are named respectively after the hills surrounding Arezzo, Florence, Pisa and Siena. There's also Chianti Montespertoli and Chianti Montalbano, which are made around Florence. All of these are essentially small local designations, small curiosities, if you could call them that way, that I think mainly the locals care about and understand well, little rivalries between different locales if you can put it that way. I'll pass on the details. Chianti Ruffina is a name that you can see and find on labels at your local shop. It's distributed all around the world as it is a bigger sub area than the ones that I've just mentioned. It's made east of Florence and that's one of the finest and longest lasting type of Chianti. It can be a little tart and a little harsh when it's young, which is misleading, but they do age really well. Ruffina, good to have in mind. Then of course is Chianti Classico. You've been waiting for it. These are wines made from a smaller area right in the center, in the heart of the larger Chianti region. That's where the terroir is the most consistent, arguably the best or at least the most typical of the genuine Chianti style. They have to have a minimum of 80% Sangiovese as well, as opposed to 70% for the non-classical Chianti. So it's more typical, more Sangiovese driven as well. And of course producers generally work on those Classici, that's the plural for Classico, Classici wines a little harder as well, so you get better wines. The best Chianti Classicos are made as Riselva, with lower yields, better grapes, generally from the best terroirs and longer maturation at the winery. Those are essentially going to be the best Chianti you can buy, the Chianti Classico, Riselva, the most expensive as well. Because yes, the variety of Chianti is very much reflected in the prices of the wines, from very cheap ordinary everyday wines starting at 5 euros or say 10-12 dollars, to the finest single vineyards and special selections reaching 100, 200, 250 dollars a bottle. This is all Chianti, this is all very varied. You'll have variations in styles also coming from the oak treatment used at the winery, from aging in Bauk in stainless steel for the affordable wines of course, with no or very little oak, through the traditional oak aging practice of maturing Chianti in large oak vats, called Botti locally, often made from Slovenian oak, to a more Bordeaux or international style with aging in small wine barrels of French oak, for the more modern approach, more oaky, bigger type of Chianti, they do exist. Perhaps they're less representative of the traditional classic style of Chianti, but they exist. It's one name, Chianti, but many different types of wines indeed. It's not necessarily obvious to understand all of this and know it all unless you look into each and every producer, perhaps even every wine. As often in Italy it is, it can appear a little bit confusing but fascinating to explore for the curious wine connoisseur, which I'm sure you are. You'll never get bored with Chianti, for sure. And that was a lot of information I know. I'll go over the next two styles a little quicker, I promise. Chianti is complex and it deserved a few minutes of explanation. So we're moving to an area of Tuscany around the village known as Montepulciano. Not to be confused with the grape called Montepulciano as well, which has nothing to do with the village. The Montepulciano grape is grown more in the Abruzzo region, another part nothing to do, I know it can be a little confusing, but we're talking about the Montepulciano village. The grape here is still Sangiovese, always Sangiovese in Tuscany, unless we're talking about Super Tuscans. If you've seen that video about Super Tuscans, you would remember that. Here we are to the south of Tuscany, almost in a corner to the east, very much inland, a vino nobile di Montepulciano. This name is a staple and historic name when we talk about wine in Tuscany, one you should absolutely know about. It's often slightly bigger and more concentrated in style than Chianti, having a warmer climate, about the same altitudes as Chianti, but it's warmer. Although it hasn't reached the level of fame and concentration and perhaps of overall quality and consistency as the neighboring Brunello di Montalcino that we'll talk about in a minute. Here in Montepulciano, 70% minimum of Sangiovese, like in Chianti, but not the 80% like the Chianti Classico, so they can blend quite a bit of other grapes for the better or the worse. The local strain of Sangiovese, a type of clone if you wish, is called Prugnolo Gentile. They must age the wine for a minimum of 12 months in wine barrels here. So here is traditional to mature the wines in barrels rather than oak vats, but the wines aren't generally very oaky because they don't use new oak that much. So, Vino Nobile is somewhat of an intermediary style between the leaner crisper Chianti style and the bigger more full-bodied Brunello. It's generally less expensive than Brunello as well because Brunello we'll see is praised and demanded so Vino Nobile is worth exploring. Two unmissable very reputable producers here are called Avignonesi and Poliziano. In Montepulciano's wineries also make a simpler version of their local style, somewhat a second wine or second label if you wish, under the name, the appellation Rosso di Montepulciano. For a taste of it, you get a taste of the Vino Nobile or at least the Trois of Montepulciano, without paying the full price. Give it a try and let me know! Oh, and the real jewels in Montepulciano are actually the sweet aged white wines that they make here, that are called Vincanto. Those can be extremely good from Montepulciano. You must have them in mind. Those you should definitely know about. Yes, Brunello di Montalcino is the superstar appellation of traditional Tuscan wines, the ones that have caught the attention of Robert Parker and most international wine critics for a long time. The climate in the vineyards around the village of Montalcino, yes it's a village located directly south of Siena, it's warmer here than what we've talked about so far, giving birth to bigger wines, more body, huge concentration, often a lot more alcohol as well, while the Chianti doesn't go over 13 maybe 14% for some reservas, here we easily reach 14-15% alcohol. The village's local Sangiovese, again this type of clone or strain of Sangiovese, is called Sangiovese Grosso. Brunello must be with 100% Sangiovese, no Cabernet or Merlot here, no French artifacts, it's all local, pure Sangiovese, typical expression in Brunello. Wines must spend a minimum of two years in oak and another two years in bottles before being released and sold. So four years maturation in total before being sold, five years if it's a reserva. So now you can just start buying vintage 2016 I think, which is a legal obligation for the length of maturation that you rarely see anywhere in the world of wine. Wineries don't put this type of obligations on themselves, generally speaking, but that demonstrates how the local producers aim for the very best quality, even if it's costly for them. And cost there is to acquire those wines because they're big, they please a lot of people on the international wine scene, therefore they're quite very demanded actually, they become very scarce, therefore they're pricey. They're age-worthy wines as well, able to age well for decades sometimes. You don't actually really want to drink them before they reach 10 years of age if you want to enjoy the full potential, all of their complexity. Many producers in Brunello have a cult following and command the highest prices. Too many names here to mention them all, so many excellent producers, but let's quote a few illustrious names such as Argiano, Dei Barbi, Biondi Santi, Carpazzo, Castello Banfi, Solderas Casebasse, Col d'Orcia, Lisini, Pacienti, Pieve Santa Restituta, Poggio Antico, Poggione, Sesti, Ostella al Campalto. For a taste of at least expense, they also make, like in Vino Nobile, a lower second-label type of wine. Here it's called Rosso di Montalcino. Simpli, simplemente. That was your essential guide to all of the classic Tuscan wines. I hope you've enjoyed it. As a conclusion, wines in Tuscany have so much depth, so much history, so much variety as well. If the Super Tuscans are possibly some of the most recognized and interesting wines in Tuscany, these historical classic styles are where you really taste the essence of Tuscany, its uniqueness. Nowhere in the world is San Giovese grown so successfully. With those styles you taste the history as well. Wines from the land where the Italian Renaissance was born, a historic land of gastronomy as well, a land of farming too. All of this is Tuscany. And those wines are its purest expression. On these final thoughts, I'll leave it here for today, and I will see you soon in the wonderful world of wine... Salute! Ciao ciao! Arrivederci...