The Chianti Classico, whose values are growing, towards the Additional Geographical Indications

It will not be a “tout court”soil zonation, but a precise subdivision of the territory through Additional Geographical Indications, the project that the Chianti Classico Consortium, in charge of a growing denomination (and which already in 2018 saw its values increase in the bottle, explained the president Giovanni Manetti) will propose to its social group, for a territory, wide and varied (over 7,000 hectares of vineyards) rich in oenological history, culture and human traditions unique in the world, which in their specificity, can and must be enhanced even more.

This model will not imitate the one adopted for Barolo, as the most famous and recent example, but will build an ad hoc project linked to this great heritage, perhaps looking at Burgundy as an inspirational model, but obviously with a different structure.

In short, this is the idea of Manetti, who supported the goodness even in the “election campaign” for his election, on which he is working as a priority for 2019, as explained to WineNews.

“A special committee, made up of directors, is already working- explains Manetti - with the aim of presenting members, as soon as possible during 2019, a project to decide whether to apply it, modify it or put it in the drawer forever”.

If all the details are still to be discovered and identified, the desire to make this change has already emerged strongly both in the Consortium and externally. “The members asked us to work on this hypothesis and I believe - continues Manetti - that it is a strategic theme to give more value to our denomination, identifying those specific characteristics that the wines produced in these smaller but more homogeneous areas have established over time”.

An effort that can immediately, on the one hand, strengthen the unitary image of a variegated territory such as that of Chianti Classico and, on the other, reinforces its identity. The majority of the people involved in the project also agree that this is an important step.

“It seems to me that the differences of the past are almost completely dormant - continues Manetti - and that the majority of councilors and the social base are for the “yes”. I’m optimistic”.

Obviously, it is a path still to be followed that will be supported by a complex and articulated work in progress, for the importance of the issue, although in Chianti Classico a kind of “movement” to promote this hypothesis already exists. “There are the associations of “villages” - adds Manetti - which are now defining themselves as important centers for the reinforcement of the identity of the territory and with which we need to communicate”.

In short, it seems that Chianti Classico is about to face a difficult path, but “we will not do something like other experiences, we want to build a project that highlights our specificity - concludes the President of the Chianti Classico Consortium - certainly we will give an eye to Burgundy, but certainly we will not make 150 mentions, at most dozens”.