Discussion
What is your opinion of this wine?
Whenever I visit an italian restaurant with friends, some automatically say, "we must have a bottle of chianti, as we are in an italian restaurant."
However, I've always chianti to be not great, and I prefer something like a valpollichella.
Is it just personal preference and they are just wanting chianti out of habit?
Or do I know wine better and dont like it because its either poor quality or not to my liking?
Any good chianti recommendations?
Whenever I visit an italian restaurant with friends, some automatically say, "we must have a bottle of chianti, as we are in an italian restaurant."
However, I've always chianti to be not great, and I prefer something like a valpollichella.
Is it just personal preference and they are just wanting chianti out of habit?
Or do I know wine better and dont like it because its either poor quality or not to my liking?
Any good chianti recommendations?
zygalski said:
Simon Brooks said:
Don't forget fava beans go well with Chianti
Ironically, I think it was originally Amarone in the book.They dumbed it down to Chianti in the film for some reason.
Edited by Simon Brooks on Saturday 17th March 22:56
gingerp said:
Yes i love amarone and barolo when feeling flush. Best reds in the world IMO.
If you love those wines a standard chianti (and this is what you usually pick up in an Italian restaurant) will be a bit too light and powerless for youAs stated by others Chianti are amongst the world's best wines, but due to their traditional recepy can produce lighter wines than eg nebbiolo grapes
You might want to try a chianti riserva with some time in a barrique
San Felice - Il Griga
Beradenga Chianti Riserva
Fontodi Riserva
or if you want a more powerful wine of the same region (and same main grape - chianti are usually blends)
try a Brunello or Vino Nobile di Montepuliciano (both Sangioveses - main Chianti grape - but usually stronger and longer aged) or a Morrelino di Scansano
If you want to try good tuscan wines who are not chianti a super tuscan is nice and will not fail to please - Tiganello is a good start (but bring your cheque book)
edited because I really should not write long posts on my
phoneEdited by cramorra on Saturday 17th March 22:29
OK, so I was in Tesco the other day and took a look at the chianti while I was there.
I got a bottle on offer. I wasn't expecting too much, just a toe in the water really.
It is:
Famiglia Terraccia Chianti Reserva 13%. 5.99 Half Price.
Checked Waitrose and they have it for 10. So it was a reasonable price.
The Verdict is very good. Lovely balanced flavours. My only criticism is that i wanted more
oomph. The best chianti's that I've seen online go up to 15%. I still believe that the best
Italian wines are elsewhere. I've looked up Tiganello before. They sound lovely, but at a
minimum of 30 a bottle, its beyond me. Where would you recommend I buy all these lovely wines?
A quick search has proved unfruitful.
I got a bottle on offer. I wasn't expecting too much, just a toe in the water really.
It is:
Famiglia Terraccia Chianti Reserva 13%. 5.99 Half Price.
Checked Waitrose and they have it for 10. So it was a reasonable price.
The Verdict is very good. Lovely balanced flavours. My only criticism is that i wanted more
oomph. The best chianti's that I've seen online go up to 15%. I still believe that the best
Italian wines are elsewhere. I've looked up Tiganello before. They sound lovely, but at a
minimum of 30 a bottle, its beyond me. Where would you recommend I buy all these lovely wines?
A quick search has proved unfruitful.
zygalski said:
This brings us to the question:
Is the black cockerel on the Chianti bottle neck a guarantee of quality, or simply a marketing scam?
It usually means that the wine is purely made of Sangiovese grapes. Plenty of the Super Tuscans get blended with but are still likely to be Sangiovese based.Is the black cockerel on the Chianti bottle neck a guarantee of quality, or simply a marketing scam?
The sign means that the wine in the bottle is from the core part of the chianti region "classico" area and made to standards set by this consortium
http://www.chianticlassico.com/
usually be a winery which is a member. Usually this wines will be good, typical represenatives of chianti wine which command a premium in price. This does by ne means mean that non gallo nero wines can be nor equally excellent, some of my favs don t have it
Difficult to get hold of all this wines in the uk, but
everywine.co.uk may be able to help - the great names (like tiganello) you should get in any well sorted wine shop
A good going classico or riserva will set you back 15 quid or more in the UK I am afraid - other regions in italy are better value (apulia and sicily)
http://www.chianticlassico.com/
usually be a winery which is a member. Usually this wines will be good, typical represenatives of chianti wine which command a premium in price. This does by ne means mean that non gallo nero wines can be nor equally excellent, some of my favs don t have it
Difficult to get hold of all this wines in the uk, but
everywine.co.uk may be able to help - the great names (like tiganello) you should get in any well sorted wine shop
A good going classico or riserva will set you back 15 quid or more in the UK I am afraid - other regions in italy are better value (apulia and sicily)
This ^^^^^^^
I've been going there for years and was quite surprised when Fonterutoli made it to Carluccios for around £15 a bottle. That's hardly any more than you'd pay in Chianti itself. It's a great introduction to decent Chianti, but as said above, good Chianti is pricey and some would say an acquired taste.
I've been going there for years and was quite surprised when Fonterutoli made it to Carluccios for around £15 a bottle. That's hardly any more than you'd pay in Chianti itself. It's a great introduction to decent Chianti, but as said above, good Chianti is pricey and some would say an acquired taste.
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