Piccini Chianti Riserva Red Italian Wine, 75cl

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a b c d e f g h i j k A. Domine (ed.) Wine, pp. 402-411, Ullmann Publishing, 2008 ISBN 978-3-8331-4611-4

Mario Piccini, the current managing director, started working with his father in 1982 when he was 20 years old. His sister Martina joined the company about ten years later. “My father made it very clear that we would go nowhere without energy and passion. There is a big difference between inheriting and building a wine company and under my father’s guidance we built it as a team.” When Mario Piccini died in 1963, the company had grown to approximately 150 ha and was well established internationally. Pierangelo Piccini and his wife Marcella Sanmicheli (the current President of the Piccini Group) were next in line to bring dynamic change to the company. They enlarged the group’s portfolio of products and established a competitive price regime for value wines – a policy the company adheres to strongly today . The Chianti DOCG covers all the Chianti wine and includes a large stretch of land encompassing the western reaches of the province of Pisa near the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Florentine hills in the province of Florence to the north, to the province of Arezzo in the east and the Siena hills to the south. Within this regions are vineyards that overlap the DOCG regions of Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Any Sangiovese-based wine made according to the Chianti guidelines from these vineyards can be labelled and marked under the basic Chianti DOCG should the producer wish to use the designation. [4]

Toscana, Chianti, Italy

Outside of the Chianti Classico area, the wines of the Chianti sub-zone of Rufina are among the most widely recognised and exported from the Chianti region. Located in the Arno valley near the town of Pontassieve, the Rufina region includes much area in the Pomino region, an area that has a long history of wine production. The area is noted for the cool climate of its elevated vineyards located up to 900m (2,950 feet). The vineyard soils of the area are predominantly marl and chalk. The Florentine merchant families of the Antinori and Frescobaldi own the majority of the vineyards in Rufina. Chianti from the Rufina area is characterised by its multi-layered complexity and elegance. [9] Chianti Classico wines are characterised in their youth by their predominantly floral and cinnamon spicy bouquet. As the wine ages, aromas of tobacco and leather can emerge. Chiantis tend to have medium-high acidity and medium tannins. Basic level Chianti is often characterised by its juicy fruit notes of cherry, plum and raspberry and can range from simple quaffing wines to those approaching the level of Chianti Classico. Wine expert Tom Stevenson notes that these basic everyday-drinking Chiantis are at their peak drinking qualities often between three and five years after vintage, with premium examples having the potential to age for four to eight years. Well-made examples of Chianti Classico often have the potential to age and improve in the bottle for six to twenty years. [11] Chianti Superiore [ edit ]

Angiolo's heir, Mario, took over in 1925 and safely steered the company through the difficult years of the Great Depression and the Second World War. Mario's greatest contribution was to bring Piccini to its first overseas clients. He exported Chianti “Il Preferito” (the preferred) to Germany and Austria two countries that remain very faithful to the Piccini brand. Nearly 80 percent of Piccini's wines are currently sold outside Italy today.TenutePicciniis among the most prominent wine producers in Tuscany, playing a leading role in the production of Chianti, ChiantiClassicoandMontalcinowines. The familyhasfiveother stand-alone propertiesin top Tuscan wine regions as well as the two “volcanic estates” on the Etna and Vulture mountains, a parallel project to the successfulPiccinibrand.The family’s philosophy behind the boutique estates is very classical: producing wines that reflect the region, focusing on expressiveness of the grapes variety in relation to the area of origin. The Colli Fiorentini subregion has seen an influx of activity and new vineyard development in recent years as wealthy Florentine business people move to the country to plant vineyards and open wineries. Many foreign " flying winemakers" have had a hand in this development, bringing global viticulture and wine-making techniques to the Colli Fiorentini. Located in the hills between the Chianti Classico area and Arno valley, the wines of the Colli Fiorentini vary widely depending on producer, but tend to have a simple structure with strong character and fruit notes. [9] The Montespertoli sub-zone was part of the Colli Fiorentini sub-zone until 2002 when it became its own tiny enclave. [6] The late 19th century saw a period of economic and political upheaval. First came oidium and then the phylloxera epidemic would take its toll on the vineyards of Chianti just as they had ravaged vineyards across the rest of Europe. The chaos and poverty following the Risorgimento heralded the beginning of the Italian diaspora that would take Italian vineyard workers and winemakers abroad as immigrants to new lands. [8] Those that stayed behind and replanted choose high-yielding varieties like Trebbiano and Sangiovese clones such as the Sangiovese di Romagna from the nearby Romagna region. Following the Second World War, the general trend in the world wine market for cheap, easy-drinking wine saw a brief boom for the region. With over-cropping and an emphasis on quantity over quality, the reputation of Chianti among consumers eventually plummeted. By the 1950s, Trebbiano (which is known for its neutral flavours) made up to 30% of many mass-market Chiantis. [10] By the late 20th century, Chianti was often associated with basic Chianti sold in a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a fiasco. However, during the same period, a group of ambitious producers began working outside the boundaries of DOC regulations to make what they believed would be a higher-quality wine. These wines eventually became known as the " Super Tuscans". [6] The Italian DOCG Chianti label