Toscana
Chianti Classico
OLIVER’S NOTES:
America’s best-loved Italian red wine, Chianti Classico, is in a state. The worst wines are failed attempts at the International Style, blended with Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and thrashed with French oak, devoid of personality or regional character; the best are vivid, distinctive, and delicious, made of local varieties and aged in the traditional large barrels. (Or as my colleague Marie Tyler said recently ‘terroir and culture versus international stupidity.’) Why is this?
