Sunday, January 07, 2007

Chianti: Americans Bought the Wickered Bulbous CandleHolder.. Not the Wine

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Tuscany is home to three of Italys most important red wines: Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano -  all coincidentally are made from the same grape. The grape is sangiovese and each of the three wines taste remarkably different.


Brunello wines will age the longest, some 50 years. Chiantis drink the soonest. The Noble Wine of Montepulciano, Vino Nobile, tastes the thickest and richest of all.

Chianti was introduced by an Italian baron, Bettino Rocasoli, who began adding a small measure of white wine to his sangiovese in the middle 1800s; he called it Chianti. A small amount of any three white grapes  canaiolo, malvasia or trebbiano,  could be used to make the wine mixture taste fresher, drink younger and enhance flavor. This was also  a practical way to use up the excess white grapes.

 

In the early 1900s, Chiantis grew large in popularity, and more and more white wine was included in the blend. By World War II, the most dominant white grape became trebbiano, which could be more than 30 percent in some Chiantis. Trebbiano is a highly acidic.


After 1945, the popular distribution of this blend of dry sangiovese with white grape juice became known as "spaghetti red", became one of the most inexpensive, wines of the day and the wine quickly lost quality market share in Italy.

Americans didnt know its inexpensive and bland fate in Italy and began buying Chiantis in record numbers. Why?    By the late 1960s, Chianti was more about romance than taste, and most consumers didnt buy it  for what was in the bottle. They bought it for its straw-covered, bulbous wicker basket design that became the most recognizable candleholder of its era. As a generation of Beatniks, lava lamp users and flower children (circa 1960s) grew up, so did the multitude of candle-dripped wicker bottles.

Personally, I have to tell you, The Wicker Chianti  bottle with Italian Food was a "winner" with the women every time!!        It was even more effective than "Liebfraumilch" with other cuisines, which I couldn't wait to translate to my date as "Milk from a Lovely Woman's Breast" . Pretty Racy  50 years ago. :) :)

 

Andresky: Chianti’s Candles were a Big Fiasco   

Northwest Herald - Crystal Lake,IL,USA
By Andy Andresky

Saturday, January 06, 2007

The wicker-basket affair: Was it for the wine? Or did you buy it for the bottle?

Italians call is Toscana. Americans call it Tuscany.

No matter how you pronounce it, this storied wine region also has been the place of important events, such as  the birth of the Renaissance in Florence.

It is home to three of Italys most important red wines: Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano  all coincidently are made from the same grape. The grape is sangiovese and each of the three wines taste remarkably different.

Brunello wines will age the longest, some 50 years. Chiantis drink the soo n! est. The Noble Wine of Montepulciano, Vino Nobile, tastes the thickest and richest of all.

 The name sangiovese is believed to derive from Sangue di Giove, or the blood of Jove. An Italian baron, Bettino Rocasoli, began adding a small measure of white wine to his sangiovese in the middle 1800s; he called it Chianti. A small amount of any three white grapes  canaiolo, malvasia or trebbiano  could be used to make the wine mixture taste fresher, drink younger and enhance flavor. This was a practical way for many vineyards to use up the excess white grapes.

Chiantis made in the early 1900s grew large in popularity, and more and more white wine was included in the blend. By World War II, the most dominant white grape became trebbiano, which could be more than 30 percent in some Chiantis. Trebbiano is a highly acidic and versatile white grape that also is Italys first choice for making sparkling wine and the primary grape used in French-made cognac. 
!
After 1945, the popular distribution of this blend of dry sangiovese with white grape juice became known as spaghetti red. The wines had a notoriously short lifespan because of the white blend and crude winemaking technique. Chiantis very pasty, boring finish polarized most taste buds, and the wine quickly lost quality market share in Italy. Chiantis light flavors and small uncomplicated finish (mostly from the white wine) relegated it to one of the most inexpensive, wines of the day.

So, this is how it came into the American market. Americans didnt know its inexpensive and bland fate in Italy and began buying Chiantis in record numbers. Why? By the late 1960s, Chianti was more about romance than taste, and most consumers didnt buy it  for what was in the bottle. They bought it for its straw-covered, bulbous wicker basket design that became the most recognizable candleholder of its era. As a generation of Beatniks, lava lamp users and flower children (ci r! ca 1960s) grew up, so did the multitude of candle-dripped wicker bottles.

A round, straw-covered Chianti bottle became the in thing. The craze needed a name, and Ill bet you didnt know these bottles actually had a name. 

The word probably comes from medieval origin. An Italian expression, fare fiasco, means to make a bottle. It also means a glass bottle. Its Italian meaning is a flask with a long neck and round bottom protected by straw. Historically, both wine and olive oil bottles came in fiascos.

The American Webster Dictionary defines fiasco as a complete breakdown or a total foul-up.

Now you wonder: If the wicker-basket bottle known as a fiasco in Italy actually stood for the inexpensive, poor-quality Chianti wines of pre-WWII and later, did the Italians know something we didnt? Or did we just buy into a candleholder?

 More about Andy Andresky: Owner of the 1776 restaurant in Crystal Lake, Andresky has written about wine for t! he NorthWest News Group since 1999. He is a wine consultant for area businesses and teaches wine tasting and appreciation classes. He is the co-host of the cable television show Wine Talk, Andresky can be reached through his Web site, www.1776restaurant.com.

 

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