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Florentine and Tuscan Wines


Florence stands at the heart of one of the most famous wine regions in the world. In May, Florentine wine producers open their cellars to visitors, who can taste some of the most renowned wines in their place of production.

Tuscan Wines

Tuscany is renowned not so much for the quantity but for the quality of its wines. In fact, despite being the third Italian DOC wine producing region, Tuscany ranks only eighth as far as the quantity is concerned. Only a small part of the Tuscan territory can be cultivated with vineyards; this is the reason why since the 1970s Florentine and Tuscan wine producers have decided to aim at the quality of their product instead of quantity.

Of the 26 Italian DOCG wines, six are produced in Tuscany: the Brunello di Montalcino, the Carmignano, the Chianti, Chianti Classico, the Vernaccia di San Gimignano and the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.

The flower of Tuscan oenology is the red Chianti Classico, which is produced in seven areas with different procedures. The Sangiovese vine is the basis of all Chianti Classico wines; to that, several other species of vines are added in variable quantities. The emblem of the Chianti Classico is the Gallo Nero (the black cock).



The Sangiovese vine is the basis of another Tuscan wine: the Brunello di Montalcino, a red wine produced in the province of Siena. The Brunello, one of the most refined and expensive Italian wines, ages four years in oaken barrels and two more years in its bottle.

A third wine, the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, is produced with Sangiovese vines. Like the Brunello, the Vino Nobile comes from the province of Siena.

In the late 1980s, many wine producers began to use different species of vines and procedures to produce a new generation of wines, called super Tuscans.
The first representative of this new generation of wines is the Sassicaia, that a branch of the Antinori family began to produce with some cabernet vine shoots coming from Bordeaux, that the family had planted in 1944 in its estate in Bolgheri, on the southern coast of Tuscany.

The Antinori family has recently created the Tignanello using Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon vines. At present, wine producers increasingly blend Sangiovese with Cabernet, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Pinot Noir and other foreign vines.

Tuscany does not produce only red wines. The most famous Tuscan white wine is the Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Another great Tuscan white wine is the Bianco di Pitigliano, which is produced in southern Tuscany.

Less renowned are Tuscan rosy wines.

 

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