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Chianti The Shape of the Glass May 12, 2007 Who knew that the shape of the wine glass would make such a big difference? The wine on stage was Chianti, a favorite drink and a perfect partner for food. A menu soon appeared: Antipasti: salami, sopressata, artesinal cheese (3 types), olives, and roasted peppers. The Primo course was Risotto alla Milanese, followed by the Secundo: Bistecca Alla Fiorentina and Cannelloni. A fresh garden salad rounded out the meal, and the Dolce course was pound cake with fresh Spring strawberries. Chianti is a wine made from the Sangiovese grape in the Tuscan region of Italy. During the 1960’s to 1980’s Chianti was famous as the ubiquitous red wine at Italian restaurants, and the straw covered bottle (known as a “fiasco”) became synonymous with headaches and cheap dates. Wine was produced in large quantities and shipped all over the world. Late in the 1980’s regional producers began working to improve the quality of wine and the care with which it was crafted. The Chianti of today is vastly superior to the wines we drank 30 years ago. Our task was to find a reliable, tasty bottle of Chianti for a reasonable price to accompany an Italian meal. The rules were the same as for our other tastings: bring a bottle of wine from the Chianti region for less than $20. When our guests arrived we took the bottles and wrapped them with newspaper, marking each bottle with a colored piece of yarn. As we began to pour samples, Bart remarked that Chianti is a kind of truth serum, encouraging conversations that veer towards revelations and disclosure. We laughed, dismissing his statements, but secretly wondering what the evening would bring. There were five bottles for us to try. They were: Castello D’Albola, 12.5%, 2004, $12 (Chianti Classico DOCG). All of the women preferred this wine. It was well balanced, had a nice finish and a great aftertaste. Spalletti, 13%, 2005, $15 (Chianti DOCG). This wine was the favorite of ¾ of the men present. It had a nice body, with a flavor that lingered in the mouth. Bolla Chianti, 12.5%, 2004, $7 (Chianti DOCG). One of the men preferred this wine. It was a nice blend of fruit and was very smooth (smoother than Chianti usually is.) It was clearly the best value, and made us realize how far Bolla has come in improving the quality of its wines. Chianti Colli Senesi, 12.5%, 2005, $13 on sale for $9. (Chianti Colli Senesi DOCG) This wine was the first glass poured. It was light, not very complex, with pretty strong tannins. It wasn’t that exciting as a first glass. Dievole, 13%, 2001, $13 (Chianti Classico DOCG). This was our least favorite, although OK, it was not as balanced as the others. The tannins seemed harsher; it had less body and one guest called it simple. Within the Chianti region there are actually five “Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita” (DOCG) zones with strict laws about production. We tasted wines from thee zones: Chianti Classico (the black rooster), Chianti colli Senesi, and Chianti. We found no pronounced regional difference in the wines we tasted, but then we didn’t taste very much across the regions. Part of the character of Chianti is the tannin, that astringency that makes the mouth pucker and salivate. By itself it is not that pleasant, particularly in an inexpensive wine. But add food and everything is different. The Italians we know would never think of drinking wine without having something to eat along with it. We tasted all the wines before dinner, and then again while eating our meal. The change in the wine was enormous! Wines that were too tannic before were soft and round and delicious with the meal. It’s possible that decanting would have made a difference as well. (When we tasted Cabernets we decanted them first and it made a noticeable difference.)
We never think of ourselves as wine snobs at all, and this is an unpretentious group, but we learned that stemware makes a big difference. More importantly, glass shape is vitally important. Recently we went to dinner at a local restaurant where the wine was served in a small tumbler. It was sort of cute, but there was no aroma and the pleasure of the wine was reduced. When we pour wine for tasting we pour a small amount in the bottom of the glass. This allows the aromas to develop and intensify within the glass. In America wine served at most restaurants is filled to the top of the small glass, eliminating the air space and the opportunity to smell wine. Try this yourself sometime – pour a small amount of wine into a wine glass and then fill a shot glass with the same wine. Ask a friend to identify flavors in the wine. It is very hard to do with the shot glass, even with the same wine. As for truth serum…. One of our guests makes a focused effort to buy and eat locally grown food. She makes award-winning cheese and sells it at farmers markets around the state. While she is there she buys fresh food from other farmers. Her sister-in-law remarked at how much better tasting and more sustainable it is to buy and eat locally, and we all pledged to try to patronize the farmers markets more often. That means changing shopping patterns. No more hitting the supermarket on the way home, now we have to plan to buy vegetables on Fridays when the market is set up (8am - 1pm in our town.) But the fact is that local food really does taste a lot better. Chickens from the supermarket are tasteless, but from a local butcher they are full of flavor, and probably much better for you. Maybe trying to be more thoughtful about shopping is the result of Chianti, maybe it is just the conversation of the moment. Whatever the case, we enjoyed a wonderful meal, learned something about Chianti, and had fun with our friends. We learned that the shape of the glass adds quite a bit to the enjoyment, and we learned (re-learned) that Chianti is a very food friendly wine. I’m happy to give the credit to the wine!
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During the course of sampling each wine we discovered another interesting fact. Our stemware is a hodgepodge of shapes and sizes, picked up at garage sales and various other places. When one guest said she liked the aroma of a particular wine, another guest, sniffing the same wine, said she smelled nothing. They swapped glasses and indeed the bowl shaped glass had a much more pronounced aroma than the tulip shaped glass. The flared rim allowed the aroma to escape, noticeably diminishing the taste and smell of the wine.