Podcast 003 | What does a black rooster do on a wine bottle and why is it important?

Chianti Classico

Nina in Chianti | Salzburg

Here I am again, with a new episode on the subject of Chianti Classico. It's great to have you with me again when it's time for "A glass of wine with Nina in Chianti". I am Nina and I love Chianti Classico and today I want to take you into my Chianti Classico world again.

Do you have the feeling that it sounds a little different today than in my first episodes? Then you're absolutely right, because I'm back in Panzano in Chianti, in Tuscany, in Italy. Due to the pandemic and all its consequences, I wasn't able to go to Panzano for more than six months, which was of course painful for me. And now the joy of being back here is all the greater. Now I'm sitting here in one of my absolute favorite places in all of Chianti. You can probably hear the birds singing, which are obviously happy too, for whatever reason.

Today I would like to explain to you what a black rooster does on a bottle of Chianti Classico, how it comes about and why you should definitely pay attention to it.

For a glass of wine ...

But as always, before I get started, my glass of wine today comes into play, because in keeping with the title of the podcast "For a glass of wine with Nina in Chianti", I have a glass of wine by my side.

Today it's the Chianti Classico 2018 from the Fattoria di Rignana winery, here from Panzano in Chianti. I chose this wine for today's episode because the owner of the Rignana winery is called Cosimo.

And a Cosimo will play an important role in today's podcast episode. But now a quick word about the wine. Cosimo Gericke, the owner of Rignana, has been making his Chianti Classico for years with his tried and tested blend of 85% Sangiovese and 15% Canaiolo grapes. Why am I mentioning this? You will find out later that this blend has been tried and tested for centuries, and not just by Cosimo.

The wine smells wonderful. Of cherries and sour cherries. Berries. Dark berries. Spices. Juniper. Citrus fruits. Wonderful. As fruity and spicy on the palate as it is on the nose. Very good to drink. You have a lot of fun with it. Fine tannins, fine acidity, everything you need for a good and typical Chianti Classico.

The Black Rooster

We have already discussed Chianti Classico as a wine, at least in the last few episodes. And you could say that this Chianti Classico wine-growing region has a trademark, the Gallo Nero, the black cockerel.

This symbol was not chosen at random. Nor was it created by a graphic designer or determined by some marketing experts. No, this trademark has existed for several hundred years and today appears as a logo on every bottle of Chianti Classico, either on the front of the bottle neck or on the back label.

The logo consists of the name Chianti Classico, the name of the appellation, in the center is the black rooster, the symbol for Chianti Classico, and the year 1716, the founding date of the Chianti Classico appellation, so to speak.

I am happy to provide you with a link in the show notes where you can take a look at the logo and also the previous versions, because this logo has been adapted, modernized and I would almost say streamlined again and again in recent years and so that you can really see the development, you can find this link in the show notes and take a look at it.

This means that if you find this logo or one of these older variants on a bottle of wine, you now know that it is Chianti Classico, i.e. a red wine, primarily made from Sangiovese grapes, from a defined area in Tuscany.

The legend of the Black Rooster

Now you know that Gallo nero and Chianti Classico are inextricably linked, but you still don't know how this came about. There is a wonderful story about this, namely the legend of the Black Rooster. In the Middle Ages, the city-states of Florence and Siena fought each other for decades. It was simply about supremacy. And these military conflicts mainly took place in what is now the Chianti region.

One day, however, the people here had had enough and wanted to put an end to these battles, these permanent battles, and draw definitive boundaries. And they chose a very unusual method, I would say, to establish these borders. The border would be drawn at the point where two horsemen, one sent from Florence and one from Siena, would meet. The two riders were to set off at sunrise and after the first cockcrow.

No sooner said than done. Siena opted for a white cock and looked after it very well, gave it enough food and was concerned about the animal, as it was supposed to be the guarantor of dominance. Florence, on the other hand, opted for a black rooster, which was not fed as much for tactical reasons - it was simply hungry. He was kept in a narrow, dark cage and was not looked after nearly as well as his counterpart from Siena.

On the agreed morning, the two cockerels were let out of their dwelling and as soon as the black cockerel was released, it started crowing. And it did so before sunrise, which in turn gave the rider from Florence a clear head start. Unlike the rider from Florence, the rider from Siena had to wait longer for the white cock to finally crow after sunrise. And so it was that the rider from Siena only made it twelve kilometers before he came across his rival from Florence. Since that day, the border between Florence and Siena has run through Castellina in Chianti, not far from Siena. That is the legend.

But how did this, I would say, optical link between Chianti and Gallo Nero come about? It all began back in 1384. Back then, the Lega del Chianti adopted the black cockerel on a golden background as its emblem.

At the time, the Lega del Chianti was a political-military institution created by the Republic of Florence with the simple aim of controlling the Chianti region.

However, the story continues in this visual connection, as the first notarial deed containing the name Chianti was dated 1398. And even better, the name Chianti in this document refers to wine.

If you like, Giorgio Vasari was the first creator of the word-image-mark for the symbol of Chianti Classico. In his allegory, which can be seen today in the Salone di Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, he chose the proud animal, the rooster, the black cock, as the symbol for Chianti as early as 1565.

Oldest appellation in the world

As you can see, Chianti is now centuries of history and development. Today's Chianti region was civilized by the Etruscans, fought over by the cities of Florence and Siena in the Middle Ages, as legend has it, and today is simply inseparable from wine production.

The year 1716 is also very significant in this context. It was in this year that the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III, defined the boundaries of the Chianti wine-growing region, now known as Chianti Classico.

An area between the cities of Florence and Siena, where wine was cultivated and highly prized even back then. This inseparable link between the land of wine and the land of origin was formalized with this decree by Cosimo III in 1716. It states,

"For Chianti, this is intended and should be, from Spedaluzzo to Greve, from there to Panzano, with the entire podesteria of Radda, which includes three parts, namely Radda, Gaiole and Castellina, up to the border with the state of Siena".

He thus established the boundaries of today's Chianti Classico, the Chianti area of the Chianti Classico wine-growing region. But Cosimo III also set up a supervisory group in 1716 to monitor production, shipping, fraud control and the wine trade. Even then, there was a phenomenon of counterfeit Chianti wine production, particularly for export to England. It was therefore a kind of protective consortium. Let me remind you again that we are talking about 1716, more than 300 years ago.

The Chianti recipe

So, the next keyword I have here is the Chianti recipe. Yes, you heard right, there is a Chianti recipe. But I promise you, it has nothing to do with cooking. Because Bettino Ricasoli, also known as the Iron Baron, a politician, a member of the famous Ricasoli family, I already told you about him briefly last time. In 1872, he created a kind of manual for Chianti, the manual for the blend, because, in short, it's the blend that makes the difference. Bettino Ricasoli did a lot of research into the famous wine back then and came to the following conclusion:

"That the Chianti wine gets its main dose of aroma, which I particularly strive for, and a certain powerful sensation from the Sangiovese. From the Canaiolo grape, the sweetness that reflects the hardness and quality of the former without diminishing its aroma. The Malvasia grape, which could even be excluded for wines intended for ageing, tends to dilute the product of the first two grapes, enhancing the flavor and making it lighter and more suitable for use as an everyday table wine."

This is how the first recipe was created, which at the time already specified Sangiovese as the main grape variety. In other words, for a long time it was customary to make Chianti Classico - or Chianti as it was still called back then - from mainly Sangiovese grapes, a large quantity of Canaiolo grapes and a large dash of white wine to simply make the wine light and drinkable, I would say. Today, the use of white wine grapes, such as Malvasia or Trebbiano, is prohibited. Until a few years ago, this was still possible.

Because, as you already know from my previous episodes, Chianti Classico today must consist of at least 80% Sangiovese grapes. The rest may be grapes from autochthonous or international grape varieties. This is entirely up to the winemaker, his terroir and his philosophy. And of course it can also be more Sangiovese, up to 100 percent, i.e. single-varietal.

Even more information

I hope you have learned something interesting from me today. I think I was able to show you the historical significance behind Chianti Classico. And it is probably precisely this history that makes the wine, the people and the landscape so united. And it is precisely this unity, this history, that fascinates and inspires me so much.

I hope I was able to take you into my Chianti Classico world, because that is my passion, my mission. At least that's how I feel. And by the way, it's also an excellent wine. Speaking of which, you can of course also find the link to today's wine in the show notes. In my online store NinaInChianti.com you will find lots of information about this wine from Cosimo Gericke and you can of course also order it. Which would of course make me happy.

But if you have any questions about Chianti Classico, please feel free to ask me. Simply use the link in the show notes and who knows, maybe you'll soon be part of one of my new episodes.

So, that's it for today. See you next time. I hope so. I look forward to seeing you. Bye. A presto.

Wine for the episode

2018 Fattoria di Rignana Chianti Classico DOCG

Further links

Logo Chianti Classico:

Store: https://www.ninainchianti.com
Blog: https://www.ninainchianti.com/hashtag/
The link for your question: https://www.ninainchianti.com/deine-frage-an-nina-in-chianti
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