Sunday Gravy & Sangiovese
A red sauce, the tale of the gallo nero, and a fantastic Chianti Classico by Istine.
Istine Chianti Classico 2022
Varieties: Sangiovese
Region: Chianti Classico, Tuscany, Italy
Producer: Istine / Angela Fronti
Costs: $28-$35
Missive: Sunday Gravy & Sangiovese
Notes: It was bound to happen. I would ultimately come to Tuscany, and my love for all things Florentine and Etruscan. A place I was lucky enough to go to in college. The first place that made me think ‘Woah, there’s something to this wine and food pairing thing’. Not to even mention the history. The Renaissance. The Medici family. But go way before that. The Etruscans, from which the province owes its name, a group that predates the Romans. One of my favorite dishes over there is an Etruscan bean stew that uses honey in some sort of fashion. It blew my mind. But we’re here to talk about Chianti.
One of the most recognizable wines on the American market, and there are SO many different expressions if you will. That can also make it kind of hard to accurately say that you like allllll the Chiantis. At least in my experience. There have been some really young, bright, almost tart Chiantis that I may lean away from. Where the acidity is so present that it's almost overwhelming, with nothing to back it up. Of course, this can be a multitude of things. Chianti vs Chianti Classico vs Chianti Classico Riserva to start. Then you could get to the producer level. Then you throw in the subtleties of different villages, before you even move to other parts of Tuscany like Montepulciano or Montalcino and the whole idea becomes overwhelming. So, again, the question becomes: do I like Chianti?!? Well, I am here to say that I absolutely love this Chianti Classico from Istine.
A relatively new label, in the sense that Angela Fronti convinced her family to begin bottling their own wines around 2010. Prior to this, the Fronti family served as advisors to various Tuscan wineries. Well, let me tell ya, the integrated nature of this wine makes all of this apartment. It doesn’t feel out of balance, or lacking in any way. You get all the things you would probably look for in a good Chianti. There’s a nice line of acidity that keeps it bright and tight. Not to mention the minerality and sort of stoniness that is apparent, a sort of chalkiness. The fruit is there, it’s beautiful, and it’s backed up by some spice and earth. There’s this beautiful pomegranate, dark cherry, and creamy raspberry note for the fruit. In addition to a nice pepper night on both the nose and finish that adds some complexity right off the bat, there’s also some deeper tart and vinegar type notes. A sort of creamy balsamic pomegranate glaze. Yummy. Honestly, this wine will always hold a special place in my mind and rotation because I paired it with a Sunday gravy and good company.
Sangiovese just totally lends itself to being with food, and an eight-hour red sauce with osso buco, veal, and sausage is ‘mwah, poifect’. Istine really prides itself on their plots with galestro soil which lends a nice minerality to the wines. Galestro is this flaky, shichsty soil that has clay and limestone and really allows the vines to soak up all they need and really lends itself to the idea of terroir. So there’s also that. You throw in some hills, for nice drainage, plus the beautiful combo of fermentation in stainless steel and aging in Slovenian oak and you got yourself a real doozy. The great thing is that I am only further interested in trying the separate crus that they produce now. Angela has three different wines, sort of a leg-up from the general Chianti Classico if you will, that provide singular expressions of particular holdings they have across a couple of villages. Radda is well represented here, let’s just put it that way. If you aren’t already interested enough, let me just throw in a cool little tidbit. The kind of thing that got me hook, line, and sinker when I heard it. Plus, now you can go talk about it at a dinner party or just impress your family around the table. Basically, any Chianti that is a true Chianti worth its weight will have one particular animal on the bottle. Yeah, you may see a wild boar, or maybe a depiction of the famous Chianina cattle, but the one you got to look out for is the black rooster. The gallo nero. The symbol that embodies the fighting spirit of the Florentine people. And how did it get to be the black rooster? What is up with this gallo nero you are asking? Well, the Sparknote version by myself after a couple glasses goes as follows.
Siena and Florence had some long standing issues, let’s call it ‘beef' if you will. The Chianina kind. One theme of history I used to always talk about with my students relates to diplomacy and borders. When things aren’t going well, you can guarantee that borders are being pushed and tested. Such was the case with Siena and Florence for a long, long time. Well, one story apparently gave a good indication of the holdings of Florence. Florence and Siena were going to send a knight from each respective city, to ride out in the morning, in order to settle the dispute once and for all. Whoever woke up at dawn, and started riding to claim more land, would be able to secure the glory for their respective city. The people in Florence had a black rooster, the famed gallo nero, and essentially starved that darn thing the night before. Since that little rooster didn’t get its nighttime snack, it was able to wake up earlier, crankier, LOUDER, and gave the Florentine knight that slight edge in order to claim more land and beat Siena. This is not to say that Siena may have never pushed it again, but at the same time Florence made its point. The gallo nero was then enshrined as the symbol for the League of Chianti, the defenders of the land. It stood ten toes so to speak. So how does that little tidbit relate? Because again, any Chianti that is recognized as a DOC status one will have a black rooster somewhere on the label. Sort of a little homage to the pride and history of this particular place in Italy.
This particular place that stole my heart in 2019. I’ll never forget. Wild boar ragu and Chianti Classico. A big lightbulb moment for me on the possibility of the interaction of wine and food. And here I am six years later trying to build on the same thing. I think one thing that is really special is the notion of hosting for others, having them over to cook for them and providing them with good wine and some stories. So maybe that’s what is so special about Chianti in another way as well. The fact that it lends itself to food, to company, to stories both after a couple glasses and for stories to be made. There’s something that just can’t be recreated about a wine when you have it with good people, and not to toot my horn, but some darn good Sunday gravy as well. Shoutout Springdale Farm for the veal osso buco, and Costco/Kirkland for the sausage. I will never understand how they make money on certain things. 14 Italian sausages for $12… the heck. Go out there, grab a Chianti, spend a Sunday around friends or family with some red sauce, pasta, bread to mop it all up, and a salad to push it all down.
Can’t find it? Try these instead: anything by Dora Forsini at Poderi Sanguineto really over delivers. Sure, her wines are from the village of Montepulciano, but they strike a similar note of graceful wines around this price point from the region of Tuscany. Some more classical producers from the Chianti region that I enjoy are Ruffino and Castello di Monsanto. Other various Sangiovese producers that strike a chord with me are Bakkanali and Poggio La Noce. But really, if you go to your local wine shop, and ask the person for a nice Chianti Classico that leans on the more integrated, mineral driven, velvety and soft style that pairs with food you will not be disappointed. There’s so much to explore with Chianti and Tuscany in general. Sangiovese… between the region, history, and different expressions from village to village it doesn’t get much better.