Santa Margherita

We have already mentioned - just above – how Carmignano and Chianti came into being, anticipating to some extent the current denominations of origin. It is similarly interesting to give a brief outline of the “modern” origins of some other famous wines , both from Italy and elsewhere, some of which were very different in the past to how we know them today.

Barolo
Barolo has been known and appreciated since medieval times, but it is only since the mid-19th century, thanks to the involvement of the French enologist Oudart and the impassioned efforts of Count Cavour, that this wine, once sweet and potentially unstable, has begun to be produced as a dry, stable wine that is suitable for aging.

Brunello di Montalcino
Brunello as we know it today was created around 1870 by Ferruccio Biondi Santi, who began to grow a clone of Sangiovese, called Sangiovese Grosso or Brunello, that was particularly resistant to phylloxera, thus producing a 100% varietal wine that was suitable for aging. Production of the Italian appellation that is best known around the world has grown only very recently, though, considering that until the 1950s there was just one producer selling wine under this name. When the first production regulations were drawn up at the end of the ‘60s there were only 13 companies producing it – from a little over 70 ha of vineyards – whereas today there are over two hundred producers and 1,800 hectares.

Chianti
The origins of Chianti can be traced back to the important influence of Grand Duke Cosimo III of Tuscany who, in the early decades of the 18th century – two hundred and fifty years before the creation of the D.O.C.s, set down rules regarding the production areas, cultivation methods and vinification of certain Tuscan wines, such as Carmignano and, indeed, Chianti. The real turning-point came, though, in the mid-19th century, when Baron Bettino Ricasoli proposed his famous “Chianti formula” (Sangiovese, Canaiolo Nero and Malvasia Toscana). This remained unchanged for a century and a half and was only modified – with the possibility of not using any white grapes – just a few years ago.