Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The Wines of Montefioralle



Montefioralle must be one of the most beautiful parts of Tuscany to sit down with a glass of wine. It's all there in the name: Monte- meaning mount or small mountain and fioralle - of the flowers.
The south-east facing slopes at around 300m above sea level are ideal for the Sangiovase grape which by law must make up at least 80% of a bottle of Chianti Classico. It will come as no surprise then to learn that the church once owned these slopes and used them for exactly the same purpose. Whatever else can be said of the Catholic church in those times you can be sure it would have had its pick of the best locations for starting a vineyard. But all this was a long time ago...well, about 600 years ago.
The wines produced by the Sieni family are Chianti Classico (of course), a Riserva Chianti Classico, SuperTuscan and Vin Santo. If you do come for a wine tasting here remember to pace yourself; there are at least 4 vintages of the Chianti Classico to compare and wines get stronger as you progress from the Riserva to Vin Santo.

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