Each Friday, David Brenner of Villasfor2 in Abruzzo selects a delicious, top-value 'Everyday Italian Wine' for you to enjoy at home - or on your Abruzzo villa vacation !

Chianti Classico. Villa Sant' Andrea. 2005
I've been putting-off including another bottle of Chianto Classico in our weekly roundup since a cork-tainted bottle sneaked in under the radar back in March. Silly really, but luckily my prevarication was solved by the arrival of Gianmarco's Mum and Dad hotfoot from Florence bearing this bottle as a gift. Faith in the brand has now been restored.

The year 2005 wasn't the easiest for Chianti producers - a good summer was spoiled by rain from mid-August onwards - but this wine is proof that a good producer will still produce a good wine in testing conditions.  

In the glass - not that you can tell from the accompanying picture that was taken just as it started to rain - there's a vibrant, clear ruby colour, followed at first sip by that unmistakable Chianti taste of juicy, ripe cherries, overlaid with hints of mulberry and spice.

There's a little residual tannin in evidence here from time spent in oak barrels: this wine should safely keep and become a little smoother and more rounded over the next couple of years.

This isn't a wine to drink on its own, but I found it had an almost chameleon-like quality to be the perfect accompaniment to a rich, ragu-based dish; a very good Tuscan ewe's-milk cheese (hardly a surprise there, I'll admit); and a roast chicken leg.

Into the last glass, I slipped a couple of slices from a sweet, perfectly ripe yellow peach - following the famous advice (and not for the first time) of that champion of Italian cookery Elizabeth David to "Eat the peach. Drink the wine". Both were delicious.

At A Glance…

• This week's featured wine: Chianti Classico
• Vintage: 2005
• Producer: Villa Sant' Andrea
• Designation: DOCG
• Grape: 90% Sangiovese; 5% Canaiolo; 5% Colorino
• Strength: 13.5%
• Closure: Cork
• This bottle cost: As it was a gift - I don't know. However a decent bottle of Chianti Classico like this should be available for under our usual €10 limit.

Villa Sant' Andrea
Occupying 1500 acres of prime Tuscan real estate in the heartland of Chianti production midway between Florence and Siena, Villa Sant' Andrea is built on the site of an 11th century medieval castle and has been operating under the same family ownership for over 60 years. 

Unsurprisingly, its list is dominated by red wines, including a couple of 100% Sangiovese, Chianti Classico Riserva, both with 18 months in wood and a year in bottle before coming onto the market. There's also a grappa (of course !), a good vin santo and, because this is Tuscany, a choice of two olive oils - one a blend of named olives and with a DOP tag. This doesn't stand for 'Double Original Price' - it's the oily equivalent of a vinous DOC.

Click on the pictures in the text for larger images - and if you like Italian wine, why not check out last week's 'Everyday Italian Wine' - a particularly good Pinot Grigio from Friuli - and bookmark this site for future weekly posts.

Next Week: It's been too long since we tasted a bottle of Rose - so join us for a glass of Rosato del Salento from Puglia, a wine you'll enjoy both at home and on your Villasfor2 Abruzzo villa vacation !

Abruzzo villa vacation, Chianti Classico, Everyday Italian Wine, Villasfor2

This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 3:02 am and is filed under David's 'Everyday Italian Wine', Eating and Drinking, Vineyards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.