Tuscan chinato

L

Levi Dalton

Levi Dalton
For a long time now I have wondered after the "Rovo" chinato of Poggio Gagliardo. Poggio Gagliardo is a winery in Tuscany, in the area outside of Pisa. They produce a range of wines, including the "Rovo" which is a blend of Sangiovese 70%, Malvasia Nera 20%, and Colorino 10%. Some of the "Rovo" wine is then taken and aromatized (and aged in acacia), for production of a chinato. This is interesting to me because every other chinato I am familiar with takes as a base wine made from grapes grown in Piemonte.

So, how would the difference manifest itself? This has been a question in the back of my mind for awhile now, because although it was imported to the US at one time, it would seem that the "Rovo" chinato is not being brought in at the moment.

How nice it would be to line up, say the Roagna chinato made from nebbiolo, the Vergano "Luli" made from moscato, and the Rovo chinato and see what and where the influence of grape variety lay. Unfortunately, this opportunity has not presented itself. I did get to try the Rovo chinato 2001 recently though, and I found it to be of high quality. The bottle sported the name of the old importer, so I would imagine it had been laying around for awhile. I felt the Tuscan influence was noticeable on the opening palate notes of the wine and in the richness of fruit. The highish acidity that one finds in certain Piemontese chinato was not present, and so the flavors were thrown in less sharp relief. The nature of the china was pretty "normal" for this kind of beverage and really took hold from the mid-palate on. In other words, I thought the Rovo Chinato was noticeably sangiovese and noticeably a chinato. Which is a combination that had been unfamiliar to me.

Does anyone know of other producers outside of Piemonte producing chinati?
 
Levi, I too have had a strong desire to track down some chianti chinati. I have had two before but it was in a period when i did not take the time to actually get to know the label. The experience was in italy, in Radda in Chianti to be precise but i do not remember who had made it. It was a home brewed chinato based on sangiovese though and oh how i long for it now. One day...
 
Roberto Rogness used to sell a non-nebbiolo Chinato he said was better than any nebbiolo version he tried, His Web site currenly shows he is out. I don't recall the name. I meant to buy some but did not stop his his store my last trip to SoCal.
 
Vergano's Americano is a different beast of course, which is probably why you didn't mention it, but it is made from some of Cascina 'Tavjin's Grignolino.
 
originally posted by Seth Hill:
Vergano's Americano is a different beast of course, which is probably why you didn't mention it, but it is made from some of Cascina 'Tavjin's Grignolino.
Click to expand...

Just tasted that last night. It rocks.
 
There aren't any Chinati that I have to add, but I would love to put my hands on some Masia Barril Aromatizado. It's a NV, non-D.O. Rancio wine infused like a Chinoto. 50% Macabeo (Viura), 20% Garnatxa Blanca (Grenache Blanc), and 30% Garnatxa Peluda - a Grenache mutation with 'furry' leaves. 15% ABV Masia Barril is a defunct Priorat producer, and although I don't normally enjoy Priorat (Viedos de Ithaca, being the exception), I'm curious. I think that Masia Barril were one of the more traditional producers - whatever that means in the Priorat.
The herbs included Lemon Verbena, Sage, Thistle, Mint and Angelica, unless I'm fucking up the Spanish.
 
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