Vin Santo del Chianti
The origin of “Vin Santo” is lost in legend.
It was first mentioned at the beginning of Christianity, probably in reference to a wine used to celebrate mass. According to legend, in 1348 (the year of the plague), a Dominican monk used the ancestor of this wine to soothe the pain of the sick. This is believed to be one of the reasons why this nectar was considered miraculous, and consequently holy, or “Santo”.
The most famous theory dates the name Vin Santo back to 1439, to an ecumenical council held in Florence by Pope Eugene IV, with the aim of reuniting the Eastern and Western Churches after the great schism. A banquet was organised by the Medici family and a passito wine was served: Cardinal Bessarione, Bishop of Nicaea, exclaimed “Hoc Xanthos est!” meaning that it was a “xanthos” wine, literally “blond” like certain passito wines, or because it tasted like a wine made on the island of Xanto/Santo (Santorini, Greece); this was immediately assimilated by the participants into Latin, with the word “sanctus”, meaning “holy”. Others believe that the origin of the word must be associated with the production cycle of this wine, which has always been intertwined with the celebration of the major festivities of the Christian liturgical calendar.
The D.O.C.
Vin Santo del Chianti has held the Denominazione di Origine Controllata since 1996. It is usually made from white and sometimes red grapes, dried in a delicate natural dehydration process and aged at length in wooden barrels.
According to the Chianti production regulations, it must be aged for at least three years in small barrels, often made of a variety of woods, locally known as “caratelli”, where it undergoes numerous seasonal fermentation cycles and ages at the same time. In the “Riserva” version, this elevation process lasts at least four years.
The grapes
Traditionally, Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia Bianca lunga del Chianti, are the native white grapes most frequently used and considered suitable for its production.
By law they must account, together or individually, for at least 70% of the blend. Sometimes they are blended with other local grapes such as San Colombano or Canaiolo Bianco, or even Sangiovese, which cannot however exceed 30% in the classic version.
If at least 50% Sangiovese grapes are used in the blend, the product can be called “Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice d.o.c.”
Drying
After careful selection of the bunches of grapes on the vine, which are known as “i scelti” (the chosen ones), the grapes are hand-picked into small crates and transported to the “Vinsantaia”, a closed area of the winery that is usually well-positioned and ventilated. This space traditionally corresponds to the attic, the rooms used for centuries, together with the underground cellars, for storing materials and dried food.
These particular places are naturally sensitive to external elements, particularly changes in temperature and air, which the producer wisely allows in by opening all the windows. These rooms, which have no form of temperature control, are therefore quite dry and reflective of the temperatures outside, be they hot or cold.
There are two main methods of drying the grapes: either they are left to lie on woven mats, known in local dialect as “cannicci” or “graticci”, or they are hung from supports, the key to good results being the circulation of air around the bunches, achieved by leaving an appropriate distance between them.
This slow and gentle dehydration process, which begins in September, can last from three to six months.
During these months, the producer supervises the evolution of the bunches, taking care to eliminate any that may be mouldy or contain foreign bodies, discarding damaged grapes and turning them over if they are placed on mats.
Vinification and ageing
Once the drying process is complete, the bunches are inspected carefully to ensure that no fragments of stalks, broken or mouldy grapes, dust or impurities in general remain, and then they are gently pressed. The must obtained is approximately ⅓ to ¼ of the weight of the grapes and is usually very syrupy and concentrated in terms of sugar.
After partial racking, the must is transferred to the “caratelli” mentioned earlier, which are usually located in the drying room.
These small, special wooden casks often have unusual characteristics: they have a reduced capacity (between 50, 70, 100 litres, and seldom 200), are often very old (not infrequently hundreds of years old) and are made from unusual woods, such as chestnut, cherry, acacia, mulberry and, to a small extent, oak.
The casks are filled, leaving a small amount of air at the end, and sealed, often with cement.
Due to the high concentration of sugars in the must, the yeasts that inhabit both the casks and the environment in the Vinsantaia begin to consume them slowly in the cold winter months, triggering alcoholic fermentation. The external atmospheric conditions are decisive in the evolution of Vin Santo: cold weather slows fermentation, while warm weather awakens it, to the point of turbulence. The wine accompanies the course of the seasons for years in this way, dancing a long imaginary minuet.
This process is also marked by another, equally important factor: oxidation. As the small casks are kept in ventilated areas, the staves tend to shrink with age, allowing the air to penetrate and oxygenate the wine inside, further conditioning its evolution.
Naturally, the use of “caratelli” is decisive in conveying special attributes to Vin Santo: each cask is unique and has its own fermentation system.
Opening the casks
After the wine has aged for the minimum number of years required by the production regulations, the casks can be opened and the products they contain carefully tasted in order to check their flavour and quality. Some barrels will have a dry or semi-dry taste if the yeasts have completed their long work of digesting the sugars; other barrels may have a sweet or semi-sweet taste if this process has not yet been completed; in others, the product may have developed mould, or the contents may have even evaporated.
Finally, a blend of all the wines contained in the casks is completed, and this will be the final blend and style that the producer will convey to his wine, which can now be racked, filtered, racked again and finally bottled as “Vin Santo del Chianti d.o.c.”, with a very long life and evolution in the bottle ahead of it.
Vin Santo: an icon of Tuscan heritage
An exceptional, precious, unique wine that requires long and precise care in every phase of its development. Above all, it is the wine that represents hospitality and friendship in Tuscany, where it has always traditionally accompanied the most important family events.
Quite dry in the past but rather sweet today, Vin Santo del Chianti d.o.c. is undoubtedly a surprising and unique wine for a number of reasons. With its shades of gold and amber, it mesmerises at first glance, like a small casket shining with its own inner light.
The bouquet is out of this world! A vast and ever-changing range of aromas pervades, with surprising concentration and intensity: notes of dried yellow fruit, like apricots and sultanas, but sometimes sweeter, with scents of figs and dates; nuances of honey, sometimes finer and more fragrant, like acacia, sometimes more resinous and balsamic, like eucalyptus. There are some volatile alcoholic hints in the background, reminiscent of solvents and certain liqueurs; more unusual, but clearly evident, are hints of citrus and candied fruit.
On the palate, Vin Santo is a mille-feuille of flavours. You don’t drink Vin Santo, you “read” it with your tongue, as if it were a book to be chewed. Full, viscous, warm, intense and persistent, played out in perfectly matched contrasts and volumes. It can be a “slap in the face” with its bitter oxidised notes of walnut husk and vinegary hints, yet also a “caress” with its spontaneous richness and little touches of sweet spices.
With its unrepeatable taste, its silky and enveloping palate, of rare complexity, it is undoubtedly the finest liquid expression of Tuscan character.
add_a_photo Martino Dini
