1997 Castello di Ama Chianti Classico

Castello di Ama is in Gaiole di Chianti, in the heart of the Chianti Classico region. It is owned and operated by the husband-and-wife team of Lorenza Sebasti and Marco Pallanti. Sebasti’s father had purchased the land in the 1970s, and Pallanti became the winemaker there. By the early 1990s the couple were renovating the historic tenuta, or farm, and producing Chianti that impressed reviewers. In 2003 Gambero Rosso honored Marco Pallanti as Winemaker of the year, and in 2005 the journal named Castello di Ama the Best Winery of the Year. Castello di Ama owns 240 acres of vineyards and produces a portfolio of acclaimed Chianti Classicos, as well as red, rose and white Toscana wines. Gambero Rosso regularly gives the estate’s Chianti the highest rating of 3 glasses, and notes that “an authentic style has always been the salient feature of Ama wines…” Some 400,000 bottles are produced annually.

Chianti is Tuscany’s most famous and historic wine district, and the Chianti Classico DOCG is the most prestigious Chianti appellation. Fittingly, it is located in the heart of the larger Chianti DOCG. Chianti’s wines were so esteemed during the Renaissance that the Medici princes of Florence designated several villages within the Chianti region as discrete production zones, setting up the first appellations in Italy. By the 20th century Chianti was Italy’s primary wine export. But the pizza parlor Chiantis sent to foreign markets were inexpensive, unremarkable reds presented in round-bottomed, straw-covered bottles. To upgrade Chianti wines and the region’s image, the Chianti Classico DOC was created in 1967, then upgraded to DOCG status in 1984, with additional modifications made in 1996. In the last 20 years a consortium of Chianti Classico producers have researched new Sangiovese clones, replanted vineyards, updated cellar practices and generally made Chianti Classico DOCG a world-class appellation. Chianti Classico must contain a minimum of 75% Sangiovese. In the 2014 edition of its annual compendium of wine ratings, Gambero Rosso noted that Chianti Classico DOCG wines were noteworthy for their “significant return to a more defined style, true to tradition.”

This red grape is largely grown in central Italy. As the sole component or in a blend, it gives us Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino and Super Tuscans, among other favorites wines. The name is derived from the Latin for “blood of Jove.”