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Place, producer key in wine taste
It is a fact that the same grape variety bearing the same name tastes differently when grown in different soil
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t is a fact that the same grape variety bearing the same name tastes differently when grown in different soil. Hence, Italian wines, like other Old World wines, are named after the area or region from where they originate, not after their grape variety as in the case of New World wines.
Knowledge about grape varieties gives only basic physical, stereotypical information about the wine. Knowledge about where they come from, however, will enable one to identify the varieties as well as their characters and taste.
To qualify as Chianti, a wine has to have a Sangiovese component up to 85 percent and the remaining 15 percent can be Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon or white grape varieties such as Trebbiano and Malvasia, according to Giovanni.
However, a wine made from Sangiovese is not necessarily Chianti because Sangiovese can be grown elsewhere and its taste profile changes according to the place where it is grown, which the French refer to as terroir.
"Grape varieties are not important. What's more important is the place, the quality of the environment in which the vines are grown and the producer who makes the wine *because their wine making style will affect the quality and the taste of the wine*," concluded the bespectacled Italian.
- Arif Suryobuwono.
