Winemaker Notes
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When the late Italo Zingarelli, a former boxer and film producer, bought Rocca delle Macìe in Tuscany's Chianti Classico district back in 1973, he embarked on a new career as one of Tuscany's more unlikely wine producers.
It was certainly not intended to be a hobby... it was a vocation, a desire to return to the soil." Zingarelli, who passed away in the spring of 2000, was always quick to point out.
Working closely with his son Sergio, Zingarelli set about restoring the property that Sergio together with his wife Daniela, who plays an active role in the day-to-day management of the estate, and their two children now call home. Then a tumbled down 14th-century farmstead near the village of Castellina in Chianti, it was surrounded by acres of neglected vines. Vineyards were replanted from scratch; further property, was acquired, and a state-of-the-art cellar built and installed with the latest winemaking equipment. The Zingarellis left nothing to chance in their quest to create a stellar Tuscan wine estate.
Organic fertilization, careful pruning, the introduction of small oak barrels for aging and harvesting by hand are just some of the practices Sergio and his father instituted at the estate. Rocca is an active member of the Chianti Classico growers' consortium, which takes the black rooster as its symbol.
One of the first wine regions anywhere to be officially recognized and delimited, Chianti Classico is today what was originally defined simply as Chianti. Already identified by the early 18th century as a superior zone, the official name of Chianti was proclaimed upon the area surrounding the townships of Castellina, Radda and Gaiole, just north of Siena, by Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany in an official decree in 1716.
However, by the 1930s the Italian government had appended this historic zone with additonal land in order to capitalize on the Chianti name. It wasn’t until 1996 that Chianti Classico became autonomous once again when the government granted a separate DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) to its borders. Ever since, Chianti Classico considers itself no longer a subzone of Chianti.
Many Classicos are today made of 100% Sangiovese but can include up to 20% of other approved varieties grown within the Classico borders. The best Classicos will have a bright acidity, supple tannins and be full-bodied with plenty of ripe fruit (plums, black cherry, blackberry). Also common among the best Classicos are expressive notes of cedar, dried herbs, fennel, balsamic or tobacco.
