Buy wine from Tuscany

The gently rolling hills, small villages, cypress trees and endless rows of vines under a blue sky. Tuscany is probably a place of longing for many Germans. It's nice to be able to bring the memories of your last holiday home with a glass of wine!

The leading grape variety is undoubtedly the Sangiovese grape, which has various clones with illustrious names such as Brunello, Prugnolo gentile or Morellino, depending on the growing region.

What exactly is Chianti

And then, of course, there is Chianti:

The Chianti region between Florence and Siena was mentioned by name as early as 1404 - albeit in connection with the purchase of a white wine.

Today, it is generally associated with high-quality red wines from the Sangiovese Grape. But of course, not all Chianti wines are the same! Depending on the municipality, there are already huge differences due to the different soil compositions.

The centrepiece and traditionally considered the best region is the Chianti Classico DOCG area around the municipalities of Castellina, Gaiole, Greve and Radda.

For example, the winery Castello di Fonterutoli produces its three Gran Selezione wines in three different municipalities alone in order to emphasise the subtle differences (the picture on the right shows the modern cellar building in Castellina)

The interplay of soils, microclimate, but also the composition of the grapes (in addition to Sangiovese, small proportions of other grape varieties can also be added) and of course the ageing process result in fundamentally different wines: everything is possible, from a simple wine for pizza to a great site wine.

The two noble wines Montalcino and Montepulciano

Brunello di Montalcino

One of the four big Bs of the wine world!

Brunello, which means "little brown one", is the name of the Sangiovese clone that produces one of the greatest Italian red wines. Together with its "brother" Vino Nobile (see right), these two regions received the first DOCG classification in 1980.

In contrast to Chianti, Montalcino is located further south, where it is warmer and drier, but the nights are cooler. This leads to an even more complex flavour profile.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano

The noble wine - once reserved for the nobility and popes

Montepulciano is the name of a municipality (pictured above) in the east of the province of Siena. The moderating influence of Lake Trasimeno is already noticeable here: evaporation often creates clouds of mist, which make the wine cooler.

This great wine should not be confused with the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo grape , which produces a completely different type of wine.