1716 was the year that Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo III set the boundaries of the production zone for Chianti wine, today’s Chianti Classico: an area between the cities of Florence and Siena in which the wine was cultivated, and already greatly appreciated.
The unbreakable connection between wine and land of origin was therefore formalised with a decree to determine ope legis which product could boast the now-famous name of Chianti, by establishing the following: “for Chianti this has been determined and shall be. From Spedaluzzo to Greve; from there to Panzano, with all the podesteria of Radda, which contains three parts, that is Radda, Gajole and Castellina, as far as the boundary with the state of Siena”.
But the legislator’s work did not end here: Cosimo also issued another decree in the same year, which established a surveillance group to watch over production, shipping, checking for fraud, and wine trading. Even at this time, the phenomenon of counterfeit Chianti wine production for export purposes – especially to England – was widespread. So it was a sort of ante litteram protective consortium.
This is why 1716 is, and always will be, fundamentally important for Chianti Classico wine: today it falls within the Gallo Nero trademark that identifies all the designation’s wines.
