Bettino Ricasoli Firidolfi served as the fourth President of the Consorzio per la difesa del Vino Tipico del Chianti e della sua Marca di Origine (renamed in 1968 as the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico) from 1958 to 1974. It was under his presidency that the Consortium adopted its current name, a pivotal milestone in the development and growth of Black Rooster wine.
As early as 1959, Bettino Ricasoli Firidolfi was urging the Consortium’s General Assembly to accept the recognition of the “Classico” suffix for wines produced in the original area of origin. This referred to the 1932 wine regulation law, which also allowed producers outside the original area to call their wine “Chianti.”
Here is Firidolfi’s speech from April 1959, where he, with pragmatic foresight, sought to persuade the assembly to embrace change:
“If we do not decide in this way, we would continue to hinder the promulgation of the law we so hope for, or, if it were passed, we would probably face a law that does not take into account any of the most important interests of Chianti territory producers.”
A small but significant piece of history that would lead, in 1968, to the Consortium taking on the name it still bears today!