During one of the most complex historical periods of the last century (from the 1920s to the 1940s), the President of the Consorzio per la difesa del Vino Tipico del Chianti (oggi Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico) was Gino Sarrocchi.
Gino Sarrocchi served as President of the Consortium from 1927 to 1947, and he is remembered for opposing certain legislative measures passed in the early 1940s regarding wine production in the area now defined as the Chianti Classico territory. These measures were aimed at expanding the production area, which could have weakened the connection between the wine and its historic area of origin.
Sarrocchi sent a letter to the director of La Nazione, expressing his concerns:
“But must we really admit and believe that the Chianti of Chianti (we’ll call it that so as not to get entangled in the intrigues of oenological nomenclature) should be considered as a res nullius, which any other wines could appropriate the name of, deluding themselves into acquiring its qualities as well, qualities that fortunately derive from the laws and conditions of nature and are not the product of regulatory daring nor bureaucratic artifices?”
As we can see, even back then, the issue of the territory of origin and the importance of producing Chianti Classico wine solely within the Chianti Classico territory was seen as crucial by the Consortium!