Rocca delle Macie, Chianti Riserva, 2006, Tuscany, D.O.C.G

Italy is a demanding wine region. As a modern nation-state, Italy is just a bit older than Canada. It's an incredibly diverse, complex and slightly illogical cobbling together of micro-regions with distinct idiomatic dialects, cuisines, hand gesturing, blood vendettas, hairstyles, virgins and wine-making styles. Schiopettino. Uva de Troia. Nuragus. Ribolla Gialla. Pignolo. These are neither diseases nor dead Emperors. These are grapes. Varietals that dominate pockets of the country. Having said that, Tuscany is what most people picture when the word Italy is lobbed into a conversation - villas, hilltop monasteries, cyprus trees and those cool straw-cased bottles that you can find in the basement kitchens that Italian mothers cook in so as to avoid wearing out the nice main-floor kitchen.

Chianti. This stylish grass skirt ensemble could never hide the fact that Chianti was - for many, many years - total crank; at least the Chianti available to North Americans. The dark days of crank-running are now history. I don't claim to offer much insight into Chianti's evolution. I haven't tasted enough of it to have developed a comparative base. I do know that Sangiovese is the main grape - medium bodied, moderately tannic, highly acidic, with hints of red fruit, leather, earth and savoury spice. It's often compared to Spanish Tempranillo and - as someone with a weakness for Spain - I've usually gone with this alternative. Tempranillo is good value. But Chianti is classic Italian food wine. While wines from the region are often too tart to be drunk on their own, they combine Michael-angelically with tomato-based pastas, Parmigiana, marinated peppers and wild boar.

Spaghetti Bolognese (adapted from The Oprah Magazine Cookbook)

Elements:
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 1/4 cup of diced double smoked bacon or pancetta
- 1 pound ground beef (not lean)
- salt, pepper, pinch of all spice
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup of dry white wine
- 15 ounce canned tomatoes with juice
- 1 pound pasta
- Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese for grating
- olive oil

1) In heavy-bottomed sauce pan or Dutch Oven, cook double smoked bacon with a little olive oil until just beginning to brown. Add diced vegetables, raise heat to medium. Stir frequently until onion is translucent and soft.

2) Add ground beef, splitting with spoon. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus some pepper and pinch of all spice. Cook until meat is browned.

3) Add milk. When it begins to simmer, reduce heat to low and cook at gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, until milk had mostly boiled away (30 minutes).

4) Add white wine and cook like you did with the milk. When mostly boiled away, add tomatoes and juice and bring to a simmer. Cover pot. Reduced heat to low. Allow sauce to cook very gently at barest simmer, 2.5 - 3 hours. Season to taste with salt.

5) Just before sauce is done, bring pot of water to a boil, salt it generously, and boil pasta according to package directions. Drain, mix with 1/3 of sauce. Serve remaining sauce on top with bigtime dosages of grated cheese.

Tasting and Pairing Notes for the 2006 Rocca della Macie Chianti Riserva...

The back labelling of the bottle admits that this wine carries 'a touch of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot' but I've read reviews that put that quantity at as much as 15 precent of the wine. There seems to be no mention of Chianti Riserva on the producer's website. So I'm forced to make some uneducated deductions, which is a personal specialty. What I deduce is that this wine has roughly the same Sangiovese to French varietal proportion as Tignanello - a famous Super Tuscan. Now Super Tuscans came to fame in the 1970s when some winemakers decided to use untraditional French grapes - a significant breach of Italian wine law - which disqualified them from using the famous 'Chianti' name. They were forced to fly under the flag 'vino de tavola' - table wine. Ouch. These table wines, however, turned out to be some of the richest, most complex wines on earth. But as wines without an official place name it becomes hard to say what exactly separates a Super Tuscan from some market-savy Sangiovese producer who adds a little French to his blend. I mean, we know that Ornellaia, Tignanello and Sassicaia are Super Tuscans. On reputation alone. But what about basic Sangiovese, Cabernet, Merlot blends? Are they Super Tuscans or even baby Super Tuscans? Adding to the complication is that Italian wine laws have slackened to allow some Super Tuscans status as regular Chianti. And it seems that a D.O.C.G Chianti can now contain an amount of French varietals too. 

The 2006 Rocca delle Macie is a good example of this. It's very good wine with obvious notes of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. On the nose, I got bruised plum, dusty red fruit, something resinous like black olive and leather. On the palate is where things go French. First of all, the sour cherry and taut, taut acidity that typifies Sangiovese is dominant, but there are definite secondary flavours of dark fruit, specifically cassis and black current - which is to say Cabernet Sauvignon. A fairly long finish with aniseed, herbs, and a certain savoury, dusty roundness. It matched very well with the Spaghetti Bolognese. I wish understanding Italian wine classification were as simple and elegant as this pairing.