Ep 578: The Greats - Chianti Classico

Wine for Normal People

Alcohol, Lifestyle, Arts, Education, Food, Wine, Dining, Grapes

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week I return to The Greats series in which I explore the greatest wines in the world and how they became such big deals.

Photo: Vineyards in Chianti Classico. Credit: Unsplash

Chianti Classico, with its 700+ years of history and ideal terroir, is indisputably one of the great wines in the world. In this episode, I cover the long history of Chianti Classico, its ebbs and flows, and its current leaps in quality. I talk about the terroir of the region and why wines here are different from any other in the world and the best pairing with food you could ask for. I address the new Gran Selezione and Unità Geografiche Aggiuntive (UGA) systems, which are signs that Chianti Classico is ever improving.

Several times in the show I make the distinction between Chianti Classico DOCG and Chianti DOCG, so I'll reiterate here -- there is a big difference and it definitely is worth your time to listen and figure out why looking for the Gallo Nero/black rooster on a bottle of Chianti Classico will pay off in the glass!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Wine for Normal People, the podcast for people who like wine, but not the snobbery that goes with it.
0:15.7	I'm your host Elizabeth Schneider, author of the Wine for Normal People book and Certified Wine Dork.
0:21.5	This episode is brought to you by my sponsor, Wine Access, an online store for wine lovers
0:26.2	who want unique bottles you can't get locally. At Wine Access, every bottle is chosen by consensus
0:31.1	of a team of sommeliers and wine experts, so you're getting a wine with a story, a place, and a reason
0:36.3	for being offered. These are unique wines at all price points.
0:39.3	And a big bonus.
0:40.3	If you want me to pick out wines for you, join my wine club and you'll get six bottles four
0:43.9	times a year for 150 bucks of shipment, which includes shipping.
0:47.5	Go to wineaccess.com slash normal and listen in the middle of the show for more details.
0:53.2	I am so excited for this show.
0:55.4	Any opportunity I have to be transported in a way to Italy and specifically Tuscany,
1:02.8	which is the place that my love of Italy started because I studied abroad in Florence,
1:08.0	my junior year of college, and I just, it kind of kicked off this lifelong love
1:13.9	affair with Italy where I've wound up leading tours of patrons through Italy. I'm going to
1:19.0	Sicily in a month to do that. I just really love it. So having the opportunity to talk about
1:25.2	Italy, to study it, even some of the technical details
1:28.5	of Kianti Classico, which is the subject of this Great's podcast, I feel so excited and moved by it.
1:36.3	It's always really fun for me when I have a topic like that. Not to say that I don't love
1:40.6	everything that I do shows about, but this really has a special place in my heart.
1:45.8	I want to jump in because there is a lot of information. I do want to remind you before we get
1:50.9	into this, as I do with many of the shows on the Greats. A large part of the Greats series is the
	...

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