When I pass the Italian section in the wine store I always look for the Black Rooster adorning the Chianti Classico bottles, and grin at the small things that some regions do to make their wines recognizable. Chateauneuf-du-Papes raises a shield on the glass of the bottle, to protect from someone trying to sell lesser wines as the real McCoy. You may recall that Chianti is the Tuscan region in Italy near Florence. It is divided into seven sub-zones, of which Classico is the largest, and generally considered of better quality than the others. Sangiovese is the predominant grape, and medium bodied, food friendly wines are the style. The legend of the Black Rooster (or Gallo Nero) comes from an old fable of how the cities of Florence and Sienna resolved a border dispute:
In a bid to put an end to their interminable wars, the two Tuscan cities decided to entrust the determination of their common border to an extraordinary contest involving a horseman from each community. Each horseman would set out from his city the moment a rooster crowed to announce the rising of the sun. The border between the two republics would be drawn at the point where the two riders met. The Sienese selected as their feathered "alarm clock" a white rooster that had been generously fed and coddled and had become plump and satiated because of its excessive diet. The Florentines picked a black rooster, which had been fed little and was always hungry. On the day of the contest, it crowed long before the sun rose so that Florence's champion took to the road before dawn. Only when he reached Fonterutoli, about 10 miles from Siena, did he encounter the Sienese rider. It is for that reason that nearly all of the Chianti Classico zone passed under the jurisdiction of the Florentine Republic.
True? Who knows. But I think I’ll have some Pasta.
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