They say that if you want something to fail let the government take it over. An exaggeration perhaps, but that's precisely what happened to Chianti... The wine that is.

For years, Italy's stringent wine laws prescribed a highly regulated system under which Chianti and several hundred other Italian wines were produced. The Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) laws governed the environment, varietal content, and the procedures for making Chianti. Conforming wines could use the Chianti DOC designation and received a government seal. All other wines were classified as Vino di Tavola (table wine) which was unregulated. The DOC rules were more restrictive than progressive. They prohibited modern vinification methods or the use of non-native grape varieties commonly used in other parts of the world. Yields, on the other hand, were not controlled at all. As quality fell, the incentive was to increase production. It seemed like the only way to sustain profitability; even in the face of overcapacity and declining prices. Unfortunately the conservative politics of the wine bureaucracy opposed any change that might mitigate the growing problem. The rules did however impose a kind of uniform standard for Chianti wines. They were uniformly bad, cheap and abundantly overproduced.

Thanks in part to a handful of renegades who went up against the system and won, the wines of Tuscany today are some of the worlds finest. When frustrated producers gave up on the DOC designation and began producing the best wines they could under the lesser Vino di Tavola denomination, they created a class of great wines destined to become known to the world as "Super Tuscans". Super Tuscan wines began to dominate the market, some fetching prices rivaling the great wines of Bordeaux. As quality, prices and demand continued to increase, more producers followed suit. Without change, Italian wine law and it's regulators faced eventual obsolescence. Since bureaucracies generally fear death more than change, reforms were soon considered. In 1984 The Chianti Classico region was reclasified DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita). Chiant moved up a notch on the wine hierarchy and the Chianti formula was modified significantly. Foreign varietals were accepted along with new methods in the cellar and yields in the vineyards were reduced to achieve better quality. In 1996 the formula was adjusted again to allow even greater blending of "foreign" grapes.

No less instrumental in the Chianti renaissance has been a monumental viticultural project undertaken by the Consortium of Chianti classico producers. The Chianti Classico Consorzio, was formed in 1924 to protect and promote the Chianti zone. The union of Chianti producers adopted the Gallo Nero (black rooster) as their trademark. Wines produced by members of the organization still bear the symbol today. Under the ambitious new program called Chianti Classico 2000 Scientific, agrarian and technical resources aimed at improving quality were sponsored by the Chianti producers. The program has fostered the replantation of improved sangiovese clones and production methods vastly enhancing the potential of the region to make better quality wines. Chianti Classico 2000 along with the initiatives undertaken by the independent producers continues to improve quality in Tuscany across the board.