Michael Schmelzer: Exactly. It’s far more historic, a much larger area that probably has made some poor decisions in the past. Much like the early Lambruscos that hit some of the foreign markets, cheap, large-volume versions were the first ones, really, to make a name for those regions.

So Chianti Classico, even though it is the original and one of the most historic growing regions of Europe — it’s reputed to be the first protected wine region in Europe — it has suffered many image problems based on poor quality wines making to these export markets. It is a challenge for us. Brunello di Montalcino has been very successful in marketing themselves as the great Sangiovese of Tuscany and Italy. For me, the Chianti Classico region really is kind of [like] the Côte-Rôtie of the Rhône Valley: a very special area with high altitude, rockier soils, bigger drop in temperatures, really an area that can produce more elegant, age-worthy Sangioveses in a lot of ways than anyone.

As a small producer, I feel that instead of following the kind of Gran Riserva, Gran Selezione road, Chianti should really be moving towards the sub-zone distinctions to break up this large area and help us and our consumers understand the big differences between this large area, so that they can all be appreciated, and have people start writing books about the different areas and the different soils, and what makes each sub-region special so that the whole market will expand for all of us.