Traditional Chianti remains perfect counterpoint to Italian cuisine

Tuscany’s native sangiovese is Italy’s most widely planted wine grape, known for its midweight wines that look more red than black in the glass.

The most famous wines are grown in the Chianti region, with many of the finest examples hailing from the smaller Classico district at its heart, just south of the city of Florence. Most Chiantis are blends that place sangiovese in the starring role and can seem surprisingly tart and astringent on first sip.

This is especially true when the vintner takes a traditionalist approach to winemaking, as Castello di Albola does here, and all the more striking when the drinker is someone accustomed to the softer, fruitier wines of the Americas or southern hemisphere.

Italy’s traditional style of winemaking is quite different from how more modern wines are made. The grapes are harvested at a lower degree of ripeness to preserve their piquant acidity and pleasantly earthy flavor profile. During fermentation, flavor complexity and food-friendliness are prioritized over flavor intensity and color extraction. In the maturation stage, the casks used are both larger and older to minimize the “oaky” flavors associated with aging wine in smaller, newer barrels. These decisions result in wines like this one that are bright and bone-dry with flavors of sour cherries, pomegranates, and oolong tea. Their bone-dry sharpness may read as a weakness on first sip, but quickly become assets at the dinner table, able to cut through the richness and saltiness that comes with Italy’s exceptional cuisine and provide a perfect counterpoint.

$14.99 13% alcohol

PLCB Item #6508

Sale price through 2/27 — regularly $18.99

Also available at these New Jersey shops:

Gloucester City Bottlestop in Gloucester City, $13.99, bottlestopnj.com; Joe Canal’s in Lawrenceville, $14.99, lawrenceville.jcanals.com; and Canal’s in Mount Ephraim, $14.99, mycanals.com.