The Wines of the Province of Florence

I was having a nice chat at the 2009 Italian Style Expo at Navy Pier a couple weeks ago with a representative from the Camera di Commercio Firenze (Florence Chamber of Commerce). She had so many lovely features to show me about the offerings of the area, and I hope to show you each and every one. Of course, if I had my preference, I'd be showing you pictures and writing blog posts directly from Firenze on each tour and in each splendid accommodation, but you can't have everything, I guess.

One of things she gave to me at the end of our talk was a brochure called Wine in Florence: Discovering an "Ancient" Food. Upon reading it, it turns out that I didn't know as much about the wine of the province of Florence as I thought I did.

I turns out that there are only two DOCG (controlled and guaranteed designation of origin) wines from the province:

1. Chianti
2. Chianti Classico

There are five (5) DOC (controlled designation of origin) wines:

1. Bianco dell'empolese
2. Colli dell'Etruria centrale
3. Pomino
4. Vinsanto del Chianti
5. Vinsanto del Chianti Classico

And, three (3) IGT (typical geographical indication) wines:

1. Alta valle della Greve
2. Colli della Toscana centrale
3. Toscano o Toscana

I was under the impression that there were more from this region, but I must have been blending in some wines from the neighboring provinces. And, I must admit, I am not yet familiar with some of the DOC wines. I think getting to know these wines better sounds like a fun project for the last few weeks of summer.

In the meantime, if you are interested in more about the wines of the province of Florence (Firenze), or are interested in the most recent offerings of this glorious region, please visit the website of the Camera di Commercio Firenze . In the upper left of the home page you can select to view the site in English. I don't think the whole site is viewable in English yet, but you can certainly take advantage of what is available already. The rest will only help me improve my Italian language studies.

Enjoy!