Review: Renzo Masi Chianti

Have you had those moments when you go to a restaurant, look at the wine list and realize that you don’t know any of the specific wine brands listed? With thousands and thousands of wines on the market, it’s not that uncommon of an occurrence — even for experienced wine lovers with a fairly broad familiarity with different wines. What I do in these situations is order by region and style of wine.

One of my “go to” regions for red wines is Chianti Classico — particularly if I’m having classic (Americanized) Italian foods, but it’s also a good choice for things like burgers. Although there are some differences from one producer to another within Chianti Classico, I have reasonable confidence the wine I get will be food-friendly, aromatic, well-balanced and of good quality. I know this in part because there’s a Chianti Classico Consortium that closely regulates winemaking practices for producers in the region and must approve of wines before they can use the Chianti Classico designation. And I trust wines with this designation in part because I’ve had so many of them and my experience has taught me what to expect from these wines.

But wait… the wine I’m reviewing today from Renzo Masi is not a Chianti Classico. It’s labeled as Chianti DOCG! “What does that mean?,” you might ask. Good question.

This brings me to one of my pet peeves with wine designations — how complicated and confusing it can be for general consumers.

If I talked with 20 of my friends who enjoy wine, but are not super duper into wine, I would be surprised if more than two of them even realized there’s a distinction between Chianti Classico and Chianti DOCG, much less had knowledge of all the different sub-regions within the greater Chianti region. I mean look at all the regions broken out in this map. I would expect many of my friends would just think of wine from this area as Chianti, period. Some might not even realize there’s a region associated with it.

So what does all this mean? What are the differences? Hmmmm, it’s complicated.

Does it mean that Chianti DOCG and Chianti Classico are dramatically different wines? Well… not necessarily, but sometimes yes.

Is one better than the other? Sometimes yes, sometimes maybe not, or no. I guess it depends on what you like.

Does the Chianti Classico Consortium guarantee quality in their wines? No, there are no guarantees. By the way, I forgot to mention that Chianti has a regulatory consortium too.

If you really want to dig into some of the differences between Chianti and Chianti Classico, this is a good article from Wine Enthusiast to get you started.

In broad generalizations, I consider Chianti Classico to be a designation that conveys a certain level of quality (although there are even more sub-designations within Chianti Classico, specifically meant to address quality but let’s not get into that right now). Although I can’t say I’ve never had a Chianti Classico that disappointed me.

When a wine is labeled as Chianti DOCG, however, I tend to be slightly less confident about the quality if I don’t know the producer. But I can absolutely say that I’ve had some Chianti DOCG that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

This is probably a good place to segue into talking specifically about the wine I’m reviewing today, a Chianti DOCG from Renzo Masi. This wine comes from the Chianti Rufina sub-region of Chianti, which is generally considered to be the best area in the greater Chianti region, after Chianti Classico, for growing sangiovese, the primary grape in Chianti wines. Chianti Rufina is the smallest sub-zone within Chianti and is much more hilly and higher altitude than the Chianti Classico region. These geographic differences result in cooler conditions, which allow the grapes to ripen more slowly.

This wine is 95% sangiovese, with 5% colorino grapes added. The colorino, as the name suggests, adds color to the wine. But it also adds some structure.

The nose of this wine is plum city! I mean taking a whiff of this wine is like sticking your head into a basket full of ripe plums. It also offers less intense nuances of allspice, strawberry and floral aromas. The palate is delicious, offering ripe plum, strawberry and white pepper flavors. The acidity is good, adding some vibrancy. The mouthfeel is also good, but could be richer. The finish is fairly long, with tart plum and cherry flavors.

I would not describe this as a sophisticated or complicated wine. But it is good. And that’s how the producer describes it too, “just plain good.” And with a suggested retail price of just $12 bucks, a good Chianti like this is a great deal!

Wine: Renzo Masi Chianti
Varieties: 95% sangiovese, 5% colorino
Vintage: 2018
Alcohol: 13%
Rating: 85
Average price: $12.00
Disclosure: This wine was received as a media sample.