Anniversaries like St. Valentine's day or International Women's Day are in danger of being sujected to a somewhat rhetorical approach. Welcome then to Chianti lovers, a great event created in Tuscany last year for Valentine's day and successfully re-enacted now, in 2016. It has transformed a celebration imported from USA, into a joyful event, based on an Italian way of celebrating love and friendship. By means of the Culture of Tuscan wine. The famous Chianti, the so called Chianti dei colli fiorentini, a DOCG (wine of “Controlled and Guaranteed Origin"), not to be confused with Chianti Classico. The officially registered area of origin is shown in the map.

The day before Valentine's day is dedicated to journalists, mainly foreigners, coming to taste and judge the 2015 harvest and the 2013 Riserva vintages. It was held again in the former tobacco factory Ex Manifattura Tabacchi, a striking Architecture of the 40s.The facade of the building was lit up with red lights, very appropriate for wine and heart.

The 14th of February, the fair opens to lovers, the couples wanting to celebrate (San Valentino) St.Valentine's day . An idea very likely suggested by the interest of THE younger generations for alcohol, but offering them a totally different approach to beverages, served together with delicious food, in the Italian tradition which expects one to drink while eating.It's also an opportunity for connaisseurs to taste many different wines and to learn more about how to match a certain food with the right Chianti.

During this 2016 Tuscan Wine preview, over 2400 visited the fair, including specialized journalists, connaisseurs, simple visitors and couples of lovers, to discover and taste the new wine production as well as the three years old vintages, One hundred wine producers gave four hundred types of wine to be tasted for free throught te area.Without this sort of events, it should be easy to lose one's way in the innumerable varieties of wines and grapes produced. Grappa as well was there, though not often produced, because of the regulations for its storage, very heavy if the producer does'nt have a large vineyard. Vin Santo, a traditional wine that is a result of a lengthy and laborious procedure (for which extra skill is needed), is also granted DOCG recognition if produced in the Chianti vine farms.

By the way, to refer the name “Chianti” only to wine is somewhat inappropriate, as it is the name of an area of Tuscany full of historical events. A hilly and plane scenary, where olive trees and vinyards grow harmoniously around the medieval villages, farmhouses and villas built over the centuries. An area in which visitors should stay more than one day. A cursory visit won't inable one to appreciate cultural wealth of the sites. The way of life, of Etruscan origin, can be better assimilated by renting a house or a villa for a period of time, so as to be able to go around, visiting the little villages, the castles and fortified medieval parish churches. A holiday to let you feel how peaceful is this nature, carefully tilled and farmed for centuries. Giving you the time to taste the food, or to try cooking it on your own, so that you can take home a recipe which will cause one to drink one's Chianti wine the way it has been created for, i.e. to be drunk with food to enhance its flavour.