So, the wines were:
2006 Monte Antico Toscana ($12)
1996 Castell'in Villa Chianti Classico ($24)
Interesting factoid #1: Though the Monte Antico is just three years old and costs only $12, it scored a 90 from Wine Spectator magazine (just inching it into the "outstanding" category), which also ranked it among the top 100 wines of 2009.
Interesting factoid #2: Though the Castelli'in is a true Chianti Classico--which means it is a higher-end Chianti, which is itself a regional designation for Sangioveses--from way back in 1996, we both liked the cheap Monte Antico better.
Interesting factoid #3: Though we liked one wine over the other, they weren't so different.
I'm sure we all associate the most famous of Sangiovese wines, Chianti, with one of two things, neither of them positive: the first is Anthony Hopkins's Hannibal Lecter and the second is wicker baskets. First, Lecter: remember the scene in Silence of the Lambs where Hannibal claims he ate a victim's liver with "fava beans and a fine Chianti--FWP FWP FWP FWP!" (Don't be fooled here: Hopkins pronounces it kee-YAN-tee, rhyming with "ante." It's really kee-YON-tee, rhyming with "full monte.") Somehow, Lecter's associating of Chianti with cannibalizing a schizophrenic's liver turned off a nation, or at least this nation-dweller, to this fine Italian wine.
And second, the wicker basket thing: that was a marketing gimmick from the 1960s and '70s, meant to rouse images of rustic meals in hillside Tuscan villas. Unfortunately, despite its immediate popularity, the wicker basket and round-bellied bottle came to signify cheapness. In 1993, while visiting Tuscany, I sipped my first really transformative red wine and abandoned this cheap or crass image of Chianti and Sangiovese. But I think these kinds of memories play a strong role in how we approach wines.
Anyway, back to the wines at hand.
Monte Antico
Tracy calls this wine a "true red" (she rated it a 21; so caught up in tasting and taking notes was I that I forgot to score these wines numerically). It is a well-balanced wine with tons of berry flavors, ripe black fruit, spicy prickliness, and a soothing tannic singe on the tongue and teeth. The flavor of this wine soared up into my sinuses and upper palate, full of leather, tobacco and what Tracy insisted was "cigar box"--a rich cedar aroma. It was a perfect compliment to the acidic tomato sauce: light and clear and smooth. This is cheerful wine.
The Chianti
While there were some significant differences here, this wine wasn't extraordinarily different. (Tracy scored it a 20.) We found many overlapping flavors--leather, tobacco, cigar box, and black fruit--but also some decidedly new ones. Most conspicuously, I could taste with ringing clearness the hint of oak (and many Chiantis do spend some time in some oak). Tracy came up with the term "library" to account for the fulsome, woody richness of leather and mustiness. It was a little rounder than the previous wine--less prickly, I guess--and had a bare hint of sweetness. I liked this wine, but found no flavor or tone here that I didn't like better in the Monte Antico.
The first wine is half the price of the second. I think the blind tasting may have really helped us see that the wines are really similar. In fact, I'm wondering if blind tastings are essential here, because the Chianti bottle looks really great and the Sangiovese bottle looks quite plonky and amateur. I'm susceptible to bling. In any case, I would like to be the guy who buys the good $12 bottle.
I'm looking forward to trying more Chiantis in the future. On my list are a Chianti Riserva (that is, a Chianti Classico that has been aged for some time), a "Super Tuscan" (a complicated designation that means, essentially, that the wine is mostly Sangiovese, unlike Chiantis, which may be mixed with ancillary varietals), and a Brunello (the top-tier Sangiovese). I also have a bottle of 1999 Barolo, a very fine and special wine, but it has sentimental value to me and I'm saving it for some time to come.
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