If you are serious about wine travel, you can visit wine regions on all of the continents. Europe is considered “old world;” however, they use modern winemaking equipment and practices. The other continents are “new world.” Rather than making wine for thousands of years, new world countries have made wine for hundreds of years. We encourage you to visit wineries in your own region. Foreign wine travel will enrich those experiences.

Italy

Visiting the Co-op Supermarket outside the walled town of San Gimignano, you can discover an assortment of Tuscan wines. Many include the Italian quality assurance label DOC and DOCG. On most of those tags, you will notice a circle with a black rooster image enclosed. While traveling in the Chianti Classico wine region of Tuscany, a billboard with the black rooster logo greets the passerby. What’s the deal with a black rooster?

The Legend of the Black Rooster

On our first trip to Italy, we discovered the legend of the black rooster. The Chianti Classico area lies between Florence to the north and Siena to the south. Since about the year 1000 AD, people living within the Tuscany borders as well as beyond the border enjoyed red wine produced from this area. The legend of the black rooster goes back to a time when the cities of Florence and Siena fought over the area that is now the Chianti Classico zone. Both cities wanted to claim Chianti Classico as their own. The dispute waged on for years, and in the early 1200s, the leaders decided to settle the issue by a competition.

Two horsemen set out at the crow of a cock. One equestrian from Florence and one from Siena would meet along the road connecting the two cities. The Sienese chose a well-fed white rooster as their official timekeeper, while the Florentines chose a starving black rooster for their timekeeper. On the day of the event, the black rooster began to crow early, long before sunrise, and the Florentine rider set off towards Siena. Meanwhile, the Sienese white rooster took its time and began to crow at sunrise. As a result, the Florentine rider was able to cover more ground and met the Sienese rider just 19 kilometers north of Siena. The boundary lines were drawn at the meeting spot, and the majority of the Chianti Classico region now fell under the jurisdiction of Florence.

This is a nice story, but is there any truth to it? We asked this question of our guide, Catherine Leiner, while visiting Fèlsina in Castelnuovo Berardenga, Siena. Catherine smiled and simply told us, “It’s a legend. Isn’t there some truth in every legend?” Whether or not the legend is true, the image of a black rooster on a gold background is 700 years old. The black rooster was branded in 1384 as the emblem for the League of Chianti. Today, the Black Rooster label is placed on the neck of a bottle of wine from the Chianti Classico zone.

Travel broadens one’s understanding of the world. We used to think we could identify something that was old. We discovered while at Fèlsina that old may have different meanings to different people. While touring the grounds, Terry mentioned that the cantina was an old building. Catherine immediately corrected him saying, “That’s not an old building. It was built in the 1700’s.”

How Old Is Old?

When Terry taught fifth grade, he used to take his students to Colonial Williamsburg for a field trip. Kathy accompanied him on occasion, and they returned to Colonial Williamsburg with their children many times. Old was the 17th and 18th centuries. When Catherine commented that the cantina was not old, it shattered our concept of old. Travel can often shatter pre-conceived notions. Catherine then took us to the remains of a building on the property. The first occupants of the house were monks, followed by farmers. The earliest document from the house is dated 1142. How old is old?

In some areas of the new world, for example South Africa, wine has been made for close to 350 years. However, wine was made for over two thousand years in parts of Europe. If compared, Europe winemaking is certainly older. We were quite surprised to see a state of the art winemaking facility at Mormoraia just outside the city of San Gimignano in Italy. The towers of the city remind one of the Middle Ages, and San Gimignano is often called the Manhattan of the Middle Ages. Mormoraia used to be a convent, and the nuns used to make wine. Today, computer run stainless steel tanks glisten. The entire winemaking facility is clean, crisp and new. How old is old?

How about wine vessels? The flange top was introduced in 1991. For hundreds of years, wine vessels have been made of clay. We observed an earthen vessel at London’s Vinopolis museum dating from 79 AD. The vessel was unearthed at Pompey. Even older, Georgian kvevri date back to 4000 BC. The Chinese made an alcohol beverage from millet and stored it in bronze vessels. These vessels date back to the 11th and 10th century BC. How old is old?

While touring the caves in Orvieto in Umbria, we learned that the Etruscans used the caves for a variety of purposes, including storing wine and making olive oil. The Etruscans predated the Romans and made wine in Umbria. In the Campania region, winegrowers and researchers are learning about the grape varieties grown by the Ancient Greeks and Romans who settled the area. Today, several vineyards are planted with varieties that were common thousands of years ago. How old is old?

Oldness has to do more with one’s personal experience. To many Americans, old may be a couple hundred years. To Europeans, old may be thousands of years. During our travels to Italy, we observed many wine bottles covered with dust. However, these were relatively new bottles of wine, only a few decades old.