Tales of the Vine: The Hungry Black Rooster

The wine region we know as Chianti—stretching across Tuscany from Florence in the north to the medieval town of Siena in the south—is one of the oldest geographically defined wine regions on earth.  Winemaking in this region can be documented as far back as the 13^th Century, and the first defined boundaries of the Chianti Wine Region were set in place in 1716 by The Grand Duke Cosimo III de Medici.

Within the Chianti district, a smaller area known as the Chianti Classico DOCG represents the original, historic center of the region.  The wines of Chianti Classico are considered to be the traditional wines of Chianti and (most would agree), the best.  Winemakers in Chianti Classico guard the vineyards, the wine, and their region’s reputation fiercely.

In 1924, a group of grape growers and winemakers formed a group to promote and protect the image of the wines of Chianti Classico and took as their symbol the Gallo Nero, or Black Rooster.  In 2003 the Italian government gave the group—now known as the Consortium (Consorzio) of Chianti Classico—regulatory control of the entire production of Chianti Classico, and all the wines of the region now bear the symbol of the Black Rooster.

The story of how this famous wine region became to be represented by a black rooster is one of the best legends of the wine world, and goes like this:

The legend of the Black Rooster dates back to a 14^th century boundary dispute between Florence and Siena.   After a long and drawn-out battle, the two Republics decided to settle the issue with a race between two knights on horseback.  According to the rules of the match, each knight would set off from their respective hometowns upon the crow of the rooster. In other words, the race was to commence—you would think—at dawn.  The knights would travel along the road between the two Republics, and the point where they met in the middle would be the official boundary line between Florence and Siena.

The townspeople of Siena chose as their representative a white rooster.  In order to make him a happy, strong singer, they fed him well and pampered their rooster until the appointed day.

The people of Florence chose a black rooster to represent them, but they fed him sparingly. Some say they flat-out neglected him—so much that in fact, on the morning of the contest he was so hungry that he woke up several hours before dawn, and crowed and crowed and crowed until he was fed.  Thus, the knight from Florence began his part of the race in what was basically the middle of the night. Not surprisingly, he covered most of the road between the two Republics before he met up with the Knight from Siena.

As a result, almost the whole of the land of Chianti was annexed to the Republic of Florence and the Black Rooster, or Gallo Nero became the symbol of the newly-expanded area.  Later, the Gallo Nero became the symbol of the original Lega di Chianti in the 16^th century. When the Consorzio of Chianti Classico was created in 1924, they chose the black rooster as their symbol as well.

Look closely at any bottle of Chianti Classico….you’ll find the black rooster on the label, proudly representing centuries of tradition.

The Bubbly Professor is “Miss Jane” Nickles of Austin, Texas… missjane@prodigy.net

References/for more information:

• The Consorzio of Chianti Classico