If you enjoy learning about wine as much as drinking it, pour yourself a glass and kick off your shoes. This will be an adventure. We’re going back to Italy with a side trip to France, and who knows where this journey may take us.

The year is 1398, and the cultivation of grapes is flourishing in the mountains around Florence, known locally as Monti del Chianti (Chianti Mountains). The vintners producing both red and white wines took the name of this region for their wine. So, we think of Chianti as a wine – which it is – not a grape variety, but more accurately it’s the region where these wines are made. Note also that Florence is the capital of Tuscany, one of the most widely recognized growing areas in the world and where Chianti thrives.