There are 2 Chianti wines: Chianti Classico and Chianti; both are based on the Sangiovese grape; both are from Tuscany and each has slightly different regulations.
Within Chianti there are 7 subzones who can add their name to Chianti, Rùfina is one of these. Rùfina produces around 3 million bottles a year, it is a small, high altitude constituency, and lies a long way from the coast, so is regularly out of sync with other vintage reports.
The Rùfina Consorzio is surprisingly enlightened (often the largest producers exert a negative influence, not the case here). When creating a top wine to sit alongside Chianti Classico’s ‘Gran Selezione’, they came up with ‘Terraelectae’, a voluntary quality trademark that can be used to identify each producer’s best, single vineyard (cru). The wine must be made from only Sangiovese, otherwise the regulations are the same as those for Chianti Rùfina Riserva. The inaugural vintage was the 2018, when 9 producers released a Terraelectae.
