An
Italian wine term. In general, "Classico" denotes that the wine hails from the "classic" area of production,
vineyards that have produced the same type of wine for years, even
centuries. This is opposed to the much larger
DOC areas which were
appended to the classic
zones by legislative
fiat in recent years.
Classico wines are generally considered to be superior to non-Classicos, especially in the case of Chiantis. However, I am led to believe that the term has little value in judging quality when it is used on Barolo wines.
Back to Rook's Wine Reviews