La Querce Seconda Chianti

This Chianti Classico is very well-integrated and tastes like much more than a $17 wine, with flavors of currants, raspberry and plum, and hints of fennel or eucalyptus.

Ted Scheffler

April 21, 2023

Last weekend my wife and I attended a very enjoyable wine dinner featuring the Italian wines of La Querce Seconda at Emigration Cafe. Specifically La Querce Seconda is known for its Chiantis, and the husband and wife winemaker team of Niccolo Bernabei and Linda Sandkvist pride themselves on using only Sangiovese in their Chianti wines.

Most of the wines we tasted at Emigration Cafe were specially ordered by restaurateur/sommelier Scott Evans. However, one of the La Querce Seconda wines is available to the public here in Utah. It’s their Chianti Classico ($16.99).

The Sangiovese grapes for La Querce Seconda Chianti Classico are organically grown in clay soils with layers of chalk, marl and sand. The grapes are hand-harvested and then fermented in stainless steel tanks prior to being moved to 10-year old French oak barrels.

This Chianti Classico is very well-integrated and tastes like much more than a 17 buck wine, with flavors of currants, raspberry and plum, and hints of fennel or eucalyptus. It’s terrific with pasta in red sauce like the phenomenal rotolo pasta – rolled and stuffed with mozzarella and herbed ricotta, served in a tomato-mushroom pomodoro at Emigration Cafe.

I hope sometime you get to meet Niccolo Bernabei and Linda Sandkvist from La Querce Seconda. There are humble, hardworking winemakers who are delightful to chat with and very passionate about making wines from their naturally-farmed vineyards – wines with very little intervention, intended to express the true terroir of their small family estate. In the meantime, do yourselves a favor and grab some of their killer Chianti Classico.

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THIS CONTENT IS FROM UTAH BITES NEWSLETTER.

Food & Drink, Wine, Spirits and Beer

Ted Scheffler

Originally trained as an anthropologist, Ted Scheffler is a seasoned food, wine, and travel writer based in Utah. He loves cooking, skiing, music, and reading, and spends an inordinate amount of time tending to his ever-growing herd of guitars and amplifiers. Ted is also the author of the Utah Bites newsletter, which is published in partnership with Utah Stories. Before moving to Utah, Ted lived in New York City, and numerous states in the US, as well as in various countries overseas, Spain, Japan, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico. He earned a Master’s Degree in Anthropology from the Graduate Faculty of The New School for Social Research.