Chianti is a dry red wine from the Chianti hills in Tuscany, in the middle of Italy. English uses the same name for the hills and for the wine. When someone orders a Chianti, they usually mean a glass or a bottle of that Tuscan red — the one many people picture with tomato pasta. It stays capitalised because it began as a place-name. You will meet it on menus and in wine shops; among people who drink wine it is ordinary, not a rare treasure. Though actually, not every Italian red is Chianti, and not even every Tuscan red. Chianti Classico comes from the older heart of those hills; a cheaper Chianti may be a simpler bottle. The round flask in a straw basket is more of a tourist picture now than what careful drinkers look for.