~ TOSCANA ~

Alceo—CASTELLO DEI RAMPOLLA

 

ALCEO DI NAPOLI was a true prince, not unlike the princes of children’s fairy tales, as the story of the Di Napoli Rampolla family is that of an ancient dynasty. In fact, the family has owned their landed estate, Castello dei Rampolla, in Panzano, since 1739, predating the French Revolution. A princely countryman, a great lover of the earth and wine, Alceo would often voluntarily go down into the fields and work, without worrying about dirtying his legendary velvet pants that he loved so dearly. He was open to change and confrontation, even if conservative and traditionalist in spirit. His visceral passion for grapes and wine led him often to visit his French cousins, whom he deeply admired and respected. Visiting the greatest châteaux in Bordeaux and drinking their strong and aristocratic wines, he dreamt of making a miraculous wine in Toscana, on this little estate in Panzano, in the heart of Chianti Classico.

In 1964, Alceo started his winemaking activity and began planting sangiovese grapes, the most important varietal of the area. Later, in pursuit of his dream of making French-style wine, he planted cabernet sauvignon. At the beginning, his best grapes were purchased by Marchese Antinori, who, because of the superior nature of the cabernet grapes, was able to evolve and complete Antinori’s flagship wine: Tignanello. This close relationship between the two noble families of Toscana started because they both sought out the consultation of Giacomo Tachis, the most important Italian winemaker of the time. Consequently, at the beginning, Alceo’s top grapes ended up in other wines, and to taste the first bottle labeled Castello dei Rampolla, Alceo had to wait until 1975—an incredible vintage in Toscana. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that the winery really took off, thanks to a Super Tuscan the prince named Sammarco, a blend of sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon. The blend was created by both Alceo and Giacomo Tachis, who continued to work as a consultant for the Rampolla house.

Despite the incredible success of Sammarco with the critics and in the market, the prince was still not satisfied and held a dream in his heart: to pit himself against his French counterparts by making a Tuscan wine entirely from native French varietals. In 1990, he decided to plant the most beautiful vineyard on the property with petit verdot and cabernet sauvignon, a heresy in Chianti Classico. But in 1994, before his dream was complete, Alceo passed away, leaving a huge hole in the heart of his estate. His children, Livia, Maurizia, and Luca, despite their loss, continued down their father’s path, and the first bottle of Alceo’s dream wine was released in 1996. The new wine was named Vigna d’Alceo, a tribute to the vision and hard work of its creator. Needless to say, it was a huge success, and in a few years, the wine acquired legendary status. The top wine critics in the world recognized the importance of Vigna d’Alceo, which for legal reasons had to change its name to the simpler d’Alceo. This wine can probably be considered the most formidable Italian threat to the legendary premiers crus of Bordeaux.

Panzano, one of the smallest towns in Chianti, is located in one of the happiest and most fertile winemaking areas in Toscana. The bowl on the southwest side of the tiny, picturesque medieval town is ideal for growing grapes because it is exposed to the sun all day long. The area has even been named the Conca d’Oro (“Golden Bowl”). Here the Rampolla family owns 104 acres of vineyards, cultivated since the end of the 1990s, first organically, and since 2004, according to biodynamic standards. The Alceo vineyard is shaped somewhat like a panettone, a cylindrical Italian Christmas bread with a puffy cap, and faces southeast and southwest, with perfect sun exposure. The altitude is 1,200 feet above sea level, and the soil is mainly calcareous and rocky. It is the magical combination of altitude, exposures of the vineyards, and essence of terroir that create the perfect situation to make a great Tuscan red wine. The quality of the grapes is stupendous, thanks to the density of the vines, which range between 3,200 and 4,000 plants per acre. The yield, however, is very low and never surpasses 1,600 pounds of grapes per acre. But what makes the Rampolla grapes truly different is that they are grown biodynamically. In fact, the winery even grows its own seedlings, without having to rely on a nursery. It is an exemplary operation, one that is able to successfully maintain extreme respect for the environment with a total focus on quality wines.

Created in 1996, Alceo does not have a long history. Despite its recent entry into the Italian wine scene, it is already considered one of the most important wines in Italy, and perhaps in the world. Ever since I tasted the 1996 vintage for the first time, I’ve been greatly influenced by the impact it made on me. It represents a delicate balance between restraint and power—the very balance that has propelled it into the global wine scene. Although the wine is made from international grape varieties—85 percent cabernet sauvignon and 15 percent petit verdot—it has deeply chiantigiano (local) spirit. The extreme low yield of the grapes results in a very concentrated and powerful wine. If opened young, Alceo will seem closed and strongly wrapped around itself. If you have the patience to wait a year or so, the wine has the ability to impress and surprise even the most seasoned wine tasters, thanks to its fine tannins and aromas. Even with its extreme concentration and intense nose, it is the definition of elegance. There is little technological intervention in the Rampolla cellar, for the winemakers follow the rules of nature and dedicate themselves to the agricultural side of the process. For this reason, the wine does not undergo any physical or chemically invasive treatments. It is aged in Allier oak barriques for twenty-one months, yet the oak is not dominant, because there is already so much substance to the wine.

Alceo is released only in great vintages, and it therefore has consistent characteristics, or few differences from one year to the next. On the nose, it has delicate aromas of blueberry and peony, but also of herbs and juniper, finishing with subtle notes of graphite and gunpowder. In the mouth, despite its immensity, it is alive, multifaceted, and different from one sip to the next, growing in intensity.

Bolgheri Superiore Grattamacco Rosso—PODERE GRATTAMACCO

 

THE SUBREGION OF Bolgheri, once known for its wild boar and pine trees, is now home to movie stars and jet-setters who have built grand and sweeping estates. The wineries constructed here in the past thirty years turn out wines that have, in a funny way, followed tangentially the lifestyle of the area’s posh settlers. This part of Toscana’s western coastline has attracted wealth without industry. People come to Bolgheri to spend their money in fabulous restaurants and on luxurious wines. In 1977, when Piermario Meletti Cavallari decided to leave Milano for Bolgheri, Sassicaia (see this page) was the only wine of quality produced in the area. After meeting and talking to trendsetters of the wine world, including Gino Veronelli, Italy’s most important wine critic, Cavallari started traveling to Toscana and Marche with his wife, Laura Loglio, searching for a place to build the perfect small winery and a new lifestyle. When they found an abandoned farmhouse with a small vineyard in Bolgheri, they decided to settle in.

Starting with Sassicaia, the first wines to be produced in Bolgheri were made from Bordeaux grape varieties, giving them sure footing on the international wine market and catering to an international audience of wine drinkers. Cavallari decided to plant cabernet sauvignon at Podere Grattamacco, because of the variety’s inherent nobility and because it seemed to prosper in the region. When he realized that the price of wine was rising and that consumers were increasingly interested in quality, he decided to hire consulting enologist Maurizio Castelli. The original “flying winemaker,” Maurizio gave birth to a new style of Tuscan wine in the 1980s and ’90s. A traditionalist at heart and a smooth operator on the dance floor (I remember a late-night bar scene in Buenos Aires involving Malbec and tango), Maurizio made a name for himself by respecting the innate characteristics of indigenous Italian grape varieties. Presenting Maurizio with the canvas of Bolgheri and a slate of international grapes was like giving Picasso oil paints for the first time. The beauty of the wine made at Grattamacco is inevitably the result of the confluence of Maurizio’s experience and the new terroir and grape varieties. Charismatic, opinionated, and unrelenting in his pursuit for purity, Maurizio focused exclusively on the winemaking and left marketing and selling strategies to others. To this day, his vision is to make wines that are true to their varietal and that speak of their place of origin. In this case, the winery is small (about 30 acres) and focused—both important attributes.

The soil here is very hard and compact, causing the fruit to be very concentrated in sugar and the grapes to be very small in size—characteristics that lead to high-quality wines. The climate in this area is Mediterranean, with the vines growing not far from the Tyrrhenian Sea. Even the vegetation that surrounds the property is decidedly Mediterranean: There are cypress tress, maritime palms, and pine trees, as well as herbs like rosemary, myrtle, and lavender. The risk in the rapid growth of a wine region like Bolgheri is that many of the wines end up quite similar, with an almost standardized style. Among its Super Tuscan peers, including Sassicaia and Ornellaia, Grattamacco is most directly linked to the land. Grattamacco’s profound and clear connection to Bolgheri is a testament to Maurizio’s style and conviction as a winemaker who lets the earth speak.

Grattamacco is not necessarily an easy wine to drink. It is a Bordeaux blend with great austerity: When drunk young, the wine has aromas of coastal pine and herbs. From the enological point of view, the secret of this wine is open-air fermentation in large vats made of French oak. Cavallari took this idea from Sassicaia, thanks to the useful advice of Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta. This ancient practice gives the wine its rustic character when it is young. However, if the wine is left to age, it develops notes of blueberries and red pepper, as well as China root and Mediterranean bush, and the tannins become elegant, agile, and juicy.

Brunello di Montalcino—LA CERBAIOLA

 

GIULIO SALVIONI HAS an eruptive personality. He is a typical Tuscan, genuine and exuberant, never timid about sharing his ideas or convictions. Giulio stands out against other producers in Montalcino, many of whom are either foreigners who were attracted by the beauty of the Tuscan landscape or Italian businessmen who decided to invest in viticulture. Giulio was born and raised in Montalcino and has been making wine in exactly the same way for the past twenty-five years. In the 1960s and ’70s, and with Brunello’s entrance into the DOC list, many local wine producers started to increase their production volume. The creation of the Banfi estate, for example, owned by the Mariani brothers, American importers of Italian wine, had a revolutionary effect on the region. The vineyard had an important physical impact on the land because of its size (2,100 acres) and also spread the Brunello name throughout the world, especially in the United States.

I have always been drawn to the town of Montalcino. I lived and worked there in the late 1980s, and it always made me feel that I was in the heart of the Italian wine scene. The beauty of the place and the power of the wine are what have positioned Montalcino as a beacon of viticulture. The real success of Brunello came in the 1990s, with the great 1990 vintage and the boom of Italian wine in general. Wine producers began buying up estates and vineyards in Montalcino, involving investors of all types and backgrounds. The area of Brunello planted with grapes went from 160 acres in 1967 to almost 2,500 acres in 1990 and is more than 4,900 acres today. People are beginning to be concerned about the well-being of the soil and the land, as well as about the legitimacy of all this newly found Brunello-worthy terroir. There are around 250 producers of Brunello, and a little less than 7 million bottles are produced per year. Despite the considerable increase in production, the price of Brunello has continued to increase as well. At least until a couple of years ago, sales were good, and the prices were sustainable. Brunello, however, has had, and is still having, a difficult time finding its own identity. Many producers have changed their wine to fit the times and market trends, offering easy-to-drink, soft, concentrated fruity wines aged in small wooden barrels. These modern wines are quite different from the original Brunello di Montalcino, which is more austere and rough around the edges.

Giulio Salvioni has witnessed these changes in style but has opted not to participate. Despite the success of his Brunellos—in particular his 1985 vintage—Salvioni has decided against enlarging his estate and against building a larger facility. Instead, he owns 10 acres of land and never produces more than 20,000 bottles a year. This microscopic business model, however, has produced impressive results. By keeping costs low (his only employees are his children, Davide and Alessia) and by producing wines that fetch high prices, he has been able to maintain the quality of his wines and economic viability. Despite being accused of being arcane and overly conservative when it comes to business, he has made Cerbaiola one of the most consistent and impressive wineries in Montalcino.

If you ask Giulio Salvioni the secret to his success in the vineyard and the cellar, he will tell you that it is not all that obvious at first glance. A low yield is certainly important, because the sangiovese grapes—not such an easy variety to grow—risk under-ripeness, which translates into harsh, bothersome tannins in the bottle. Salvioni also has an unmatched ability to coax elegance from the austere and often overly acidic sangiovese grosso. The vineyards are located about half a mile southeast of Montalcino, where Giulio has built two cellars. In the first, located at the center of the estate, he vinifies Brunello and Rosso di Montalcino. He uses the other, which seems more like a bomb shelter because of its small size and general organization, for aging the wine in large Slavonian oak casks. The soil of the vineyards is made up of classic galestro, a porous rock that, together with the microclimate, plays an important role in the quality of the grapes. The grapes are planted at an elevation of 1,400 feet on a rocky ridge where there is almost never fog or humidity, which can affect the health of the grapes. The soil is not very fertile, and the cold nighttime temperatures, even in the summer, make for concentrated, very aromatic grapes.

Cerbaiola is the living example of how each step in the winemaking process contributes to the quality of the wine. Both Salvioni’s Brunello and his Rosso di Montalcino are made with care, and the main difference between the two is in the type of wooden barrels used to age the wine. The Brunello is placed in new 2,000-liter Slavonian oak barrels for nine to ten years, while the Rosso is put in older, carefully restored barrels for a much shorter period. Giulio Salvioni produced his first Brunello in 1985, a remarkably good vintage allowing him to present the best the vineyard had to offer. Other great years have been 1988 and 1990.

Cerbaiola’s unique style of Brunello is neither modern nor completely traditional. On the nose, the wine has a good amount of fruity aromas, including notes of cherry, sour black cherry, chocolate, tobacco, dog rose, and an underlying hint of leather. In the top vintages, the Cerbaiola Brunello is strong and structured, rich in tannins and pulp, showing off the quality of the grapes themselves. The finish is long and persistent, with just the right amount of acid. Although Cerbaiola doesn’t have as long a history as other wineries in Montalcino, Salvioni’s wines are certain to age with all the great classic wine from Montalcino.

Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto—CASANOVA DI NERI

 

THE STORY OF Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto begins in 1971, when Giovanni Neri, a native of Arezzo, fell in love with an estate in Montalcino and purchased the property with the goal of producing great wine and distinguished olive oil. However, the real craftsman of the winery—the one who made the wines of Casanova di Neri famous throughout the world—is Giovanni’s son, Giacomo, who took over for his father in the beginning of the 1990s. Giacomo led the company through a phase of remarkable growth, both in terms of the number of bottles—180,000 in total—and in the size of the estate, which is now 120 acres.

This growth is emblematic of the incredible revolution that has taken place in Montalcino in the last twenty years. Giacomo was, and still is, an innovator in terms of winery management—from the modern vinification process to the construction of a futuristic cellar, completed in 2005. The cellar is completely underground, so as not to ruin the landscape, and is outfitted with the newest enological technologies. In 1990, and then again in the almost overly praised 1997 vintage, critics and the larger American public fell in love with Brunello di Montalcino. Both wine critic Robert Parker Jr. and Wine Spectator gave extremely high scores to these modern-style Brunellos, which were very concentrated and intensely colored, many shades darker than the traditional color of sangiovese. Giacomo Neri’s wines were certainly a part of, if not the leader of, this trend. His Brunello Tenuta Nuova of 2001 was actually named the best wine in the world in Wine Spectator’s annual Top 100 list. This wine was an extreme example of the Casanova di Neri style, thanks to the ripeness of the grapes, which come from a vineyard located in the most southern part of the Montalcino comune, which happens to be the coolest part of the denomination.

Yet a major element is missing from the history of this winery: Carlo Ferrini, one of the most famous enologists in Toscana and in all of Italy. Ferrini’s critics like to point out that the many wines he has helped to create are quite similar and express little of the local terroir. At the moment, though, Ferrini can count more fans than critics. One fact remains: His wines are much loved on the international market because many people believe that great wines must be rich in color. At Casanova di Neri, to mask the typical characteristics of the sangiovese varietal, Carlo dramatically reduced the grape yield and started to use barriques aggressively.

A pivotal point for the past and future of Brunello came in 2008, with the internationally broadcasted “Brunellogate.” Because of internal finger-pointing and whistle-blowing, the Italian government suspected that many producers were using grapes grown outside the DOCG denomination in wines that had this designation. Because sangiovese—the only varietal permitted in the production of Brunello di Montalcino—is typically a grape that does not impart intense color to a wine, the officials and the market as a whole suspected that Brunellos with a deep, fleshy purple brooding color were made by adding grapes other than sangiovese. Fans and detractors will forever debate whether Neri and Ferrini’s style of Brunello is the result of skilled vineyard management and superior winemaking or is due to foul play. At the time of this writing (March 2010), Casanova di Neri is still entangled in Brunellogate.

As evidenced by its inclusion in this list of grandi vini, Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto is an atomic bomb of a Brunello, explosive in the glass and resounding in its global impact. In spite of its concentration and color, the wine showcases the best organoleptic characteristics of sangiovese and of the soil of Montalcino. Perhaps this is an opportune time to defend the courageous winemakers who carve their own path and implicate those who prematurely cast guilt based on stylistic association. Great respect is due to Casanova di Neri for valiantly defending its beautiful wine in the face of such fierce opposition.

Although the Brunello di Montalcino denomination is located in a single comune, the diversity of the land contained within its borders is broad. There are at least two macrozones that have particularly good climatic conditions, one located at the north end of the DOCG and the other at the south. The southern part includes the towns of Sant’Angelo Scalo and Sant’Angelo in Colle and is dominated by the Banfi estates. In this area, you can feel more of the warm winds that regularly blow in from the Mediterranean Sea. The vineyards located near the Abbazia di Sant’Antimo, in the southeast, benefit from a slightly cooler climate because they are located higher up, but it is still hot. The grapes grown in the north, and especially in the northeast, are quite different. The Neri estate is located in the north at 800 to 1,000 feet above sea level and is bordered by the Asso River. The Neri family bought a well-positioned vineyard here in 1986 and decided to make a special wine called Cerretalto. The winters are definitely rigid, and in the summer there is a considerable difference between day- and nighttime temperatures because of the cold winds coming off Mount Amiata. The land and climate contribute to the particular characteristics of Cerretalto, a wine with decisive acidity and an easily recognizable character.

Cerretalto is Casanova di Neri’s signature wine. It is decidedly modern in style and is obviously produced for an international audience. Despite its dark color—an almost impenetrable red—and a nose that reflects the twenty-seven months the wine spends in barriques, Cerretalto is actually a wine enjoyed by people who don’t particularly like excessively modern Brunellos. This is due especially to the fact that the sangiovese expresses its best characteristics in this wine. Cerretalto has a rich texture, but Giacomo Neri is able to manage the wine’s thickness with the acidity that is typical of this Tuscan variety. There is a balance between the power and the fineness of the wine. In the best vintages, Cerretalto has a nose of chocolate, coffee, vanilla, red fruit, and cherry that blends with more noble and complex nuances of tobacco, leather, and wet earth. In the mouth, it is explosive with a very long finish, thanks in part to an inviting acidity and soft but noticeable tannins.

Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Il Greppo Riserva—BIONDI SANTI

 

THE BIONDI SANTI family has been producing wines that have garnered international prestige for generations. Their remarkable foresight has enabled them to stay on the cusp of the changes experienced by the wine scene, and to produce an exemplary Brunello in their Tenuta Il Greppo Riserva.

Ferruccio Biondi Santi—grandfather of the winery’s current owner, Franco Santi—made his first bottle of Brunello in 1888, having discovered the organolectic and physical characteristics of a special variety of sangiovese (sangiovese grosso) that grew on the Greppo estate in Montalcino. Ferruccio recognized the potential of the grape and began cultivating it as an experiment. The result was the most structured and long-lived wine made from any sangiovese or sangiovese clone. At the time, in Toscana, wines were made by blending the sangiovese with other grapes at the moment of vinification. You couldn’t find wines made from a single grape varietal because in Toscana, and in Italy in general, wine was a beverage consumed for its caloric value rather than its palatability. In the mid-nineteenth century, following the strengthening of the bourgeoisie and the desire of the Italian nobility to serve luxurious meals, Italians began producing quality wine—a transformation that had already taken place in Bordeaux and Burgundy.

Biondi Santi had the force and skill to grasp the historic changes and took commercial advantage of them. The first bottles released by Clemente Biondi Santi, Ferruccio’s grandfather, received important recognition at the World’s Fairs in London and Paris, in 1856 and 1867, respectively. These wines were still not the Brunello of today, but they were heading down the right path. As previously mentioned, the real father of this wine was Ferruccio, Clemente’s grandson. Ferruccio was a highly intellectual and worldly person whose life intertwined with the history of Italy. In his youth, Ferruccio participated in the Italian Risorgimento, or unification, fighting for independence and the creation of the Italian state, which occurred in 1861 with the declaration of the Kingdom of Italy, followed by the annexation of the Veneto region in 1866 and the final unification with Roma in 1870. On July 21, 1866, Ferruccio fought alongside Garibaldi (the heroic general credited with having unified Italy) in the Battle of Bezzecca in Trentino, fending off the Austrian Empire with a small army of courageous soldiers.

After this adventure, Ferruccio returned to Toscana, to the Tenuta Il Greppo, to cultivate grapes and to paint, his two greatest passions. In 1870, Ferruccio had to overcome another difficult period following the plague of phylloxera that destroyed the vineyards in central Italy. He took this as an opportunity to replant all the vineyards on his estate with the sangiovese grosso clone. In 1888, he released the first real Brunello di Montalcino, and from there the denomination continued to grow in both quality and quantity. Despite the company’s two hundred years of history, almost one hundred fifty of which have been spent producing Brunello, Biondi Santi has maintained a superior level of intensity and elegance beyond that of most other wineries. (On any given day, you are likely to spot men dressed in tweed jackets and ascots walking around stone castles with purebred German shepherds.) It is important to note that the number of bottles has not increased dramatically and the total per year is less than 70,000. Another important fact is that only 60 of the winery’s 370 acres of property are planted with the BBS11 clone of sangiovese grosso, selected by Greppo from the University of Florence in the 1970s. This is because Franco Biondi Santi believes that this grape, grown in Montalcino, can produce incredible results in only very specific places. The vineyards selected by Biondi Santi for making Brunello are south or southeast facing and are located between 980 and 1,600 feet in elevation.

In a time when wines are being made softer, even in Montalcino, Biondi Santi’s Brunello is large in structure, aggressive in acidity, and unrelenting in its tannins. This is a linear wine that is unapologetic for the inherent characteristics of the sangiovese grosso clone. The wine has received cult status in Italy because of its longevity: It can be aged up to fifty, or even one hundred, years. It is first aged in 14,000-liter oak barrels, then transferred into smaller 3,000- to 8,000-liter oak barrels. These factors produce a rich, complex wine with nuances of sour black cherry and red cherry up front, followed by more noble notes of rose, violet, wet soil, and leather. In the mouth, the tannins are gutsy, highlighting the terroir and the sangiovese, with a sweet, harmonious finish.

Brunello di Montalcino Riserva—POGGIO DI SOTTO

 

FOUNDED IN 1989, Poggio di Sotto produces the most powerful and resounding example of a new-entry wine in an old category. Much of the success of the winery can be attributed to the carefully selected vineyard sites and the small, focused production of the bottles. Piero Palmucci, the stately yet menacing owner of Poggio di Sotto, is originally from Maremma. A newcomer to winemaking, Piero selected his site for the strong character of the soil and the exposure of the vineyards. The 37-acre estate is at 1,800 feet above sea level and divides the cool, ventilated northeastern area from the hot, Mediterranean southwest area of Sant’Angelo Scalo. The terroir of Sant’Antimo, the town the vineyard is near, is unique for its southern exposure in the eastern part of the territory. The climate is therefore mild, thanks also to nearby Mount Amiata (5,700 feet above sea level), which cools off the land during the otherwise scorching summer. The cellar is located in a Tuscan farmhouse, poised high on the top of a scenic hill, not far from the age-old Abbazia di Sant’Antimo.

Piero produced his first Brunello in 1991—an unremarkable year in Toscana. From the very beginning, he recognized the potential of his wines, despite the fact that at the time, more muscular Tuscan reds dominated the market. Piero’s goal was to make a Sangiovese without compromise, using no shortcuts in the cellar that modify the character of the climate, the grape variety, and the celebrated terroir of Montalcino. His various small plots of land allow Piero to produce grapes with a variety of aromas and maturation levels, giving uniformity to the wine so that less favorable vintages do not suffer as dramatically as those of other wines. The vineyards are cultivated organically, are hoed by hand, and require little irrigation. The yield per acre is quite low and never surpasses 3,600 pounds per acre, which is almost half of the amount given in the production guidelines.

In addition, Piero decided to call on the advice of the well-reputed enologist Giulio Gambelli, who became both a trustworthy partner at the vineyard and a dear friend of Piero’s. When the 1995 Poggio di Sotto Riserva hit the market in 2002, it was clear that a star had been born. From that moment on, Piero’s wines gained a sort of cult status, aided by the fact that the winery’s annual production is limited to 40,000 bottles. This number includes his excellent Rosso di Montalcino, which is often considered a better wine than many of the Brunellos coming from nearby wineries. Another miraculous year for the winery was 1999, which resulted in an absolutely superb Riserva.

However, an inexplicable thing happened to the 2001 vintage. The DOCG approval committee decided that the Poggio di Sotto Riserva did not merit the title of Brunello. The controversial decision rocked the Italian wine world and received harsh criticism from most wine critics and Montalcino wine enthusiasts. Piero Palmucci was forced to change the name of his wine to Decennale 2001 (in honor of the ten-year history of the winery), triggering a major controversy regarding the evaluation criteria during the tasting. The event was also one of the first signs of the impending “Brunellogate” scandal.

In April 2008, during Vinitaly, Italy’s most important wine fair, compromising information regarding Brunello wine production was reported by national newspapers. The Sienese prosecutors began investigating many producers of Toscana’s most important red wine, because they were convinced that some winemakers were blending cabernet sauvignon or merlot into the sangiovese—a true sacrilege for Brunello lovers. Those who drink Piero Palmucci’s wines, however, can rest assured.

The three wines produced at Poggio di Sotto—Rosso, Brunello, and Brunello Riserva—are a focused and pure representation of the sangiovese grown on the property. The Riserva is produced exclusively during top vintages, and for this reason, from 1989 to today, only four vintages have been released. Poggio di Sotto Riserva has a light red color, with aromas that vary from red fruit to more fine and rarefied notes of wet soil, leather, and blond tobacco. In the mouth, it is very easy to drink, with robust yet silky tannins that are never invasive and give the wine lasting flavor.

Camartina—QUERCIABELLA

 

THE HILLS OF southeastern Chianti are where a wine is produced that is the benchmark for all Super Tuscans. Camartina, first released in 1981, is the product of the legendary Giuseppe Castiglioni, and its outstanding quality is the polestar for every winemaker in the region.

During the 1960s and 1970s, entrepreneurs from northern Italy started to buy up the Tuscan estates and vineyards that were left behind by farmers after the collapse of the mezzandria, Italy’s sharecropping system. Many of the investors were real wine lovers and had the ambition to improve the quality of the product of these pleasant hills. Giuseppe Castiglioni, known as Pepito or il messicano (“the Mexican”) to his friends, was one of these investors. Small in stature, but not in enterprise, Pepito was a rich iron and steel manufacturer who spent a considerable part of his time in Mexico. After selling his company and buying taxi licenses for all his workers (allowing Pepito to call upon a reliable driver, or autista, anywhere in Italy), in 1974 Pepito decided to purchase a fantastic estate located in the southeastern hills of Greve, in Chianti, not far from the towns of Lamole and Panzano. Besides being an exceptionally refined art collector, Pepito was also a fan and lover of French wine, Burgundy in particular, and is the owner of one of the most important collections of Batârd-Montrachet in the world. Pepito’s love of wines from across the Alps led him to plant nonnative grape varieties in Toscana, a novelty at the time. He did not believe much in the potential of sangiovese, especially at the altitude of the vineyards he purchased (980 to 1,600 feet above sea level), and called on the help of Italy’s most famous enologist, Giacomo Tachis, known as the father of Sassicaia and Tignanello.

In 1981, the first vintage of Pepito’s most important red wine, Camartina, a blend of 70 percent cabernet sauvignon and 30 percent sangiovese, was released. The wine was an immediate success and became the standard bearer for all Super Tuscans. It was sensibly made and showed restraint. It also proved that international grape varieties can grow successfully at higher, more extreme altitudes.

In 1998, Pepito and his son Sebastiano decided to transform the vineyard into an organic operation. At the time, this decision seemed revolutionary because in Italy, and especially in Toscana, there were very few quality wineries that were willing to make such a courageous move. In 2000, Pepito and Sebastiano adopted biodynamic cultivation techniques, giving even more character and distinction to the Querciabella wines. Pepito Castiglioni passed away a couple of years ago, but Sebastiano has been able to maintain, and possibly reinforce, their natural approach to winemaking. Thanks to their top-notch technical team, Querciabella has been able to create one of the most important and successful biodynamic operations in Italy. In recent years, the winery has been developing projects to bring back insects and animals to enrich the biodiversity of their fields and vineyards.

The move toward more natural operations is starting to show in Sebastiano’s wines. They have become less adulterated, less strong and muscular, more subtle, and richer in minerality and elegance. In short, they are fresher wines that better reflect the terroir. According to winery rules, Camartina is released only in favorable years. For this reason, there are no 1989, 1992, 1998, or 2002 vintages. The wine rests in the cellar for twenty-four months in small French casks, but this fact alone doesn’t mean that Camartina can simply be labeled a modern, international wine. It has aromas of mature red fruit, but also of leather and earth, a reminder that the wine is produced in Chianti. Even the flavor, with its strong acidity and sapidity, is a reflection of the unique terroir.

Cepparello—ISOLE E OLENA

 

THE SUPER TUSCAN Cepparello is the flagship of the Isole e Olena estate and is among the top wines of Toscana. Made from 100 percent sangiovese grapes, Cepparello distinguishes itself from the mass of blended, muscular, and extracted Tuscan wines with its great delicacy, elegance, and finesse.

Paolo De Marchi, the producer of this wine, is an atypical Tuscan: He is very measured in his ways, quiet, and understated. This may have something to do with the fact that Paolo is in fact Piemontese. The De Marchi family relocated to the hills of Chianti from Lessona, a small town located outside of Torino, in the mid-1950s and purchased the farm that would become Isole e Olena in 1956. The estate is comprised of 740 acres located in the small town of Olena, a few miles from San Donato in Poggio. Although Paolo is not a native Tuscan, he and his work are ingrained in the evolution of Chianti Classico, and his great estate would not exist without his thirty years of passionate leadership.

Shortly after the arrival of the De Marchi family, however, mezzandria, the ancient tradition of Tuscan sharecropping, began to fall by the wayside, as did the agrarian life in general. After World War II, Italians from southern and central Italy (where poverty was felt the most) moved to the industrialized cities, abandoning their agricultural roots for high-rises and higher-paying jobs. This migration was certainly felt in Olena. Almost overnight, the ancient town of 120 people was abandoned almost entirely. Paolo, however, recognized that he had a real treasure in his hands. The city was a time capsule that told the story of postwar Italy. He resisted the temptation of the Chiantshira-zation of Olena (the invasion of wealthy people from Britain and America who scooped up abandoned villas in Toscana when urbanization was spreading across Italy) and hoped to restore the hamlet not only as a beacon of high-end hospitality, but as a living museum of the trials and tribulations of the postwar period. Paolo is convinced that the Tuscan countryside will soon attract a new generation of young winemakers interested in an alternative to the modern lifestyle. Paolo’s cellar and the town of Olena have been kept intact and are true jewels of the area. Be sure to take a walk through the vineyards to see the large, dry-stone walls that the De Marchi family have built. The walls are more likely to remind you of Mycenae in Greece than of a Tuscan vineyard. Ginestra (broom) plants surround the vineyards. The yellow flowers, the dark earth, and the green of the vines are incredibly striking.

The wines produced in this idyllic setting strongly reflect Paolo’s personality: humble and true. I have always maintained that the delicacy of Cepparello distinguishes this wine from others. I’ve seen it mistaken for red Burgundy by experienced noses on several occasions, and it is that very essence of balancing elegance with structure that continues to distinguish Cepparello. Paolo’s style can’t be categorized into either the traditional or the modern category. Recently, he has invested significantly in his cellar. In fact, he carved out an underground aging room from the galestro, which allows him to age sangiovese in the earth from which it came. Aged in small French oak barrels with the most precise vinification techniques, Cepparello is set apart by its evolution in time and complexity. In its youth, it may not be as obvious of a great wine as its Tuscan counterparts, but over the decades, Cepparello became the most distinguished of them all and a fine example of what sangiovese can yield in the most noble Tuscan terroir.

Cepparello speaks eloquently of the story of Chianti and the history of the people of Chianti. The beauty of this wine is that Paolo is able to blend tradition and modernity without becoming a slave to any discipline. Like any great conductor, he combines aspects of each technique and unites them in a harmonious way. Seductive on the nose with the essence of ripe cherries, Cepparello lingers into notes of leather, licorice, and sweet tobacco, with a lingering finale of star anise and cardamom. The palate is fresh and elegant, never muscular and overpowering. The drinkablitiy of this wine is its greatest attribute, thanks to the fresh acidity of sangiovese and its cultivation in the high altitude of these hills.

Chianti Classico Riserva Castello di Fonterutoli—CASTELLO DI FONTERUTOLI

 

CASTELLO DI FONTERUTOLI, 1435. The name of the winery and the year it was founded sum up so much of Tuscan enological history. To be more precise, they mark the creation of the subregion of Chianti Classico.

Many centuries ago, the podestà, or mayors, of Firenze and Siena were fighting over territorial borders in Chianti, the land that lies between the two cities. To end the age-old battle, they decided to make a wager on a horse race: At the first crow of the rooster, one horse would leave from Firenze, and the other would depart from Siena; the border of Chianti would be defined by where the two horses met. The Florentines chose a black rooster, known to crow well before sunrise, which meant that the horseman from Firenze got a head start. The Florentine horse covered much more ground than its contender, and the two horses ended up meeting near Siena—in Fonterutoli, to be exact. The Republic of Firenze was thus able to extend its border to include the towns of Castellina, Radda, and Gaiole, all renowned red wine zones. Since then, the black rooster, or gallo nero, has become the emblem of the territory and is now the symbol of the Consortium of Chianti Classico.

Like many of the large noble winemaking families of Toscana (including Frescobaldi, Folonari, and Ricasoli), the Marchesi Mazzei family, owners of the Castello di Fonterutoli, built their enterprise on farsightedness and avant-garde techniques. They were among the first winemakers to do away with the antiquated mezzadria system—a contractual arrangement allowing a farmer (mezzadro) to work the land, reserving half of his harvest for the landowner. These noble families are also known for their environmentalism and interest in protecting the Tuscan landscape, including the maintenance and restoration of castles, villas, and country towns.

The Castello di Fonterutoli is located a few miles south of the town of Castellina, in the heart of Chianti Classico, a wine production zone composed of nine comuni. Only four comuni—Castellina, Gaiole, Greve, and Radda in Chianti—are located entirely within the bounds of the DOCG. Fonterutoli is a small borgo, or village, made up of a handful of houses, the ancient church of San Miniato, and the villa of the Marchesi Mazzei family, which was built in the sixteenth century on the site of a former castle. The winery covers 1,600 acres, 300 of which have been subdivided into five zones, and is located between 800 and 1,600 feet above sea level. The soil varies from zone to zone but is composed, for the most part, of sandstone. In fact, the wine of Fonterutoli is referred to as vino dei sassi, “wine of the rocks.” This particular terroir has proved to be good for the production of sangiovese grapes and also of international grapes like merlot and cabernet, which the winery has planted to widen the scope of its production.

Fonterutoli’s portfolio is so rich that it is difficult to select a single wine to best represent the winery. Its top two wines in terms of quality are Siepi, a Super Tuscan made from equal parts merlot and sangiovese, and Chianti Classico Castello di Fonterutoli. Of the two, the Chianti Classico best represents the soil and position of the winery. Harvest takes place in the second half of September, after which the grapes are transferred to the winery’s new cellar, three floors below. The sangiovese macerate for fifteen to eighteen days and are then moved to French barriques. The final Chianti blend also includes 10 percent cabernet sauvignvon that is aged for eighteen months in small French oak barrels. The resulting 80,000 bottles of Fonterutoli Chianti wine age for eight months before release. This dark red wine gives off aromas of sour cherry, leather, tobacco, and spices that evolve over time. This is a modern Chianti Classico, rich in personality and very representative of the terroir. In the mouth, the wine is powerful yet elegant, tannic yet silky, welcoming, and well balanced.

Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia—FÈLSINA

 

THIS CHIANTI CLASSICO is very different from what most people would expect of a wine labeled as such. Elegant and austere, it can almost take you aback with its bracing acidity—it expresses the beauty of the sangiovese grape with impressive clarity.

The cypress-lined road leading to the Fèlsina winery is a postcard-perfect location, a convincing advertisement for Italy and its beautiful landscapes and architecture. The owner of this idyllic estate is Giuseppe Mazzocolin, son-in-law of Domenico Poggiali of Ravenna, who bought the property in 1966. Giuseppe is a former Latin and Greek instructor who, after thirty years of teaching, decided to join his wife’s family’s business and make wine. A truly cultured man, Giuseppe enjoys conversing about art, literature, and classical music just as much as, if not more than, about wine. Despite his Venetian upbringing, Giuseppe has a profound connection with Toscana and has created a small oasis of his own in Castelnuovo Berardenga. Housed inside what looks like a medieval chapel, Giuseppe’s cellar is possibly the most beautiful in Italy. The large oak barrels are arranged elegantly in rows and are surrounded by a stately colonnade. The aging room is so fantastic that it risks upstaging the wine. However, thanks to the skill of Giuseppe and his family, this has never occurred.

The first great Fèlsina wines were made here during the beginning of the 1980s. From the start, Giuseppe decided to focus his attention on the land and on sangiovese, the reigning grape variety of the area, although other wineries had begun to substitute easier-to-grow international varieties like merlot and cabernet sauvignon. Giuseppe also decided to divide the vineyard into individual crus, leading to the creation of two great wines, Riserva Rancia and Fontalloro. Rancia is a Chianti Classico; Fontalloro drinks like a Chianti but can’t be labeled as such because the grapes come from a vineyard located a few hundred yards past the southern boarder of the denomination. Despite all the absurd demands imposed by the archaic regulations of the DOCG—like the requirement that sangiovese be blended with trebbiano, a white grape variety that does not grow particularly well in Toscana—Giuseppe has made his Riserva Rancia with 100 percent sangiovese since the beginning. This decision was hard to make, but revolutionary and in keeping with the goals of the winery: to make two great red wines that are strong expressions of the land. In addition to Giuseppe Mazzocolin and Giuseppe Poggiali, his brother-in-law, the Fèlsina winery is run by one of Italy’s most celebrated enologists, Franco Bernabei, who has been working with the family since 1982.

The winery is located in one of the southernmost comuni of Chianti Classico, straddled between Chianti and the Siena countryside. This area has suffered from considerable erosion, first due to the sea that thousands of years ago reached all the way to the Tuscan hills, and later due to rivers. In fact, many of the stones on the bed of the Fèlsina vineyards resemble the round pebbles or shingles typically found on the beach; these stones contribute to the unique character of the wines. The Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia is made from grapes grown at 1,300 feet and protected by a large forest that wraps around the north end of the estate. Fèlsina is around 37 miles from the famous town where Brunello was born (Montalcino), and the climates of both areas are quite similar. As a result, Rancia has many of the same organoleptic qualities.

For first-time tasters, Rancia Riserva generally comes as a surprise. This is not a strong, powerful wine, but a rather lean, austere product with the edgy, tart acidity that only sangiovese can produce. It can be drunk with food but also can be enjoyed on its own for a more meditative experience. If tasted carelessly, this wine may fool you, especially the older vintages. Don’t be surprised if after five or six years, Rancia Riserva tastes older than its age; this is normal. The wine evolves precociously but then stops. It almost crystallizes after six years and then continues to age very, very slowly. After ten years, it is surprisingly still full of life. On the nose, it has notes of earth and of minerals like graphite, but also leather, hide, and tobacco. In the mouth it is unexpectedly tart and acidic.

Chianti Classico Vigneto Bellavista—CASTELLO DI AMA

 

THE STORY OF Castello di Ama begins during the mid-1970s, when a Roman entrepreneur fell in love with the small town of Ama and the surrounding territory of Chianti Classico. At the time, Ama was made up of a handful of stone houses perched at the top of the splendid hills of Chiantishire (the region of Toscana that had been invaded by wealthy Englishmen and Americans during the urbanization of Italy) and a couple of medieval chapels. Everything was pretty much in shambles and in need of heavy restoration. The Roman businessman was able to convince three of his friends to join him in this adventure of renovation. At the beginning, tending to the grapevines was only a pastime and certainly not the core business of the undertaking. Over the years, the hobby became a passion, and winemaking at the highest level became the dream of these Romans. They looked for a top-notch staff and hired two people who would become fundamental to Castello di Ama’s success.

The first important person brought on the scene was Silvano Formigli, who gave important marketing input for the cellar but left Ama in the mid-1990s to start Selezione Fattorie, which over the next decade became one of the most important Italian wine distribution companies. The other person was Marco Pallanti, who was hired in 1982 when he was still a very young enologist. In a short period of time, Marco became the technical director for the estate, which at that point included around 120 acres of vineyards. Realizing that he had great potential, the owners of Ama decided to invest in Marco’s education, sending him to train with some of the most important winemakers in Bordeaux, such as Léon, Dubourdieu, Glories, Carbonneau, Boidron, and many others. Another important moment in the history of the winery occurred in 1988, with the arrival of Lorenza Sebasti, daughter of one of the owners, an ardent supporter of Ama who later became Marco’s wife.

In the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, the Ama vineyards grew in quantity and in quality, reaching 220 acres after the purchase of the famous vineyard sites Bertinga and Montebuoni. During the past decade, the goals and intentions of Castello di Ama have come into clear focus, and Chianti Classico has become the central focus of Lorenza and Marco’s work. In a time when all the big-name Tuscan winemakers were producing Super Tuscans, Ama was creating great Chianti wines: Bellavista in 1978, San Lorenzo in 1982, Casuccia in 1985, and Bertinga in 1988. In addition, Ama made a few bottles—10,000 max—of a pure Merlot called Apparita, which was more an exercise in style than a symbol of a winery that has remained faithful to Sangiovese in its various forms. However, among all of Ama’s successes, their best move was to create a “base,” if you can call it that, its super Chianti Classico in 1996. With 150,000 bottles of the wine per year, they were able to change the worldview of Chianti Classico. It is not a simple, easy-drinking wine, but a product able to impress even the most demanding palates.

Thanks in part to his magical intuition and his ablility to change the face of an entire denomination, Marco Pallanti was elected head of the Consortium of Chianti Classico in 2006, and again by unanimous vote in 2009. It is also important to note the real work of patronage that Castello di Ama has undertaken over the years, whereby it made the small Tuscan town into a cultural retreat for contemporary artists, especially young artists. Thank to Marco and Lorenza, the artists can spend time on fertile land where they can express their individual creativity. In fact, there are dozens of art installations on the property, created by some of the most well-known names in international contemporary art, including Daniel Buren, Carlos Garaicoa, Kendell Geers, Cristina Iglesias, Anish Kapoor, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Nedko Solakov, Chen Zhen, Giulio Paolini, and many more.

Gaiole in Chianti is located at the center of the Chianti Classico region and contains some of the most important and historic vineyards in the entire Chianti area. It was not by chance that some of the most internationally celebrated wineries are located here. Castello di Ama is without a doubt the shining star of an already rich cast of characters. The Ama vineyards are positioned at a high altitude for classic sangiovese standards. Almost all the vines have been planted between 1,400 and 1,800 feet above sea level. Bellavista, planted between 1967 and 1975, is the top cru of the estate and covers almost 54 acres. Its soil is composed primarily of clay and is quite pebbly. One of the interesting characteristics of the operation is the shape in which the vines are trained, called a lira aperta (“open lyre”), implemented in 1982 by Marco Pallanti after his sojourn in Bordeaux. This method allows the quality of the grapes to improve by increasing the surface area of the leaves exposed to the sun. Like a solar panel, the leaves capture the sun’s energy and pass it on to the bunches. Among the 54 acres in the Bellavista cru, only 20 acres have been converted to this innovative system. Besides sangiovese, malvasia nera grapes, used in a small percentage to make Chianti Classico Vigneto Bellavista, are also grown in this vineyard.

The Vigneto Bellavista is the pure expression of the terroir of Ama: the true flagship of Marco Pallanti and Lorenza Sebasti’s cellar. It is an austere and powerful wine, full of personality and classic style. It is a strictly territorial wine, made from two native grape varieties, of which 90 percent is sangiovese and 10 percent is malvasia nera. Over the years following the release of the previously mentioned 1996 Chianti Classic “base,” the Vigneto Bellavista has gone through dramatic stylistic changes. Before this new label, Bellavista was a wine that was released to the market almost every year. After the birth of the “base,” Bellavista became a super selection, released only during top vintages; in the past fourteen years, therefore, only seven vintages have been released (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006, and 2007). The wine is aged in French oak barriques, 60 percent of which are new wood, for about fifteen months. The wine has great potential for aging, and if tasted young, it may seem a little closed and not so explosive. However, if you have the patience to wait at least five years from the harvest, the wine will reward you with unique sensations. Its fruity aromas transform and develop into notes of hummus and cigar box, star anise and graphite. In the mouth, it is fleshly and juicy, with elegant, almost silklike tannins.

Flaccianello della Pieve—TENUTA FONTODI

 

FIRST PRODUCED IN 1981, Flaccianello della Pieve is one of the finest wines of Toscana. This wine is made by Giovanni Manetti, who, despite his young age, is one of most important wine producers in Italy. He successfully maintains the strong Tuscan winemaking traditions while creating a sustainable model for the future, based on a complete traditional farming and winemaking style.

For centuries, the Manetti family, owners of the Fontodi estate since 1968, was in the tile-making business. Handmade in the town of Impruneta, Manetti clay tiles can be found in many of Toscana’s more beautiful homes and monuments: Brunelleschi’s dome, atop the Firenze cathedral, is covered in their tiles, as is the floor of the Botticelli Room in the Uffizi Gallery. The family’s artisan spirit, passed down for generations, contributes to their skillful winemaking. This legacy is certainly carried by Giovanni, who shifted his attention entirely to wine at the end of the 1970s. Over the course of only thirty years, Tenuta Fontodi has become one of the most revolutionary wineries in Chianti, thanks to Giovanni—a charismatic and dashing fifty-something-year old, who was able to increase not only his family’s business, but that of the entire region of Panzano.

Many things make this estate truly special. To begin with, the 200 acres of adjoining vineyards constitute one of the most important enological areas in Italy. Tenuta Fontodi is located in the Conca d’Oro (“Golden Bowl”) region, known as a natural amphitheater of vineyards. The vines tenderly frame the small, picturesque town of Panzano and its eleventh-century castle, built by the Firidolfi family. Panzano is located on the ridge of the string of hills that divides the valley from the Pesa River on the east and the Greve on the west. This is the true geographical heart of Toscana and Chianti Classico, just a few hundred yards from the border that divides the provinces of Firenze and Siena. A large part of the Fontodi vineyards is planted between 1,100 and 1,500 feet above sea level, an ideal location for growing sangiovese. The soil is composed primarily of galestro—a crumbly schistlike rock—and a lesser amount of clay. The grapes destined to become Flaccianello are grown on land that is 1,300 feet above sea level and that has excellent southern exposure.

Giovanni Manetti was one of the first winemakers to believe in the potential of pure sangiovese wines produced without the addition of international grape varieties like cabernet or merlot or native varieties like colorino and canaiolo. With his understanding of the land, good vine density, and vines that are at least thirty years old, he is able to fully mature his grapes. Giovanni beat the odds, proving that wines made exclusively from sangiovese are able to compete against the best wines in the world.

And then there is Giovanni’s courageous commitment to work organically—not for recognition or as a marketing tool, but because he is convinced that his wines simply taste better that way. No chemical fertilizers are used in the vineyards, and to take things a step further, Giovanni decided to breed his own herd of Chianina cattle (famous for their white coats and buttery rich, yet gamey meat, typically served as bistecca alla fiorentina). In the lower part of the estate, he built a small, wooden, ecofriendly stall, where he raises the animals. Because of his vision and determination, Giovanni was able to modernize the tradition of Chiantigiano winemaking and to give sangiovese worldwide appeal.

Flaccianello della Pieve is the perfect example of Giovanni’s achievement as a winemaker. At the beginning of the 1980s, there were only a handful of quality Tuscan wine producers, and even fewer of these had the great courage demonstrated by Giovanni Manetti, who made the uncommon choice to produce pure sangiovese wine. In all truthfulness, he also benefited from the good fortune of meeting one of the most talented and capable Italian enologists, Franco Bernabei, who knew how to tame a wild breed like sangiovese. The first few vintages had a closed nose, but the wine later opened up, developing elegance and rare grace. The wine is characterized by fruity notes, but also leather and hide. One can sense warm notes of pepper and pipe tobacco on the finish. In the mouth, the wine bounces between sensations of hot and cold, with robust tannins present when the wine is young, but that smooth out over time.

Masseto—TENUTA DELL’ORNELLAIA

 

MASSETO IS one of the most sought-after wines in the world and also one of the best to be drunk immediately—even if I only have twenty years of history to support my argument. Like Pomerol, the small denomination in Bordeaux, and Saint-Emilion, Masseto has become synonymous with great Merlot.

Ornellaia was founded by the Antinori family in the early 1980s and was later sold to the Frescobaldi clan, another century-old Florentine winemaking family. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Frescobaldis established a joint venture with the Mondavis from California, creating one of the first, and certainly the most famous, Italian-American partnerships in the wine world. Tenuta dell’Ornellaia returned to Italian ownership in 2005 after the joint venture with Robert Mondavi came to an end at the time of Mondavi’s involvement in Constellation Brands. The American wine and spirits producer, capable of generating revenues equal to those of a small country of eastern Europe, was “turned away” by the Frescobaldi family, who were intent on keeping Ornellaia far from the globalized wine circuit. Thanks to a purchase agreement, the Frescobaldis took over the winery, whose wines were already marketed on five continents, giving it the spirit of an Italian dynasty that has six centuries of history producing wine in Toscana.

In the past, winemakers believed that the production cycle of wine was directly connected to the rhythms of nature. Making wine took time and patience. However, with the arrival of modern technology and a general increase in technical skills, production times were reduced, allowing vineyards that were utterly unknown twenty years ago to stand alongside the most ancient, noble, Italian winemaking areas. Today, Bolgheri is like California’s Napa Valley or Australia’s Barossa Valley: For the wine lover, each is simply known as a top wine region, a place where winemakers have been able to create great wines, thanks to modern winemaking techniques.

The top wines at the tenuta (estate) are Ornellaia, primarily a Cabernet Sauvingon, and Masseto, a pure Merlot that was released for the first time in 1987. Thanks to these bottles and those of another superstar of Bolgheri, Sassicaia of Tenuta San Guido, the subregion of Bolgheri is recognized internationally. The success of Masseto came as more of a surprise than that of Sassicaia, because Masseto became popular so quickly and because it is made from a grape variety that had not yet produced good results in Italy. Masseto surpassed every expectation: International wine critics unanimously declared it one of the greatest Merlots in the world. On more than one occasion, Masseto came in ahead of Merlots from Bordeaux in the rankings. Both the Italian and the French territories are fairly flat and close to the sea—the latter of which is a key element for understanding the success of the merlot grape in these areas and the wine made from it. In the case of Masseto, the vineyard is only 17 acres in size and is located close to the company headquarters. This is precisely where the Frescobaldi family has found that the merlot grapes express themselves the best.

Experienced agronomists are able to distinguish the grapes grown on the various parcels of this cru: The harvest is not based entirely on the selection of the healthiest grapes, but on keeping the grapes from the different microzones of this vineyard separate—all the way to the cellar. The quality of the grapes is controlled twice, both before and after the stems are removed. The fermentation occurs at 77 to 83 degrees Fahrenheit, after which the must macerates for ten to fifteen days at 83 degrees Fahrenheit. Malolactic fermentation takes place in 100 percent new barriques, and aging lasts twenty-four months in a cool and damp cellar. After the first twelve months, the wines from the single parcels of Masseto are blended and then transferred to barrels for another year of aging. The last twelve months of the wine’s life at Ornellaia occur in the bottle, and then it is off to market.

The wine has aromas of dark black fruit, smoke, tobacco, and minerals. The perfumes are well matched, yet individually recognizable. Thanks to the mild climate, the wine has remained fairly consistent throughout the years. For example, 2002 was much less disastrous here than it was for the rest of Toscana, and 2003 was not particularly harsh compared with the rest of Italy. In the mouth, the tannins seem velvety. The wine has an incredibly pleasant level of alcohol and power. This is a big Bolgheri wine. It is international by definition, modern by nature, and yet very Tuscan. Masseto has redrawn the map of excellence that the winemakers of Pomerol, the masters of Merlot, have come to know and respect.

Nobile di Montepulciano Nocio dei Boscarelli—BOSCARELLI

 

A FANTASTIC EXAMPLE of a pure sangiovese wine, Nocio dei Boscarelli is a gem. Already a masterful wine, it will be exciting to see how it continues to develop, as the available vintages are all still quite young, and the wine clearly will age extremely well.

Born into a family of renowned blacksmiths and artisans from Montepulciano, Egidio Corradi did not become a winemaker until later in life. Even as a child, he was a quick learner, prompting his parents to send him to school rather than train him in the family business. He graduated with a degree in business and economics and became a wheat broker, with one office in Montepulciano and another in Milano. In 1962, after a long time spent scoping out the market, Egidio purchased two fantastic estates in Cervognano, on the southeast side of Montepulciano. The fields were originally planted with wheat and tobacco, but he decided to replant them with sangiovese grapes. Two years later, he built the cellar.

Sadly, Egidio wasn’t able to enjoy his wines for long because of his early death in 1967. His daughter, Paola, and her husband, Ippolito De Ferrari, took over the family company while living in Genova, more than two hundred miles away. At the beginning, the couple traveled back and forth as commuting winemakers. The distance was not easy, especially because the Italian roadways were not as well developed at that time as they are today. But in the end, they decided to move to the hills of Paola’s youth. Ippolito also ended up dying fairly young, in 1983, leaving Paola to depend on her own strong character and business sense. Seven years later, in 1990, she invited her eldest son, Luca, to be a part of the business. At the time, Luca was a tall, thin blond boy with an extremely elegant style. If it weren’t for his thick Genovese accent, one might easily take him for a Tuscan nobleman straight out of the Renaissance. For more than ten years, Luca and his mother Paola have worked together with Niccolò, the youngest of the Boscarelli clan.

The De Ferrari family generally prefers to work quietly, out of the limelight, and it therefore took some time before the critics recognized the wines of the Boscarelli vineyard. Since the mid-1980s, Boscarelli has benefited from the advice of Maurizio Castelli, an enologist who has always opted for minimal intervention in the cellar. Together they are able to make wines that best express the characteristics of the land.

Located at the top of a rocky hill at 2,000 feet above sea level, the view of Montepulciano is known to amaze visitors who arrive from the Val di Chiana or the Val d’Orcia. In recent years, Montepulciano wines have been going through an identity crisis, partly because the regulations allow for an exaggerated use (30 percent) of other grape varieties, like cabernet and merlot. You can find a wide variety of Montepulciano wines, some seeming extremely international in style, while others, like Nocio, are a real expression of the denomination. This area is blessed with a decidedly hot climate, compared with Chianti Classico. In 1989, the De Ferrari family purchased the Nocio vineyard from a farmer who had been selling them grapes for years. The cru covers around 7 acres total. The soil, made from alluvial deposits, contains an excellent amount of gravel and sand, allowing for good drainage and giving life to an elegant, complex wine.

The De Ferrari family had always wanted to make a wine from 100 percent sangiovese grapes (here called prugnolo), but DOC regulations established in 1997 did not permit this. Therefore, for the first years, 1991 and 1993, the Boscarellis produced a wine called Riserva Vigna del Nocio, blended with complementary native grapes like canaiolo, mammolo, and colorino. In 1997 and 2000, they added a small amount of merlot, which didn’t really seem to affect the austere, territorial nature of this wine. In 2001, the winery finally got its chance to make a pure sangiovese when the regulations were changed to allow it, and they began labeling it as Nocio dei Boscarelli.

Nocio dei Boscarelli is a wine that in its best years is not easy to read because it is made for aging. The best and most celebrated vintages are 1995, 1997, 2001, 2004, and, among the more recent, 2006. Its aromas recall leather and wet soil, graphite, and the nobility of mature red fruit, in particular cherry and cassis. In the mouth, it has the stuff of champions, with silky tannins, excellent acidity—typical of sangiovese—and deepness and length from the beginning. It is a great wine that speaks the language of its land.

Percarlo—FATTORIA SAN GIUSTO A RENTENNANO

 

FATTORIA SAN GUISTO A RETENNANO functions on the basic principle that a winemaker must be directly connected to the land to produce the best wine. Percarlo is a clear example of the truth of this statement, for it is one of Italy’s finest wines.

The San Giusto a Rentennano winery is a former Cistercian abbey at the end of a winding road that passes through the scenic hills of Chianti Classico. In 1204, Rentennano marked the border of the Florentine and Sienese republics. The Guelfian crenellations are testament to the town’s history, as are the underground cellars used to bottle and barrel-age wine. For centuries, the estate—which starts at the castle of Brolio in Gaiole and includes all the significant landholdings in this southern part of Chianti Classico—belonged to the Ricasoli family. In 1957, the property was purchased by Count Enrico Martini di Cigala—a distinctive and handsome man with white hair and a passion for making great wine and playing chess. Enrico had a multitude of sons—nine in all. The sons shared his lively spirit and love for winemaking. At the beginning of the 1990s, three of his children took over the company: Francesco and Luca look after the vineyards, while his daughter Elisabetta is in charge of the administration and accounting.

The beauty of the Martini di Cigala family is that they are men and women of the earth, not afraid to get their hands dirty and be a part of the agricultural process. Luca, for example, is a true vigneron, with callused hands and a friendly yet ill-tempered spirit. His life is a juxtaposition of his responsibilities and duties as both a noble landowner and a farmer. Although he may dress in fancy suits, Luca would rather walk you through the vines than sit and taste wine in the cellar. He is critical of the Tuscan tradition of bringing in highly paid consultants rather than being personally involved in every aspect of the winemaking process. He insists, with good reason, that the Tuscans are lacking the attachment to the soil present in other great wine regions, such as Piemonte or Burgundy. His winemaking style is most similar to that of those other regions. Light-years ahead of other Tuscan winemakers and wine critics, Luca has committed fully to organic cultivation.

Percarlo is a wine that speaks of one man’s commitment to this ancient terroir, as it is able to manifest the essence of sangiovese and Chianti. The land and climate are similar to those of Castelnuovo Berardenga, with a rich soil of clay and calcareous and alkaline rocks. The vineyards that produce Percarlo are situated in an area with Pliocene origins. The soil is composed of layers of sand and pebbles that vary between 7 and 16 feet in depth and are supported by banks of clay. The average altitude is about 890 feet in a natural environment with very little development or human intervention. As far as the eye can see, there are rows of cypresses and oaks and pastures for the regal white Chianina Tuscan cattle.

The farm is a mixed holding of around 400 acres: 77 acres of vineyards, 27 acres of olives, 99 acres of forest, and some 200 acres of open field and pasture. Because of the altitude and the great amount of surrounding forest, the daytime and nighttime temperatures vary considerably, which is perfect for the cultivation of sangiovese and for making wines of great structure and quality. About half the vineyards are over thirty-five years old and are comprised of native clones like sangiovese and canaiolo, which the family uses to proliferate clonal selections. Luca made the choice to clone his own plants rather than purchase new ones from nurseries. In 1990, 42 acres were planted at a density of 2,000 plants per acre. In recent years, the entire estate has been converted to biological farming.

It is almost redundant to describe the character of this wine because it is such a perfect reflection of the man who made it. Percarlo is a wine of power and austerity, not inclined to make an impression with its muscle, but rather with its elegance, nobility, and, at times, rustic yet engaging character. In its youth, three or four years after the vintage, the wine can still be closed and show notes on the nose of its long barrel aging and scents of cocoa and coffee. As the wine ages, it becomes one of the most elegant and complex wines in the entire world of Tuscan viticulture. Percarlo is made exclusively from sangiovese grapes and is macerated for a minimum of eighteen days. After alcoholic fermentation, the wine is left to age in small French oak barrels for twenty to twenty-two months, depending on the vintage. After a year and a half of bottle aging, the wine is ready to be placed on the market. Percarlo opens up on the nose with nuances of raspberries and cherries, then turns to notes of red licorice, finishing with charcoal and leather. On the palate, the wine is explosive, with a tannic structure that is uncommon and truly great.

Le Pergole Torte—MONTEVERTINE

 

LE PERGOLE TORTE is one of the first Super Tuscans made from pure sangiovese grapes. The wine has a cult status both for its amazing quality and for the bottle label, which was designed by the gifted painter and engraver Alberto Manfredi.

Montevertine is a small estate that has been inhabited since the eleventh century. Once a defensive fortress, the building was converted into a rural home during the Renaissance. When Sergio Manetti arrived in 1967, the villa was not in livable condition, and he quickly began restoring the property. He also planted 5 acres of sangiovese (known here as sangioveto) and other complementary native varieties, such as canaiolo and colorino, on the property. His vision was clear: no cabernet, no merlot, and no pinot noir. Having spent most of his professional life in the iron industry, Sergio Manetti proved to have surprising foresight in regard to wine. He was an atypical entrepreneur, a sort of Renaissance man, interested in literature, the arts, and even winemaking history.

In 1971, Manetti released his first 4,000 bottles, debuting his wine at Vinitaly, Italy’s most important yearly wine fair. It was an immediate success. In 1997, Manetti decided to stop blending his sangiovese with other varietals—a very bold move in the eyes of others. The Consortium of Chianti Classico stridently rejected his wine because Chianti Classico DOCG was defined as a blend, as documented in the famous formula created by Baron Bettino Ricasoli at the end of the nineteenth century. Profoundly frustrated by what he considered to be a myopic, conservative rule, in 1981 Sergio decided to break away from the denomination. In just a few years from its initial release on the market, Le Pergole Torte was a success. From then onward, the wine developed a considerable following, to the point of becoming in a very short period one of the most prestigious wines produced in Italy.

Over the course of his winemaking career, Manetti came to be known as an intellectual of the land, as he espoused great theories of agriculture as they pertain to the human condition. For a few years, he wrote a column called “Vino e cucina” in La Repubblica, one of Italy’s most important newspapers. He was a tireless collector—of paintings, of men’s tiepins, of walking sticks, of modern sculpture, and even of art catalogs—and he carefully ordered his finds chronologically, a silent testimony to all the exhibits he had attended through the years. Later in life, he even published a book on Tuscan culture, which he wrote and compiled, with written tributes from his friends. He had the rare ability to bring out the natural curiosity in anyone near him, thanks to his own genuine curiosity and interest in people and culture. Sadly, in 2000, Sergio Manetti died, leaving the company and the winery to his son Martino. Wisely and humbly, his successor decided not to change a grape in his father’s winning recipe. Martino continues to follow the valuable advice of enologist Giulio Gambelli, the true and renowned signore of sangiovese.

Giulio has participated in over sixty-seven harvests and has become an icon for Tuscan wine lovers. He has worked alongside other big names in winemaking, such as Tancredi Biondi Santi. Known as Bicchierino (“little glass”) by his close friends, Giulio was able to bring new respect to the sangiovese variety with a few simple changes at Montevertine. After the harvest, the grapes are placed in concrete containers without any sort of temperature control, but the wine is repumped over the cap to keep it wet. Malolactic fermentation occurs with the wine still in the cement; the wine is then put into wood—first, small casks, then larger ones, for about two years total.

Le Pergole Torte is a very strong expression of the land: It is sangiovese through and through. The Montevertine vineyards are located high in the hills of Radda in Chianti, an area where the altitude makes it considerably difficult to mature sangiovese grapes. Here, only the hillsides with good sun exposure are able to produce grapes of worth. Le Pergole Torte is made from a 5-acre, north-to-northeast-facing vineyard planted by Manetti between 1968 and 1982. In recent years, the vineyards have been restored with care and dedication by restructuring the unproductive zones. The grapes are grown using the Guyot system in the older vineyards and the cordone speronato system in the newer vineyards.

For far too long, wine critics confused the elegance and depth of Montevertine wines for leanness and lack of structure. The climate and the soil impart deep complexity to the wines, both in terms of aromas and in terms of flavor. However, these are certainly not the best wines for lovers of big, fruity wines. Le Pergole Torte, as mentioned before, is a wine of the land: Its aromas are refined and elegant, but not invasive. There are hints of sour cherry, cigar, and wet soil. In the mouth, the wine is fresh and spiced, with noble tannins. It has the structure to age for a long time. Collectors should look into the 1981, 1985, and 1988 vintages, and especially the 1990.

Redigaffi—TUA RITA

 

REDIGAFFI IS one of the great Merlots of the world and has even competed in tastings alongside Pétrus, one of Bordeaux’s most famous wines. A modern wine, made from relatively young grapes, Redigaffi is nonetheless an outstanding example of a pure Merlot.

In Italy, merlot has had its successes and failures. In places like the Veneto, this French variety has practically found a second home and has been grown there for more than a hundred years. In other regions, especially Toscana, winemakers have decided to plant merlot grapes because they grow more easily than other varieties, and the wine is much loved by consumers and critics for its rich, fruity flavor. In France, merlot grows best in Pomerol, and, thanks to Château Pétrus, this variety has become legendary. In Italy, however, the results have not been as good: Merlot risks flattening or masking the flavors of many Italian wines. The variety, however, is quite flexible and blends nicely with sangiovese, which is known for its rough tannins and pale color. Merlot is the exact opposite: opulent, creamy, high in alcohol, and impenetrably dark.

In 1984, Rita Tua and her husband, Virgilio Bisti, decided to buy land in Suvereto, an area without any real winemaking tradition. Located in a rocky part of the fertile plain of Venturina, just a few miles from Pombino and the Tyrrhenian Sea, Suvereto benefits from a coastal climate. Even during the summer, the nighttime temperatures drop considerably, helping the grapes to mature. Mount Capanne, a 3,300-foot mountain on the island of Elba, acts as screen, protecting the coast of Venturina and Suvereto from major wind and weather. Also, the hills generally experience little rainfall. The summer is quite arid, and the soil—composed of clay, silty sand, and small pebbles—is lacking in nutrients. Sangiovese and a couple of other local varieties of grapes had been planted here without much success.

When Rita and Virgilio arrived, they decided to take a road less traveled, planting their vineyards exclusively with merlot grapes. Their desire was to make a unique wine with great personality that would stand apart from everything that had been produced in Suvereto thus far. Over the course of a few years, the wine became famous throughout the world, and its price increased significantly. Tua Rita is a relatively small operation, which allows the two owners to dedicate great attention to the land and the winemaking process. The vineyard is no more than 45 acres, 30 of which are currently in production. Each year, the winery produces a little less than 40,000 bottles. Many winemakers, including those who work just miles from Suvereto, have tried to replicate Tua Rita’s secrets without success.

Redigaffi has, in fact, nothing in common with the fruity Merlot that you can find elsewhere. The company looked to the French as a model and imported the practice of barrique aging. On the nose, Redigaffi has strong but not excessive aromas of mature fruit, like prune, and more subtle notes of rust, leather, wet soil, and graphite. In the mouth, the wine is fleshy and juicy, with a good acidity and well-measured tannins. The finish is elegant, full bodied, and long lasting. The wine is undeniably modern, but it could be no other way, given that this area is lacking in tradition.

Sassicaia—TENUTA SAN GUIDO

 

TENUTA SAN GUIDO is the birthplace of the legendary Sassicaia, and it still produces world-famous wines to this day. Though it has a relatively short history, it is absolutely a pillar of Italian wines.

Sassicaia is the creation of the Piemontese aristocrat Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta. In 1930, after marrying a Tuscan noblewoman, Clarice della Gherardesca, he decided to plant cabernet sauvignon grapes on the land he had received as a dowry. The marchese, a debonair racehorse breeder, revolutionized winemaking in northern Maremma by selecting the French grape variety over sangiovese because of the similarities he had noted between the Les Graves and the Sassicaia vineyards in the course of his travels in the Bordeaux area. Unlike the noble Tuscan winemaking families, the house of Incisa had never produced wine in the region. It was the marchese’s brash and nonconformist spirit that gave birth to a whole new category of Tuscan wines.

At first, Sassicaia was kept close to the vest, and production was limited exclusively for private consumption and for gifting to fellow landed gentry. However, as rumblings of this superb, innovative wine spread among the wine society of Toscana, the Incisa family decided to begin selling Sassicaia to the general public, beginning with the 1968 vintage. Giacomo Tachis was the winemaker whose vision and collaboration thrust this new wine firmly onto the scene. Italy’s most celebrated enologist, Giacomo is the spirit and brains behind some of the country’s most prestigious wines: In addition to Sassicaia, he was responsible for Solaia and Tignanello for the Antinori family, and for Santadi Terre Brune in Sardegna. It was the marriage of intentions between Tachis and Incisa that generated the legend of Sassicaia. A Bordeaux in Tuscany? Who had ever heard of such a thing? The fact is that, since 1968, Sassicaia has been the talk of the wine world. Though its debut was received with some trepidation from the more staid, old-school Tuscan set, it attracted fans and accolades from the outset. In 1983, Marchese Mario died and was succeeded by his third son, Nicolò, who raised the wine to even greater international acclaim.

Sassicaia was the first wine in the region to be christened a Super Tuscan—a term coined by the American wine writer Nicolas Belfrage that is now common terminology. In 1985, Sassicaia achieved global positioning with a vintage that has since become a legend in world winemaking. Sassicaia has become the bellwether for great Italian wines. Its auction pricing sets the standard and the market for Italian wine values, and it continues to outscore Clarets from California and France in blind tastings. Although getting on in years, Nicolò still has the swagger of a true Tuscan nobleman who perhaps shot two wild boars and broke a horse before his morning coffee. This Tuscan bravado, along with Nicolò’s family lineage, makes itself apparent in every bottle of Sassicaia.

The San Guido estate is situated in one of the loveliest corners of Toscana, just inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea in an area of Mediterranean scrub and cypress trees. This unique landscape was immortalized by Giosuè Carducci, winner of the 1906 Nobel Prize in Literature, in his poem “Davanti a San Guido.” Thanks to the sea breezes, the climate here is temperate, typically Mediterranean, and the soil is particularly stony. The highest point on the estate is 1,300 feet above sea level. Two-thirds of the grounds are covered by woodland; the rest is occupied by the training stables for Dormello-Olgiata thoroughbred racehorses—a breed selected and developed by Marchese Mario—and about 222 acres of vines. The vineyards dedicated to the cultivation of the cabernet sauvignon and the cabernet franc grapes used to produce Sassicaia are found in the southwest area of the estate.

What makes Sassicaia reminiscent of its French cousins is, above all, its elegance, while its scent and flavor are quintessentially Mediterranean. This is a wine that ages superbly—so much so that celebrated vintages of the past, such as 1978, 1985, and 1988, are still as quaffable and as exciting as ever. The wine is aged for twenty-four months in French oak barriques, then for six months in the bottle. The result is a wine that is deep ruby red in color with nuances of Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary and bay leaf. The bouquet, redolent of red berries, is potent and dense with very fine tannins. Notwithstanding the use of barriques, Sassicaia is neither modern nor traditional in style. Sassicaia is simply Sassicaia, a wine that has created a school of its own, with lots of devotees keen to imitate its unmistakably aristocratic elegance. Its best vintages hold unique sensations in store; in a tasting organized by international wine authority and author Hugh Johnson for Decanter magazine in 1978, the 1972 Sassicaia was named Best Cabernet in the World. A distinctive feature noted in the wine is the cyclical nature of its taste potential: In other words, it seems to give off its best in the winter, only to close up again in spring and then bloom magnificently in summer.

Tenuta di Valgiano—TENUTA DI VALGIANO

 

A NATURAL WINE through and through, Tenuta di Valgiano is a masterful example of the fact that organic farming practices can and do produce world-class wines. This wine’s story is that of an iconoclastic blending of two seemingly disparate ideologies: Milanese fashionistas and traditional biodynamic farming.

Moreno Perini, the son of a reputed businessman in the footwear industry, and Laura di Collobiano, a descendant of a noble Piemontese family, purchased Tenuta di Valgiano in the mid-1990s. The two city slickers decided to hire another cosmopolite, Saverio Petrilli, as their consultant. Having an educated understanding of the environmental issues plaguing the world, the team chose ecological sustainability as their battle flag. They began by obtaining organic certification, and then became biodynamic in 2001. Together they created an oasis in Valgiano, where forty-something-year-old Saverio works together with a team of talented and innovative young people. Nowhere else in Italy can you find so many youngsters working the harvest, sharing ideas and building lasting relationships. The result is a cultural phenomenon that has positive effects on the wine.

Tenuta di Valgiano turns out perfect wines in terms of aroma and taste, without using chemical fertilizers or yeasts created in laboratories. They have a perfect synthesis. The recipe is simple: “The soil and the sun make wine without compromises,” as Saverio loves to say. Nothing else, just nature and her slow, constant rhythms. There are no magic tricks: It is not a question of philosophy, but simply one of high-level agriculture, without the sort of ideological superiority that many biodynamic producers often adopt. Here at Valgiano, people challenge themselves every day and are willing to face what each day brings them.

Until just a few years ago, the countryside outside Lucca was completely undervalued and considered ill suited for making quality wines. There were few wineries, and their wines were poorly received by the critics and poorly valued by the market and consumers. Few people saw any potential in the land. As this area is located halfway between the Tyrrhenian Sea and Chianti Classico, the climate is influenced by both the sea and the land, with dramatic changes in temperature between night and day.

Tenuta di Valgiano is hidden in a valley spared from the excessive cement paving that much of the outlying areas of Lucca suffered during the 1970s. The villa of the estate is also located in this unpolluted area of the region, which is covered with grapevines and olive trees that provide some particularly memorable extra-virgin olive oil. The area is truly shell shaped, positioned about 800 feet above sea level and surrounded by tree-covered hills that rise up to 3,300 feet in altitude. The soil is dense with clay and has a strong presence of alberese, a compacted calcareous rock. The soil is therefore poor in nutrients, but perfectly fit for making high-quality wines. The vineyards range from six to forty years old.

The sangiovese grape always does well in the alberese soil, which gives Sangiovese wines great aromatics while allowing them to maintain their complex structure. Merlot grapes, on the other hand, when farmed in clay soil, produce wines with great finesse and elegance. It is only the merlot grape that when grown in sandstone pebbles will result in a wine with strong notes of perfume and a complex composition. The nature of biodynamic farming, in which farmers seek to acknowledge and respect the preference that certain grape varieties have for certain soil types, allows the organic nature to come through in the glass. These techniques even allow international varieties to integrate themselves into the local profile of sangiovese. They complement the local varieties by bringing their own bells and whistles to a great wine that speaks of its terroir.

Tenuta di Valgiano is a blend of native and nonnative grape varieties: In addition to sangiovese, it is made with merlot and syrah. However, despite its two international parents, the character of the wine is undoubtedly Tuscan: In the mouth, it is acidic, edgy, and rugged, but at the same time rich in juice, fruit, and grand elegance. How is this miracle possible? It is probably the biodynamic approach in the fields and the hands-off approach in the cellar that make this wine less artificial and constructed, more pure and more linked to the terroir. The use of invasive technologies has been reduced to the bare minimum, and the wine is left to ferment in wooden vats for six to eighteen days, depending on the vintage. The grapes at Tenuta di Valgiano come from single vineyards, and the wine is not made from grapes selected in the winery. The wine is then aged in barriques, where malolactic fermentation occurs during the winter. To initiate the fermentation, no chemical yeasts or enzymes are used. Everything happens naturally, leading to a wine that is rich in aroma.

When tasted young, Tenuta di Valgiano is dominated by mature red fruit, such as cherry, but it then develops aromas of stone, dry leaves, tobacco, and leather after aging in the bottle. In the mouth, it is edgy and reactive, though neither quality weighs down the structure or good body of the wine. The finish is long lasting, with sweet, pleasurable tannins. Some of the top vintages include 1999, 2001, 2004, and 2006. Despite its short history, Tenuta di Valgiano has all the necessary elements of a wine with great aging potential.

Tignanello—MARCHESI ANTINORI

 

PRODUCED IN the heart of Chianti Classico, Tignanello defies tradition and is in a class of its own. The wine has always been magic for American wine drinkers. It is a name that has the same gravitas as Brunello or Barolo but which is even more powerful in the United States. The popularity of this wine dovetailed with the boom of authentic Italian cuisine in America and created a whole new market for modern Tuscan wines.

After six hundred years of making wine in Toscana, the Antinori family revolutionized the way wine was made in Chianti. In 1970, Piero and consulting enologist Giacomo Tachis released a single-vineyard Chianti Classico Riserva that had been aged in barriques. This modern approach was unheard of in Toscana at the time. In fact, the following year, Piero had to declassify Tignanello and label it as a vino da tavola: The wine contained international grape varieties like cabernet, rather than a majority of sangiovese grapes with some lesser-quality grapes like white trebbiano toscano, as was required by the Chianti Classico regulations. Although Tignanello never returned to being a Chianti Classico, it certainly sparked a revolution in the Chianti area and in Toscana in general.

Although the headquarters of the Antinori empire is located in Firenze, in a beautiful downtown palace, the soul of the company has always been in the green sea of the gently rolling hills of Chianti. Tignanello comes from a vineyard of the same name, situated 19 miles from Firenze, between the small towns of Montefiridolfi and Santa Maria a Macerata—in the heart of Chianti Classico. The estate covers 870 acres, 360 of which are planted with grapes. However, it is the quality of the grapevines that is really impressive: Some of the top crus in Toscana, like Tignanello (120 acres) and Solaia (25 acres) are located here. The soil is composed of sea marl from the Pliocene period and is rich in limestone. The altitude of the vineyards varies between 1,100 and 1,500 feet. The microclimate is fantastic for winemaking: During the most important part of the ripening process, there are long, hot days, often with a little breeze and an ideal difference between night- and daytime temperatures.

Tignanello became the vineyard the Antinoris used to express their creativity and their desire for experimentation. They planted cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc back in the 1920s. The vineyards were abandoned during World War II—during which time the estate was used to protect the family and their staff while their home in Firenze was being bombed—but they were slowly revived in the 1950s and blossomed in the 1960s. Together with sangiovese, these two vineyards led to great change in the region. And speaking of sangiovese, in recent years, the Tignanello vineyard has been home to interesting research dedicated to this native Tuscan grape: Pieces of white rock called alberese, already present in the area, were placed at the base of each row of vines. The reflection of the sunlight off the white rocks, along with the absence of infested plants and the density of vineyard, help the sangiovese grapes ripen perfectly here.

The magic formula for Tignanello is 85 percent sangiovese, 10 percent cabernet sauvignon, and 5 percent cabernet franc. The wine is uniquely modern, part of a general trend during its inception, but it has unashamedly maintained this style. The wine is released only during top, or at least very good, vintages. The wine was not released, for example, in 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1984, 1992, and 2002. In 1982, the Antinoris established which vineyards would be used to make the wine—but only after much trial and error. The three grapes are harvested between September and the beginning of October. Much attention and care is given to the fermentation and extraction stages, which involve délestage and the pumping over of the must. Alcoholic fermentation occurs at temperatures between 81 and 88 degrees Fahrenheit for all the grapes. After drawing off the lees, the wines are placed in new, small wooden casks, where malolactic fermentation occurs. Only then are the wines carefully blended and then left to age for twelve months in barriques. The wine is then bottled and left to age for another year.

Traditionally, Tignanello has a very intense ruby red color and fragrant notes of red fruit, spices, wet soil, and licorice. In the mouth, the wine is rich, sapid, round, and elegant. It is famous for its aromatic and long finish, which seamlessly recalls the wine’s olfactory notes. The noticeable tannins and high acidity level add to the longevity of this red wine.

Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice—AVIGNONESI

 

EVERYTHING ABOUT this wine and winery is special and classically Italian. No other wine in the world speaks so clearly of the history of Toscana. The story of the Avigonesi di Montepulciano winery is woven together with history, politics, and the Catholic church, or, more specifically, the popes.

Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice is tied to the history of the Catholic church in the early fourteenth century. Serious tensions were brewing in the Roman court, and King Philip IV of France was strongly anti-pope. The cardinals decided to meet in conclave to elect a French pope, transferring him to Avignon until the situation in Roma calmed down. What was supposed to be a temporary arrangement lasted almost seventy years, during which seven popes were elected, and three antipopes were named by the European kings. It was a time of intrigue, civil unrest, and theological and political disputes, recorded by historians as the Western Schism. By 1377, the political situation in Europe had changed, allowing for the definitive return of the pope to Roma. Back in Italy, Pope Gregory XI brought many French families from Avignon with him who settled in the Eternal City, Siena, and Montepulciano. The Avignonesi family (a name given to them because their original French last name was too hard to pronounce) started a winery that, over the centuries, became a reference point for the winemaking in the region.

Montepulciano is an area of great red wines made from sangiovese grapes (locally referred to as prugnolo gentile). However, the Avignonesi family was destined to make a sweet wine generally served at parties and special occasions. The origins of the wine’s name—Vin Santo (holy wine)—are veiled in local legend, but the name may relate to the similarly sweet wine then used in the Catholic Mass. The Avignonesi winery came to produce a Vin Santo, which became the reference point for Vin Santo production, named Occhio di Pernice. After various generations within the family managing the winery, including the thirty years in which the Falvo family spread the Avignonesi brand worldwide, the winery was transferred to the hands of Victrix, a Belgian maritime company, in 2008.

Until a couple of decades ago, Vin Santo di Montepulciano was considered a wine too good to be sold. Bottles were saved for special occasions like weddings or the arrival of an important guest. Almost every family living in the countryside made it, but no one dared sell it. It would have been too difficult to set a price for an elixir of this rarity. After the grapes were dried out (the appassimento) and after the pressing—which may occur in November, or is sometimes pushed back until the following spring—the wine is placed in small, 50-liter wooden barrels called caratelli (small barrels) in farmhouse attics. And there they remain. The winemaker doesn’t have to do anything, only wait for seven to eight years before opening, with some trepidation, the small casks. Out comes a honeylike liquid with almond and hazelnut aromas. In the mouth, the wine is sweet and welcoming, but not cloyingly so. Vin Santo Occhio di Pernice is a wine made with time.

To make wine according to the rules of Vin Santo may seem crazy or impossible, but in the Avignonesi cellar, the traditions have not changed. The winemaking and aging processes are too long and laborious for most producers, and therefore Avignonesi is the only winery to produce this wine. The Vin Santo room, where the hundreds of caratelli are kept untouched for eight years, is a sight to see. The secret of an excellent Vin Santo is the “mother,” or starter—the hundred-year-old liquid that initiates the fermentation process and that is reused after the barrels are opened. This starter makes a significant difference in the quality of the wine, setting it apart from the more industrial types of Vin Santo available on the market, which are often sold as a souvenir to tourists together with a box of Tuscan cantucci (almond biscotti). I find the rich, oxidized style of this wine spiritually uplifting.

The color of this wine is shady yellow to light brown, with a rim that glows like bricks awash in sunshine. On the nose, it’s a symphony of dried fruit, dominated by sun-baked figs. On the palate is where this Vin Santo steps ahead of other wines, as it is of such density and viscosity you can practically chew it. All this concentration and power is focused by an overriding sensation of classic elegance.