Tuscany Flashcards
Tuscany
Vineyards planted at altitude on slopes, excellent sun exposure and wide diurnal temperature range: grapes keep high natural acidity and develops fruity aromas. Maritime sites ideal for Bordeaux varieties. Chianti Consorzio represents growers in all zones except Classico. Significant changes in 2002. Upper limit of international varieties in blend from 10 to 15% in Chianti and up to 20% in the sub zones, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot restricted to 10%. Classico zone limits raised to 20% with no limits on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. White grapes are to be phased out of the blend. Emergency irrigation also given permission in classico.
Chianti DOCG
Quality varies from basic through to super premium. Sangiovese the dominant variety in a blend, or on its own. Gives high acidity and tannins, medium body and sour cherry and earthy flavours. Other permitted varieties are Canaiolo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. Oak ageing in large casks called botti or more recently in barriques. Riserva wines 3 years ageing. 7 sub zones, Chianti Rufina (small, cool zone north east of Florence) produces high quality, full bodied wines with high acidity.
Chianti Classico DOCG
Seperate DOCG from Chianti. Heartland of the Chianti region, between Florence and Siena. Hill sites varied soils, produces the finest most age worthy Chianti.
Brunello di Montalcino DOCG
Varietal Brunello (clone of Sangiovese), excellent quality and long lived, needs considerable bottle ageing. Produced near the town of Montalcino, south of Siena. Wine must be four years old before release, aged at least two years in cask before bottling.
Vino Noble di Montepulciano DOCG
First DOCG classified, must be made from Prugnolo (Clone of Sangiovese) from town of Montepulciano. Similar ageing laws to Chianti Riserva.
Rosso di Montepulciano and Rosso di Montalcino DOC
Same region and grape as Vino Nobile/ Brunello, wine must only be aged one year before release. Wine is lighter and fruiter. Use of these DOCs is similar to a top Bordeaux Chateau second label wine.
Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG
Only white wine DOCG in Tuscany. High altitude hill sites. Great diurnal temp range keeps flavours and extends ripening period. Neutral wine, medium bodied for early drinking.
Bolgheri DOC
Some well known producers are Sassicaia (which actually has its own DOC within Bolgheri) and Ornellaia. Their wines, known as ‘Super Tuscans’ initially could only be granted Vino da Tavola status, as did not comply with DOC regulations. Bolgheri given its own DOC in 1994 to give the wines the recognition they deserve. Principally Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot production. More temperate climate than most of Tuscany due to proximity to the sea.
Toscana IGT
Many producers started making prestigious wines outside the DOC regulations, such as varietal Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1992 IGT was introduced to accomodate wines that fell outside of the DOC regulations.
Carmignano DOCG and Pomino DOC
North of Florence. Serious reds made from Sangiovese and a percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Vin Santo
Dessert wine produced from raisined grapes, then aged oxidatively in cask from many years.
Toscana
important central Italian region known in English as tuscany.
Tuscany
The most important region in central italy (see map under italy), where it is known as Toscana. Today Tuscany is at the centre neither of Italy’s economic life nor of its political life, but it is the region which formed Italy’s language, its literature, and its art, and has thus assumed a central place in the country’s culture and self-image. The landscape, immortalized in the work of artists from Giotto to Michelangelo and part of every European’s cultural baggage, has remained largely unchanged to this day: a succession of hills and valleys covered with cypresses, umbrella pines, olive groves—and vineyards.
Tuscany- Ancient History
In the ancient world, Tuscany, and at certain points of its history a much larger area, was known as Etruria.
Tuscany- Medieval History
If we know more about the wines of medieval Tuscany than we do about the wines of other regions of medieval Italy, it is not because they were better or there were more of them: the reason is the region’s, and particularly Florence’s, economic and political importance. Viticulture flourished despite the frequent, small-scale civil wars. The region produced more or less equal amounts of oil and wine, but by far the largest crop was wheat. Smallholders were rare in this part of Italy, since the land was mostly owned by monasteries, the local aristocracy, and, increasingly, by merchants in the cities. The system of agriculture was often that known as mezzadria, sharecropping whereby the landowner would provide the working capital and the land in return for half (mezzo, hence the name) the crop. In 1132, for instance, the Badia (Abbey) di Passignano (whose wine is now made and sold by the merchants antinori) leased some of its land to a wealthy cobbler for half his crop of olive oil and wine. The regional centre for selling wine was the Mercato Vecchio in Florence. The earliest reference to wine retailers in the city dates from 1079, and in 1282 the wine sellers formed a guild, the Arte dei Vinattieri. Giovanni di Piero Antinori joined it in 1385, a member of the noble family that continues to make and sell wine in Tuscany today. In order to uphold the profession’s reputation, the guild imposed a strict code of practice. The statutes insisted on cleanliness and exact measures; the shop was not to be situated within 100 yards of a church and it was not to serve children under 15. No cooked food could be sold, and shops were not to shelter ruffians, thieves, or prostitutes. The wine trade was vital to the Florentine economy. Tax records show that more than 300,000 hl/7.9 million gal of wine entered the city every year in the 14th century. The Florentine historian Villani, writing in 1338, estimated that weekly consumption of wine was a gallon a head. Given that Florence had approximately 90,000 inhabitants, this meant that well over 90% was sold elsewhere, to the surrounding country or other Tuscan cities, some overseas via the port of Pisa, mainly to Flanders, paris, and Marseilles. By no means all of this wine would have been Tuscan: a lot of it had come from crete (Candia), corsica, or naples. Tuscany itself produced red wine, which was usually called simply vino vermihlio, but occasionally names appear. The reds of montepulciano and Cortona were heavy, those of Casentino lighter. In the late 14th century, we find Montalcino referred to as brunello. The most important of Tuscany’s white wines were called ‘Vernaccia’ and ‘Trebbiano’, probably named after their respective grape varieties vernaccia and trebbiano, but neither was an exclusively Tuscan wine. Of the two, Vernaccia was the more highly reputed. In its sweet form it was associated primarily with liguria, and particularly with Cinqueterre and Corniglia, although sweet Vernaccia was also made in Tuscany. The dry style of Vernaccia, made in San Gimignano (but also elsewhere), which is not found before the 14th century, was not exported overseas, because only the sweet version was capable of surviving the long sea voyage to France, Flanders, or England. Trebbiano, too, could be dry or sweet. The first recorded mention of chianti is in the correspondence of the Tuscan merchant Francesco di Marco Datini in 1398, and it is a white wine. Datini was fond of it: in 1404 Amadeo Gherardini of Vignamaggio, which is still a well-known estate, wrote to Datini sending him half a barrel of his personal stock. Another of Datini’s favourites was (red) carmignano. Datini’s letters give us an idea of what a rich merchant bought for his own consumption. He had malmsey sent to him from Venice and Genoa, and, more exotically, the equally strong, sweet wine of Tyre from Venice. These foreign wines were luxury items. Another expensive wine from outside Tuscany that Datini loved was Greco. It was grown in puglia and so highly prized was it that in the 14th century the commune of San Gimignano abandoned its tradition of giving distinguished visitors a few ounces of saffron and instead made them a present of the precious Greco. Dante and Boccaccio both mention Vernaccia, a byword for luxury. No Tuscan author wrote exclusively about the wines of the region until Francesco Redi. His Bacco in Toscana (‘Bacchus in Toscana’), published in 1685, is subtitled ditirambo, the Greek dithyramb being a choral lyric in praise of dionysus. Redi’s poem, however, has little to do with the classical genre and is no more than an excuse for showing off his learning to fellow members of the Accademia della Crusca: he provides 228 pages of unhelpful and pretentious notes to deluge 980 lines of verse. Neither the poem nor the notes contains anything interesting or new about Tuscan wine and viticulture, and the notes Leigh Hunt wrote to his translation (1825) of Bacco in Toscana are a good deal more amusing (although of more use to the historian of language than to the historian of wine). The only wines Redi mentions, and praises, are vernaccia, chianti, carmignano, and, finally, montepulciano, which he regards as the king of all wines.
Tuscany- Modern History
Tuscan viticulture was dominated historically by large estates owned by wealthy local families, the majority of them of noble origin, and tilled by a workforce of sharecroppers. The demise of this system in the 1950s and 1960s led to a hiatus in investment or even ordinary maintenance, deterioration of the vineyards and cellars, plummeting wine quality, and eventual sale of the properties to new owners with the requisite capital and energy to carry on the viticultural traditions of the past. Tuscan ownership of Tuscan viticulture is no longer the norm but the new wave of vintners from Milan, Rome, and Genoa—joined in the 1980s by a sizeable contingent of foreigners—has shown both a commendable commitment to quality and an equally commendable openness to new and more cosmopolitan ideas.
Tuscany- Geography and Vine Varieties
Tuscany produces wines in a wide variety of elevations, expositions, and soils. Vineyards spread from the plains of the maremma on the Tuscan coast and steep hillsides as high as 550 m/1,800 ft above sea level in Gaiole-in-Chianti and Lamole in Greve-in-Chianti. A full 68% of the region is officially classified as hilly (a mere 8% of the land is flat) and hillside vineyards, at elevations of between 150 and 500 m (500–1,600 ft) supply the vast majority of the better-quality wines. The sangiovese vine, the backbone of the region’s production, seems to require the concentration of sunlight that slopes can provide to ripen well in these latitudes, as well as the less fertile soils on the hills. Growers also value the significant day-night temperature variability as an important factor in developing its aromatic qualities. Sangiovese, with more than 38,000 ha/93,860 acres planted in 2010 is by far Tuscany’s most planted grape variety. The second most planted, the insipid white trebbiano Toscano was planted on just 3,095 ha and continues to decline now that it has lost its classic role as ingredient in the many Sangiovese-based wines made in the region. In the past enormous yields were demanded from both varieties and the generously demarcated DOCs that were set up in the 1960s encouraged large-scale plantings of high yielding clones with scant attention to the suitability of the site, giving Sangiovese an undeserved reputation as a mediocre grape variety. As the doc laws did nothing to encourage the production of good quality wines, many producers enthusiastically embraced international varieties, especially Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, which they aged in French barriques and sold at high prices. The popularity of these supertuscans is only now slowly subsiding. Several iconic producers persevered with Sangiovese, devoting their best sites to it and drastically lowering yields. As they refused to blend the then-obligatory Trebbiano Toscano into the wine, they also had to resort to the lowly vino da tavola category. The situation has been redressed, especially in chianti classico where intensive research in clonal material and site specifics led to a noticeable increase in quality, while the creation of the igt Toscana brought the Supertuscan rebels back into the fold of a slightly higher denomination. Although many producers in Chianti Classico still use Merlot as a blending partner (up to 20% varieties other than Sangiovese is allowed), the unstoppable trend is for varietal Sangiovese wines, and regularly from single vineyards. Many ferment with ambient yeast with wines aged in traditional large oak casks rather than small French barrels. brunello di montalcino, a 100% Sangiovese wine by law, and in spite of the recent lapse in credibility caused by a blending scandal, has long shown that Sangiovese can produce world-class, long-lived wines. Its neighbour vino nobile di montepulciano has been more reluctant to embrace Sangiovese fully; the production rules were changed in 2010 to allow for a 30% inclusion of international varieties, although quality producers tend to concentrate on Sangiovese and its ability to transmit a transparent expression of the Monepulciano terroir. bolgheri has been Tuscany’s Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot hotspot (see sassicaia for more details) although many of the wines contain a portion of Sangiovese to add acidity to Cabernet and Merlot which can be too ripe and flabby when grown on the hot Maremma plains. Further inland and higher up in the hills where a cooler climate prevails, the previously unremarkable DOC Montecucco has attracted newcomers who regularly produce wines on a par with the best from Chianti Classico even if their number is still small. DOC Monteregio di Massa Marittima seems equally promising for fine wine, especially when vineyards are planted on elevations above 300 m, but it may take some time (as well as more producers) to convincingly show its potential. Not all of the myriad of DOCs and DOCGs in Tuscany (48 in total in 2014) are either significant or particularly different from the supposedly lower IGT category. Producers therefore often prefer to label their wines with the more widely recognized IGT Toscana. More than half of Tuscany’s 60,000 ha are registered for the production of DOC and IGT wine with their stricter production rules than for basic table wine. While the Chianti DOCG continues to supply the mass market with distinctly modest wines, the majority of Tuscany’s wine regions are now focused on high quality. While the trend for indigenous varieties seems unstoppable, the international varieties, which are still widely planted, excel in several areas (notably in carmignano, Bolgheri, Suvereto, and, for Syrah, Cortona). While the whites from international varieties fared less well, there was still almost as much Chardonnay (585 ha/1446 acres) as Vermentino (652 ha/1611 acres) but most of Tuscany seems too warm to produce truly great whites. Vermentino, a relative newcomer in central Tuscany arriving from nearby liguria, seems to be the most credible indigenous answer, while the minerally and elegant vernaccia di San Gimignano deserves a comback after it became a victim of its own success which led to the overproduction of rather technical wines.
Tignanello
Seminal central Italian wine first produced by the house of antinori as a single-vineyard Chianti Classico in the 1970 vintage and then as a ground-breaking vino da tavola in the 1971 vintage.
Sassicaia
Trail-blazing Tuscan wine made, largely from cabernet sauvignon, originally by Mario Incisa della Rochetta at the Tenuta San Guido near bolgheri and one of the first Italian reds made in the image of fine red bordeaux. The first small commercial quantities were released in the mid 1970s. For more details, see vino da tavola. In 1994 Sassicaia was granted its own DOC as an official subzone of Bolgheri (Bolgheri-Sassicaia DOC), the only wine from a single estate in Italy to enjoy this privilege.
Supertuscan
Term sometimes used by English speakers to describe the innovative wines labelled as vino da tavola made in the central Italian region of Tuscany which emerged in the 1970s. Prototype Supertuscans were tignanello and sassicaia, both initially marketed by antinori. The Vino da Tavola denomination was replaced by igt in 1994, but the term Supertuscan remains.
Bolgheri
Small town in the Tuscan maremma made famous by Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, who planted Cabernet Sauvignon vines for a house wine as early as the 1940s on his San Guido estate, labelling the resulting wine sassicaia. Bizarrely, the DOC created for Bolgheri in 1983 was only for whites and rosé, but it was amended in 1994 to include red wine and the subzone Sassicaia was created. Prior to this Sassicaia had to be labelled as vino da tavola, but due to its high quality it became known as a supertuscan, spawning many copies throughout Tuscany. The success of Sassicaia, Grattamacco (first vintage 1982), and ornellaia (1985) triggered an investment frenzy in the region, which expanded from 250 ha/618 acres at the end of the 1990s to more than 1,000 ha/2,470 acres in 2010 when it was home to more than 50 wine estates. The proximity to the sea gives a more temperate climate than that found in the central Tuscan hills, resulting in grapes that ripen earlier, often before the autumn rains arrive. The DOC’s red wine production is based on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which are allowed as varietal wines or blends, while the indigenous Sangiovese may comprise no more than 50% of the wines. Unsurprisingly, most estates produce a classic bordeaux blend aged in barriques, a model which initially seemed to guarantee commercial success. The wines are generally of a high quality, but styles differ due to the diverse soil composition and location of the vineyards as well as differences in winemaking. Although once hailed as one of Italy’s future fine-wine regions, the lower elevations have proved too warm to produce wines of sufficient elegance to mimic Bordeaux, which seems to be the objective of most producers here.
Maremma
Long, loosely defined strip of tuscan coastline south of Livorno (Leghorn) extending southward through the province of Grosseto. (Lazio also has its part of the Maremma, between Civitavecchia and the border with Tuscany, but this is not a viticultural zone.) Since 1995 it has also been the name of an igt which was elevated to DOC in 2011 but, perversely, without more rigorous production rules. Within its borders lie no fewer than eight DOCs and four DOCGs, but although the area is extremely extensive, in 2012 only 1,665 ha/4,113 acres were declared DOC Maremma—modest in comparison with chianti classico’s 6,818 ha/16,847 acres. It cannot be used for declassifying wines from the many DOCs within the region, therefore it is potentially attractive only to producers in obscure DOCs whose names do not resonate with wine lovers. The Alta Maremma (Upper Maremma) is the highest part of the region in the north between Massa Marittima and Roccastrada where vineyards are situated at elevations between 150 and 500 m (490–1,640 ft), providing a cooler mesoclimate than the warm Maremma plain, and resulting in more elegant wines. In etymological terms, the word Maremma derives from the Latin mare, or sea, and is related to the French marais. Like the médoc in Bordeaux, the low-lying parts of the Maremma were swampy or marshy for much of their history with chronic problems of malaria. Production of bottled wine is consequently a recent phenomenon and quality wine can be said to date from the first bottles of sassicaia in the 1970s, although the zone of Morellino di Scansano, high and relatively malaria free, enjoyed a certain reputation in the past. Thanks to the success of Sassicaia and, later, ornellaia, the mid 1990s saw an investment boom in the Maremma, its apparent potential for large-scale vineyards on relatively inexpensive land attracting many prestigious producers. Because the much warmer climate here results in riper grapes, it quickly became a source of blending wine for beefing up other Tuscan DOCs. The history of the region is so recent that eight of its 12 DOCs and DOCGs did not exist prior to 1989 (Bolgheri itself having been elevated only in 1983), while several small DOCs owe their status to the success of remarkably few producers, Suvereto being an example. Sassicaia laid the foundation stone for successful Cabernet-based wines, and many estates tried to copy the style while often supplementing their vineyards with plantings of Merlot and Syrah, but the results often lack the elegance and age-worthiness of the prototype. barrique ageing is still the standard, although large oak casks are increasingly used instead. Even if almost every DOC within the Maremma has a provision for the production of international varieties, be it as an added percentage or as varietally labelled wines, Sangiovese is still the most common and mandatory ingredient in most of the wines here. In the Maremma there are three important areas, all promoted to DOCG in 2009. Morellino di Scansano DOCG is Maremma’s classic zone for Sangiovese near Grosseto around the town of Scansano. Vineyards rise up to 450 m while Sangiovese (here called Morellino) tends to be fuller bodied on lower-lying vineyards. Like Chianti Classico, the wines must contain a minimum of 85% of Sangiovese. Montecucco Sangiovese DOCG, north east of Grosseto and further inland than Morellino di Scansano, shares its provision of a minimum of 85% Sangiovese. Unremarkable in the past, it has attracted newcomers unable to afford vineyards in Chianti Classico and Montalcino who have begun to produce high-quality Sangiovese wines. Montecucco DOC is for whites based on Vermentino and reds with up to 60% Sangiovese. Val di Cornia Rosso DOCG on the Tuscan coast south east of Suvereto, on a spit of land jutting out into the Mediterranean, is for blends of Sangiovese, Merlot, and Cabernet while the Val di Cornia Bianco DOC is for whites made from Vermentino and Ansonica (the DOC Ansonica Costa dell’Argentario on the coast near the rocky promontory of Argentario is reserved for whites with a minimum of 85% Ansonica, the same variety as Sicily’s inzolia). The DOC Monteregio di Massa Marittima, extending over a large area between the coast and the town of Roccastrada, features Sangiovese for reds and Vermentino for whites, complemented by international varieties. Rising up to 500 m, the hills here are virgin vineyard land but the few wines produced here are generally elegant and fresh, suggesting that it has an interesting future. Bolgheri apart, the Maremma has not turned out to be the promised land it appeared to be in the mid 1990s, although it may eventually produce some excellent wines from vineyards planted with the right varieties and clones, and, crucially, in the best sites.
Carmignano
Historic central Italian red wine made 16 km/10 miles north west of Florence in a zone noted as one of tuscany’s finest for red wine production since the Middle Ages. The vineyards are located on a series of low hills between 50 and 200 m (160–650 ft) above sea level, unusually low for the sangiovese grape, which forms the base of the blend and gives wines with lower acidity and softer tannins than the wines of chianti classico. The wines were first given legal status by Cosimo III de’Medici—himself a major proprietor in the Carmignano zone at the villa of Artimino—who included them in his selection of four areas of superior wine production in an edict of 1716 which prohibited other wines from using the names of the selected areas. The grand-ducal wines were sent regularly to Queen Anne of England, who apparently appreciated their quality. The wines were also praised by Giovanni Cosimo Villifranchi (1773) and Cosimo Ridolfi (1831). The report of the Dalmasso Commission in 1932 (see italy and tuscany) assigned Carmignano to the nearby zone of Chianti Montalbano, where cooler temperatures and higher elevations result in Chianti wines of lighter body and higher acidity more suitable for early drinking. Independent status was restored in 1975, however, with the granting of a doc for Carmignano, the only Tuscan DOC to require the inclusion of cabernet sauvignon (up to 20%) in a Sangiovese-based blend years before its use became common in the so-called supertuscans and long before the production rules of Chianti and Chianti Classico were loosened to allow international varieties in the blends. It was awarded docg status in 1990. Bizarrely, a provision for up to 10% white wine grapes remains, but is hardly used by any quality-conscious producers. The wine must be aged for at least 12 months in oak or chestnut casks. The alleged tradition of Cabernet Sauvignon in the zone was of major assistance in detaching it from Chianti Montalbano. The vineyards of Ugo Contini-Bonacossi of Villa di Capezzana, who was instrumental in obtaining the DOC for the region, and the zone’s major producer, were grafted with cuttings from Ch lafite in the 1970s. He claimed to be reviving a local tradition begun by the Medici. This view is supported by the zone’s Consorzio, which maintains that Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted here as early as the 16th century at the request of Catherine de Medici, then Queen of France. Although in the past many of the Carmignano wines were aged, at least partially, in French barriques, many producers have returned to ageing the wines in large oak casks, while Fattoria di Bacchereto uses clay amphorae with impressive results. The DOC for younger wines is Barco Reale (referring to the ‘royal park’, as distinguished in the Medici edict of 1716), the DOC which also applies to the zone’s sweet vin santo and its rosé often obtained by saignée. The rosé has a long history here as Vin Ruspo, a reference to peasants’ drawing off, or ‘robbing’, the pale juice from the cask at the beginning of fermentation.
Brunetto di Montalcino
Youngest of Italy’s prestigious red wines, having been invented as a wine in its own right by Ferruccio biondi-santi, the first to bottle it and give it a distinctive name, in 1865. Conventional descriptions of the birth of the wine stress Biondi-Santi’s successful isolation of a superior clone of sangiovese, the Sangiovese Grosso or brunello. an investigation begun by his father Clemente Santi. The 1865 vintage of a wine Clemente had labelled ‘brunello’ had been a prize-winning entry in the agricultural fair of Montepulciano in 1869, indicating that genetically superior material was available in the zone at an earlier date. (Some records show the wines of Montalcino referred to as Brunello as early as the 14th century; see tuscany, history.) Only four vintages—1888, 1891, 1925, 1945—were declared in the first 57 years of production, contributing an aura of rarity to the wine that translated into high prices and, in Italy at least, incomparable prestige. The Biondi-Santi were the only commercial producers until after the Second World War and a government report of 1932 named Brunello as an exclusive product of the family and estimated its total annual production at just 200 hl/5,280 gal. Until the 1960s the region was almost exclusively known for sweet and often sparkling moscadello. With the arrival of the American company Banfi at the end of the 1970s Brunello’s fortunes took a sharp turn. Banfi’s owners, the Italo-American Mariani brothers who had had huge commercial success with lambrusco, bought up whole swathes of land in the hotter, southern part of the zone which until then had never been vineyards, planting them with Moscadello for the production of a fizzy sweet white. The plan failed spectacularly, after which the vines were grafted over to Sangiovese and international varieties. Banfi started to produce Brunello in great quantity and had such commercial success with it that many outsiders were tempted to jump on the bandwagon. The region, which in the 1960s consisted of 11 producers on a mere 63.5 ha/157 acres swelled to almost 2,000 ha/4,940 acres shared by 258 producers in 2012. This dramatic increase was made possible by including land new to viticulture. in 1996 a new DOC, Sant’Antimo, was added to the production regulations to allow for the international varieties that inevitably turned up in the wake of the success of supertuscans. The question of Brunello’s true identity culminated in a blending scandal in 2008 when Italy’s financial police sequestered whole batches of wines from several producers after their investigations had shown that these wines were not the mandatory 100% Brunello, but illegal blends which contained international varieties. The scandal, known as Brunellogate (Brunellopoli in Italy), led to a controversial proposal, eventually rejected, to allow the addition of other varieties but actually highlighted the uncomfortable fact that the official Brunello zone may well include land unsuitable for Brunello vines. Climate and elevation are perhaps more significant factors than specific clones in creating the characteristics of the wine: the town of Montalcino, 112 km/70 miles south of Florence, enjoys a warmer, drier climate than the various zones of chianti. Indeed, it is the most arid of all Tuscan docg zones, with an annual rainfall of about 700 mm/28 in (compared with over 900 in central Chianti Classico). In addition, a cool maritime breeze from the south west ensures both excellent ventilation and cool evenings and nights. Sangiovese can reach its maximum ripeness here, giving fuller, more structured wines than anywhere else in Tuscany. The zone can be split roughly in two. On the galestro soils in the northern part of the zone, vineyards are at elevations up to 500 m, while in the south the soil has more clay, the average temperature is higher, and the wines tend to be fuller than the more aromatic wines from the north. Because of this some of the zone’s producers have vineyards in both the north and south to give them the balance they seek in their wines. However, winemaking practices differ widely between estates, resulting in myriad styles of Brunello but the finest examples manage the tricky balancing act of combining layers of red fruit, bold structure, and elegance. The DOC regulations of 1960, largely written by Biondi-Santi on the basis of the family’s oenological practices, include five to six years’ cask ageing for the riserva and established a model of Brunello as a full, intense, long-lasting wine, which was confirmed in 1980 by the docg rules. The minimum cask ageing period was lowered to 36 months in 1990 and then to two years in 1998. barrique ageing has become standard in Montalcino, however, as in much of Tuscany. Some producers balance the oak with the wine better than others, while many producers have returned to ageing in large oak casks (botti), which impart less or no oak flavour at all to the wine. The financial burden imposed by the lengthy ageing period has led to a corresponding increase in the production of rosso di Montalcino, the 100% Brunello DOC wine that can be marketed after one year. The existence of a second DOC into which lesser wines can be declassified has had a positive impact on the quality of Brunello di Montalcino, in addition to its obvious advantages for producers’ cash flow.
Montalcino
Town in tuscany in central Italy famous for its long-lived red brunello di montalcino. Rosso di Montalcino is also made of 100% Brunello grapes but needs be aged for only one, rather than four, years.
Vino Noble Di Montepulicano
Potentially majestic and certainly noble red wine based on sangiovese, called Prugnolo Gentile here, made exclusively in the township of Montepulciano 120 km/75 miles south east of Florence in the hills of tuscany in central Italy. Vino Nobile has an illustrious history, having been lauded as a ‘perfect wine’ by the cellarmaster of Pope Paul III in 1549, by Francesco Redi in his ‘Bacchus in Toscana’ of 1685 (he called it ‘the king of wines’), while the first record of the official name dates from 1787 when it was listed in the expense accounts of Giovan Filippo Neri for a trip to Siena. After the introduction of the doc in 1966, from 1970 and 2011, the total vineyard rose from less than 150 ha/370 acres in 1970 to 1,300 ha in 2011, while the number of producers bottling their own wine increased from seven or eight to 230. Vino Nobile di Montepulciano was one of the first four docgs conferred in 1980. Traditionally, producers would have blended in Canaiolo, Mammolo, Trebbiano, and even Gamay, but since the mid 1980s Sangiovese has come to the fore as the principal variety of Montepulciano. Following a change to the DOCG regulations in 1999, the wine must contain between 70 and 100% Sangiovese, while in 2009 the production regulations were changed to allow up to 30% of varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah into the blend, reflecting what was already common practice. This amendment was criticized widely as the ‘internationalization’ of a historic Tuscan wine. The region is generally higher in sand than either Montalcino or Chianti Classico, and consists of two distinct zones: the hills around the township of Montepulciano and, about 10 km to the west and separated by the Val di Chiana plain, the hills around the township of Valiano, the latter dominated by extensive holdings. It is further divided into 20 subzones whose names may appear on labels, although further research into their individual characteristics is needed. Vines are planted on east- to southeast-facing slopes at elevations of 250 m to 600 m/2,000 ft, while vineyards on the plain do not qualify as Vino Nobile. Stylistically Vino Nobile sits between chianti classico and brunello di montalcino, combining the elegance of the first with the firm structure of the latter. It is notably deep in colour, due to the heavy, cool clay and sand soils which result in austere, muscular Sangiovese that demands bottle age. Many producers blend in Merlot to accelerate the wine’s evolution but it can blur terroir expression. The DOC Rosso di Montepulciano, which allows the wines to be released in March following the vintage (Vino Nobile must be aged for two years), was created for earlier-maturing wines but, because it is much less profitable than Vino Nobile, it is not widely used. Two contrasting philosophies determine the style of Vino Nobile produced today: a traditional approach using Sangiovese either on its own or blended with canaiolo and aged in large casks of Slavonian oak and generally requiring prolonged ageing; and a more modern approach in which Sangiovese is blended with international varieties, notably Merlot and Syrah, and aged in new French oak. This modern style, although still dominant, has been losing ground because it results in wines that are less recognizably Vino Nobile. The traditional approach has been criticized as outdated, but a few practitioners such as Contucci and Boscarelli have shown that it can yield wines on a par with Brunello and Chianti Classico.
Rosso di
Signifies a red wine from the Italian zone whose name it precedes, often a declassified version of a long-lived, more serious wine such as brunello di montalcino or vino nobile di montepulciano.
Chianti
The name of a specific geographical area between Florence and Siena in the central Italian region of tuscany, associated with tangy, dry red wines of very varied quality. The Chianti zone is first identified in documents of the second half of the 13th century which named the high hills between Baliaccia and Monte Luco ‘the Chianti mountains’ but without reference to the actual wine (although see tuscany, history). In the 18th century the name was applied to the townships of Castellina, Radda, and Gaiole that formed the nucleus of the medieval League of Chianti under Florentine jurisdiction. These townships became one of the very first wine regions anywhere to be officially demarcated. In an edict drawn up in 1716 by Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, the Chianti Classico borders were determined in order to protect authenticity and combat fraud. In the 1930s the Italian government’s Dalmasso commission enlarged this historic zone to capitalize on the Chianti name (see chianti classico). Thus it is that legally oenological Chianti extends over 15,500 ha/38,285 acres. Seven subzones can call their wines Chianti: Chianti Colli Fiorentini, chianti rufina, Chianti Montalbano, Chianti Colli Senesi, Chianti Colline Pisane, Chianti Colli Aretini, and Chianti Montespertoli, while other parts of this extended region may produce a wine labelled simply Chianti. There are quality-oriented producers outside the Chianti Classico heartland, notably Chianti Rufina’s Fattoria Selvapiana and Pacina in the Colli Senesi, whose wines are on a par with the best from Chianti Classico but much of the wine labelled simply Chianti lacks distinction. Production regulations for Chianti and its seven subzones have always been more lenient (some would say lax) than for Chianti Classico. Although sangiovese is the main variety in the wines, it may represent only 70% of the blend compared with the minimum 80% for Chianti Classico, and white wine grapes may still comprise up to 10% of the blend. Maximum permitted yields at 9 ton/ha are higher than Chianti Classico’s 7.5 ton/ha, while the minimum alcohol of 10.5% indicates a tolerance for less ripe fruit compared with Chianti Classico’s minimum of 12.5%. The very irregular quality of wine labelled simply Chianti has always had a detrimental effect on Chianti Classico’s reputation, especially when the latter shifted its focus from quantity to quality from 1984 onwards when all of Chianti was elevated to docg status (in one of the worst vintages the area has known). Large volumes of Chianti are bought by bottlers furnishing large retailers at the lowest possible price, which has done little to incentivize investments and increase overall quality. However, some good-quality Chianti is produced, even if the wines are usually ready to drink earlier than those from Classico or Rufina. This is reflected in the law which states that Chianti may be released from 1 March following the vintage, while wines from individual subzones, and Chianti Superiore (with its minimum alcohol of 11.5%), must wait longer (1 October for Chianti Classico) before release.
Chianti Classico
The heartland of the chianti zone, was given its fundamental geographical delimitation by the Medici Grand Duke Cosimo III in an edict of 1716, one of the first examples of such legislation, and was defined as the townships of Radda, Gaiole, and Castellina in addition to the township of Greve (including Panzano). In 1924 the ‘Consortium for the defence of Chianti wine and its symbol of origin’ was founded to fight the cheap imitations seeking to take advantage of the growing international demand for Chianti Classico. At the request of the Consorzio in 1932 a government committee, known as the Commissione Dalmasso, was sent to the region to demarcate the original, classico zone but, much to the frustration of the Consorzio, the commission enlarged the zone with six additional subzones. The new enlarged region was what is now more or less Chianti proper, defended by the commission on the basis of presumed common oenological practices rather than suitability or historical evidence. To integrate such a large and diverse area, the production regulations set up by the Dalmasso commission were decidedly flexible, requiring only 50 to 80% of the region’s most important red variety, sangiovese. They also allowed white malvasia and trebbiano grapes in the blend, the latter two believed to have been traditionally interplanted with red wine varieties in the Chianti vineyards. Little is known of the precise varietal composition of the wines before the 19th century, although the work of Cosimo Villifranchi (1773) suggests that the wine was a blend dominated by canaiolo with smaller amounts of Sangiovese, mammolo, and marzemino. Modern Chianti can be said to have been invented by Baron Bettino ricasoli, who, in a letter in 1872, synthesized decades of experimentation and recommended that the wine be based on Sangiovese (‘for bouquet and vigour’) with the addition of canaiolo to soften the wine. Malvasia was suggested as appropriate for wines to be drunk young although its use was discouraged for wines intended for ageing. By the 1960s the old sharecropping system was official abolished, leading to an exodus of workers looking for paid work in the growing industrial cities in the north. Mixed agricultural estates were transformed into a monoculture, without much attention paid to vineyard site selection for the many newly planted vineyards. The government promoted high-yielding clones of Sangiovese as well as the white Trebbiano, believing that a focus on quantity rather than quality would help to improve the economic state of the region. The DOC regulations of 1967, guided by the ‘Ricasoli formula’, therefore required between 10 and 30% of the white grapes Trebbiano and Malvasia. They also allowed generous permitted yields of 80 hl/ha (4.5 tons/acre), and put no limits on production per vine. Because of the resulting low quality and the fact that 100% Sangiovese wines were now outlawed, several quality-oriented producers decided they had no choice but to opt out of the doc system and produce instead, often using new winemaking techniques such as barrel maturation, wines labelled vino da tavola which gained swift recognition (see supertuscans). This presented the Consorzio with an embarrassing and absurd situation. From the beginning of the 1980s the Consorzio finally understood that for Chianti Classico’s quality—and price—to increase, it needed to focus on improving the output of the region’s vineyards. This coincided with the fact that most vineyards, planted in the 1960s and exhausted from excessive yields, had to be replanted. Committing itself fully to quality, the Consorzio started an in-depth study, called Chianti Classico 2000, into different clones, elevations, and soil compositions, the results of which were freely divulged to the producers. At the same time, many investors from outside the region, some foreign, were attracted by the low land prices. Many of these incomers had little prior knowledge of viticulture and winemaking, and relied heavily on consultant oenologists. Overall wine quality then improved considerably. international varieties were often added to make Sangiovese’s initial high acidity and tannic structure more appealing to international palates. At last, in 1996, Chianti Classico became autonomous, was granted its own docg, and was therefore no longer a subzone of Chianti. The suffix Classico was to be restricted to the original 7,000-ha/17,500-acres zone, with stricter regulations such as lower yields and a higher minimum of Sangiovese (80%). Many Chianti Classicos made today are 100% Sangiovese but an almost incredible 49 dark-skinned varieties are authorized to make up the additional 20%. In spite of many a marketing campaign aimed at distancing itself from generic Chianti, the Consorzio of Chianti Classico has still to make the difference clear to the general public. The region is already subdivided into nine communes (Greve in Chianti, San Casciano in Val di Pesa, Tavarnelle Val di Pesa, Barberino Val d’Elsa, Castellina in Chianti, Poggibonsi, Radda in Chianti, Gaiole in Chianti, and Castelnuovo Berardenga), but by 2014 the Consorzio had not condoned subzone naming on labels (as, say, Côtes-du-Rhône Villages are clearly identified). Instead the Consorzio continues to argue that the region’s elevation, exposition, and soil types (based on galestro and Alberese) are too diverse to allow for a simple system, and prefers to cling to a single name to describe such a large viticultural area while ignoring the fact that the focus of many producers has noticeably shifted away from international varieties and barrique ageing. Today they are much more likely to age Sangiovese in traditional large oak casks in order to achieve more transparency and expression of the individual terroir, emphasizing the variety’s characteristic tangy, dark-cherry flavours with a fine gravelly tannic structure in place of any vanilla from new oak. This trend has also led to a significant increase in single-vineyard Chianti Classicos. Instead of identifying and promulgating subzones, in 2014 the Consorzio introduced a new ‘top layer’ known as gran selezione to the denomination pyramid, which consists of Chianti Classico as its base and Chianti Classico riserva (with a mandatory 24 months of oak and three months of bottle ageing) above it. This supposedly top selection, made on the basis of tastings, met with lukewarm enthusiasm, as the production regulations are only marginally stricter than those for the Riserva category with which it competes.
Chianti Rufina
North-eastern and smallest of the seven subzones that form chianti. Rufina was first identified as an area of superior production in Cosimo III de’Medici’s grand-ducal edict of 1716, which names the zone Pomino, a village within Rufina, after the famous estate of the Albizi family. Pomino, now owned substantially by frescobaldi, has its own doc for blends of international varieties, but the delimited zone of the DOC of 1967 followed to a substantial extent the territory first delimited by Cosimo III, with an extension of the zone to the west of the confluence of the Sieve and Arno rivers. This happens to be one case where the often contentious measure of enlarging the production zone was based on sound principles. The vineyards of Rufina are south-west facing and have soils similar to those of Chianti Classico, consisting of galestro, Alberese, and limestone at elevations from 200 to 700 m (655 to 2,300 ft). It is said that these higher elevations are responsible for the wines’ trademark acidity and longevity, but relatively few of the Rufina wines currently on the market demonstrate these qualities. Only 22 producers bottle wine, while 120 growers sell their grapes to négociants or bottlers, who often sell the result as Chianti rather than Chianti Rufina since it entails less bureaucracy. All this obscures the fact that the best of Rufina can truly be outstanding (as evidenced by the wines of Selvapiana), if producers eschew high yields and the inclusion of 30% of international varieties (as well as up to 10% white varieties) in what is a historic Sangiovese-based wine. Specific characteristics of superior communes such as Pelago, Monsecco, Cafaggio, and Travignoli are inevitably lost in the usual big blends. Rufina’s potential at least equals that of the much larger Chianti Classico, but the region has been slow to emulate the latter’s continued efforts to improve overall quality.
Antinori
One of Italy’s most important wine producers, based in tuscany. The modern wine firm was founded by brothers Lodovico and Piero Antinori in 1895, although the Antinori family can trace their history in the wine trade back to 1385, when Giovanni di Pietro Antinori enrolled in the Vintners Guild of Florence. Like the vast majority of the Florentine nobility, the Antinori were, for centuries, producers of wine on their substantial country properties. The work of the 19th-century brothers was continued by Piero’s son Niccolò, who extended the house’s commercial network both in Italy and into foreign markets and purchased the Castello della Sala estate near orvieto in Umbria. The house developed a certain reputation for its white wines, sold under the Villa Antinori label, and for its Chianti, made in a soft and fruity style. Although the family fortunes flourished, Antinori was only a medium-sized operation in 1966 when Piero Antinori, the son of Niccolò Antinori, took over. By the early 1990s, he had increased the annual production fifteen-fold, giving the house a commanding position in Tuscany, based on both the excellent quality of all the firm’s wines at various price levels and, above all, on the innovative work of Antinori and its oenologist Giacomo Tachis in creating Tignanello, the prototype supertuscan; Solaia, which, together with sassicaia (initially marketed by the Antinori and whose development was assisted by Tachis), showed the potential for outstanding Cabernet in Tuscany; and Cervaro, a white wine produced at the Castello della Sala based on Chardonnay grapes and, then unusual for Italy, barrel fermented. Although it is firmly anchored in Central Italy, where its vineyard holdings were 1,475 ha/3,643 acres in 2014, Antinori has expanded steadily, securing holdings in every important or upcoming Italian wine region: Montenisa in franciacorta; the historic house of Prunotto in barolo; and Tormaresca, a large-scale operation in puglia. Internationally Antinori spread its wings quite early on, often through joint ventures, the most important of which is Antica in Napa Valley in 1993. (It was originally named Atlas Peak, now a brand acquired by accolade.) This was followed in 1995 by Col Solare in a joint venture with Ste. Michelle, in washington state. In 2007, again in a joint venture with Ste. Michelle, the legendary Stag’s Leap Winery of Napa Valley was acquired. Tuzko Bátaapáti in Hungary had been acquired in a joint venture with Fonterutoli’s Lapo Mazzei in 1991. Meridiana on malta, producing international varieties, was established in 1992, followed by Vitis Metamorfosis, a joint venture with Halewood in romania, and Haras de Pirque in chile’s Maipo Valley. Piero’s brother Lodovico Antinori independently created the internationally famous Supertuscans ornellaia and the all-Merlot Masseto at his own estate near bolgheri (now owned by the Antinoris’ great rivals the frescobaldi). With their sister Ilaria, the brothers have developed the Tenuta di Biserno project at Bibbona just north of Bolgheri. Lodovico, long a fan of Sauvignon Blanc, independently produces one in marlborough, New Zealand, with Mount Nelson Estates.
Ornellaia
Important bolgheri estate founded in 1981 by Lodovico antinori, brother of Piero Antinori, following in the footsteps of nearby Tenuta San Guido’s phenomenal success with sassicaia. The estate was created when Lodovico acquired 70 ha of land from his mother, sister-in-law of the owner of Tenuta San Guido. He hired André Tchelistcheff as his consultant. He planted Bordeaux grape varieties and the first commercial vintage, 1985, was an immediate success, eclipsed by the estate’s release in 1986 of Masseto, a Pomerol-styled Merlot from a single vineyard. Michel rolland succeeded Tchelistcheff. In 1999 Lodovico sold a share of Ornellaia to Robert mondavi who took complete control of the estate in 2003 with the Frescobaldi family (with whom Mondavi had already started a Tuscan joint venture to produce the internationally styled supertuscan Luce). In 2005 constellation brands, which had acquired Mondavi, sold the remaining 50% of Ornellaia to Frescobaldi. This recent somewhat stormy history has never compromised the wine’s popularity nor its commercial value. Meanwhile, in 2001 Lodovico, together with Piero Antinori, founded a new estate in Bibbona north of Bolgheri, Tenuta di Biserno, where Rolland is involved in the production of Bordeaux-style wines.
Case Basse (Soldera)- Region of Production
Brunello di Montalcino
Case Basse (Soldera)- Winery Location
Montalcino
Case Basse (Soldera)- Year Established
1972
Case Basse (Soldera)- Summary
Gianfranco Soldera purchased the abandoned land that would become Case Basse from sharecroppers in 1972. He and his wife, Graziella, set out to focus on sustainable agriculture—organic farming and never any pesticides or herbicides—throughout the entire 23 hectares of the estate. To develop a total ecosystem surrounding the vineyards, Graziella also created a two-hectare botanical park including an artificial lake, bird nests and over 1,000 rose varieties. Gianfranco is known as a staunch advocate for 100% Sangiovese in Brunello, and the estate grows Sangiovese exclusively. In 2013, Soldera withdrew from the local Consorzio and was in the news for having lost over 60,000 liters of wine after a disgruntled former employer broke into the cellars and drained multiple casks of wine.
Case Basse (Soldera)- Vineyard Holdings
23 ha on the Case Basse estate
Case Basse (Soldera)- Average Total Production
1,250 cases
Case Basse (Soldera)-Top Wines Produced
- Brunello di Montalcino Riserva
- Brunello di Montalcino
- Intistieti: from younger vines or wines that do not meet Soldera’s standards for Brunello; spends four years (instead of five) in botti
- Pegasos: de-classified Brunello; only made so far from 2005 vintage
Case Basse (Soldera)- Inaugural Vintage (for top wines)
Brunello di Montalcino Riserva in 1995; Brunello di Montalcino in 1990
Case Basse (Soldera)- Brief Description of Style / Vinification Techniques
Gianfranco strives for maximum ripeness through short pruning, green harvesting, grape thinning and leaf stripping. Grapes are hand-harvested and fermented with indigenous yeasts in large, Slavonian oak casks. Maceration lasts 14-25 days with frequent pumping over. Fermentation vats are not temperature-controlled, and the fermenting wines are monitored by frequent tasting and microbiological testing by the University of Florence. Wines are aged in botti for five years, then bottled unfiltered.
Biondi Santi- Region of Production
Brunello di Montalcino
Biondi Santi- Winery Location
Montalcino
Biondi Santi- Year Established
1800s
Biondi Santi- Summary
Biondi Santi is widely considered the “original” creator of Brunello: The first recorded mention of a Brunello was Clemente Santi’s award-winning “select red wine (Brunello) of 1865” from his family’s Greppo estate in Montalcino at a local fair in 1867. The family has produced this wine continuously ever since, and bottles of 1888 Riservas still exist in the family cellars. Clemente’s daughter married Jacopo Biondi, and it was this couple’s son, Ferruccio, who inherited the estate and joined both last names on the wines’ labels. At a time when both oidium and phylloxera threatened the local vineyards, and turning a quick profit was in vogue, Ferruccio steadfastly focused instead on extended aging of 100% Sangiovese. Ferruccio was succeeded by his son, Tancredi, and Tancredi by his son, Franco. As Brunello became popular and much more widely produced in the second half of the 20th century, with many producers pushing for shorter aging in smaller oak barrels or the addition of international grapes to the wines, Franco Biondi-Santi remained a staunch advocate of the “traditional” style of Brunello his family had crafted for over 100 years. Franco Biondi-Santi passed away in 2013 at the age of 91. His son and daughter, Jacopo and Alessandra, now helm the estate.
Biondi Santi- Vineyard Holdings
25 ha of vines at 300 to 500 meters on stony marl
Greppo: the historic property, includes 5 ha of 40- to 70-year-old vines
Pieri
Biondi Santi- Average Total Production
5,800 cases
Biondi Santi- Top Wines Produced
- Brunello di Montalcino Riserva: from Greppo vines at least 25 years old; made only in exceptional vintages; aged for 36 months in Slavonian oak casks
- Brunello di Montalcino Annata: from Greppo vines 10-25 years old; aged for 36 months in Slavonian oak casks
- Rosso di Montalcino Fascia Rossa: a.k.a. “Red Stripe” made in years when the estate deems the quality of fruit inadequate for labeling as Brunello; aged for 12 months in Slavonian oak casks
- Rosso di Montalcino: a.k.a. “White Label”: from 5- to 10-year-old vines; aged for 12 months in Slavonian oak casks
Biondi Santi- Inaugural Vintage
Unknown
Biondi Santi- Brief Description of Style / Vinification Techniques
Grapes are de-stemmed and crushed before temperature-controlled fermentation in large concrete tanks lasting 15-18 days with twice daily pump-overs. Wines are racked, then malolactic fermentation is assisted in tank. In April following harvest, wines are transferred to Slavonian oak casks for aging as outlined above.
Vin Santo
‘holy wine’, tuscany’s classic amber-coloured dessert wine, is produced throughout this central Italian region. It is made traditionally from the local white grapes trebbiano Toscano and malvasia (although the red sangiovese is also used to produce a wine called Occhio di Pernice, or eye of the partridge) which have been dried on straw mats under the rafters. grapes were normally crushed between the end of November and the end of March, depending on the desired residual sugar level in the wine (the longer the drying process, the greater the evaporation and the sweeter the must), and then aged in small barrels holding between 50 l and 300 l/79 gal. These barrels, often bought second hand from the south of Italy, were frequently made of chestnut, but the 1980s saw a decisive turn towards oak. The barrels themselves are sealed and never topped up, resulting inevitably in ullage and oxidation which gives the wine a rancio-like aroma and its characteristic amber colour. Some producers believe in using a madre, or starter culture, comprised of yeast cells from previous batches of Vin Santo in order to help the fermentation and to add complexity to the blend. Some, view the madre as marred by faults and refuse to its use. The wine comes in lots of styles from ultra-sweet to bone-dry which resembles a dry fino sherry. The habit of keeping the barrels under the roof in a space called the vinsantaia encouraged refermentation each year when warm weather arrived and tended to exhaust the unfermented sugars that had remained in the wine. Today, most producers keep their Vin Santo in a cellar with a more constant temperature so as to retain a degree of freshness in the finished wines. Until recently, most Vin Santo was sold as a vino da tavola, simply because the authorities had struggled to codify the bewildering array of styles contained within the many localized traditions. The docs under which Vin Santo is now produced include Chianti Classico, Chianti Rufina, Chianti, Montepulciano, Colli dell’Etruria Centrale, and Val d’Arbia. Trebbiano and Malvasia remain the mainstay of many of these DOCs, as a number of producers argue that the production technique is far more important in determining the style of the eventual wine than the grape varieties used. The quality of the wine itself varies wildly, not only as a result of variation in grape composition, residual sugar, and winemaking competence, but because the land is divided between so many smallholders, all of whom seem to feel obliged to produce Vin Santo as an obeisance to the tradition of offering this wine to guests as a gesture of esteem. Although some delicious Vin Santo is made, there is also a considerable proportion with serious wine faults, particularly an excess of volatility, usually a direct consequence of lengthy barrel maturation. DOC rules insist the wine is matured for at least three years, and the better producers rarely release their Vin Santo before five years. Cask maturation, without racking, may last for up to ten years for the most traditionally made wines. Producers who manage to produce traditional yet fault-free Vin Santo include Avignonesi, Capezzana, Fontodi, Isole e Olena, Felsina Berardenga, Poliziano, Rocca di Montegrossi, San Giusto a Rentennano, and Selvapiana. The advent of DOC for Vin Santo sounded the death knell for Vin Santo Liquoroso, which was made by adding grape spirit to sweet must, and produced in four months rather than four years. An official decree stated that the name Vin Santo could only be used on wines of orgin (DOCs), so Vin Santo Liquoroso was thankfully eased off the shelves. Trentino also produces its own version of Vin Santo called Vino Santo, made from the nosiola grape and a decisively sweet dried-grape wine. These wines are different from Tuscan Vin Santo they are aged in barrels subject to regular topping up, although they too are decidedly artisanal and very variable in quality.
Frescobaldi
One of Florence’s most prominent noble families since the 13th century, are among the largest landholders in tuscany with a wide range of agricultural activities. The Frescobaldi holdings can be divided into three distinct blocks: the first, Tenuta di Castiglioni to the south west of Florence, where the family started to produce wines as early as the 1300s; the second, to the east of Florence, produces classic chianti rufina from the Nipozzano estate and the wines of Pomino; the third block is Castelgiocondo in montalcino, whose acquisition in 1989 made Frescobaldi the largest potential producer of Brunello. In 2000, Frescobaldi ventured outside Tuscany when it acquired the Conti Attems estate in friuli. In 2004, they acquired control of the ornellaia estate in bolgheri, their first foray into what had been an Antinori fief. Also in the Maremma Frescobaldi now produce international varietals on their Tenuta dell’Amiraglia. The Frescobaldi were the first Italian producers of a barrique-aged white wine, beginning in the mid 1970s with the grapes from their Benefizio vineyard at Pomino. Their single-vineyard Chianti Rufina, Montesodi, was also among the first superior all-Sangiovese wines aged in small barrels.
Ricasoli
One of the oldest and most powerful noble families of tuscany in central Italy, important landholders between Florence and Siena for over a thousand years. The vast size of their holdings led the medieval republic of Florence to bar them from holding public office lest the combination of territorial dominion and civic position create a threat to republican liberties. Bettino Ricasoli (1809–80), a dominant figure in the political life of his time and the second prime minister of the newly united Italy in 1861, a dedicated agricultural experimenter and reformer, played a fundamental role in the revitalization of the viticulture of his time and invented what came to be the standard varietal formula for the production of chianti. Like all Tuscan landowners of the time, he believed that the sharecroppers should grow the grapes and the large commercial houses—principally controlled by the Tuscan nobility such as antinori and frescobaldi—would age and distribute the finished wines. He founded the Ricasoli négociant firm, which would assume a position of leadership in Tuscany for the better part of a century; André simon could still write after the Second World War that ‘the most reliable brand of Chianti is that of Baron Ricasoli’. The 1970s and 1980s were less kind to the fortunes of the house: a partnership with American distillers Seagram in the négociant part of the business in the 1960s, and others such as hardys of Australia, led to huge expansion of production and a general lowering of quality, and the marketing of Ricasoli wines in supermarkets and other mass distribution centres was extremely damaging to their image. In 1993, Francesco Ricasoli repurchased the family business and set about modernizing the estate. By the second decade of this century all the vineyards had been replanted, and Ricasoli had the largest number of hectares under vine of any producer in the Chianti Classico denomination. Very much in the model of a Bordeaux grand vin, they produced a Castello di Brolio Chianti Classico for the first time in 1997. This wine became a gran selezione in the 2010 vintage. The distinctive character of the neo-gothic castello, combined with the fame of both Brolio and the Ricasoli name, ensures visits from over 40,000 people a year to the Castle, the cellar door tasting room, and the osteria which serves traditional local food.
Marche
(Marches in English), the easternmost region in the central belt of Italy stretching from tuscany through umbria to the Adriatic coast (see map under italy). It shares a variety of characteristics with these neighbours to the west: a topography shaped by land rising from the coastal plains to rolling hills and, westward, to the central spine of the Apennines; and a temperate climate that, though it is marked by hot, dry summers, is not as uniform as its western neighbours. In the northern part of the region around Ancona, the climate is continental, while in the south near Ascoli Piceno it is mediterranean. This has an impact on the grape varieties that perform best in the north and south of the Marche. Some viticultural characteristics are shared with Tuscany and Umbria: calcareous soils from the sea which once covered an important part of central Italy; hillside vineyards; and large-scale plantings of sangiovese, montepulciano and verdicchio vines. The Marche has been the last of the three central Italian regions to realize its potential for good-quality wines, however, partly because the region is off Italy’s main commercial axis of Milan–Bologna–Florence–Rome–Naples, and partly because of the lack of any urban centre more important than Ancona. However, the local white verdicchio, produced in large volumes by co-ops and large bottlers, is a continuous export success, although it has obscured the fact that high-quality wines, provided yields are kept in check, can and are being made. The Marche has several authentic wine styles that are now of serious interest with more vineyards (10,376 ha/25,629 acres) dedicated to doc wines (10,376 ha) than ever. Of its 15 DOCs and three DOCGs, Verdicchio di Castelli di Jesi with 2,762 ha of vineyards is Marche’s largest. For red wines, Montepulciano, with 4,289 ha/10,598 acres, is the second most planted variety after Sangiovese (6,215 ha/15,357 acres) and produces its finest expression in Conero DOCG. Rosso Conero DOC is very similar except that notably higher yields are allowed: 13 rather than 9 tonnes/ha. The best producers stick to much lower yields. The ubiquitous Sangiovese features in no fewer than six of the Marche’s 15 DOCs. Traditionally it was blended with Montepulciano in the Rosso Piceno DOC, but the once-obligatory minimum 50% has been reduced to 15%, while varietal Sangioveses are also now allowed within this DOC. Rosso Piceno Superiore indicates a smaller historic zone with marginally lower yields. The quality of both DOCs can be irregular, from fine oak-aged wines to modest stainless steel-fermented, early-drinking versions. Sangiovese from the Colli Pesaresi near the coast in the north of the region, can be particularly elegant, notably that of Fattoria Mancini. A local speciality are the medium-bodied, fresh, perfumed reds of the growing Lacrima di Moro d’Alba zone near the town of Moro d’Alba in the north eastern corner of the Verdicchio di Castelli di Jesi zone. Offida white wines, promoted in the early 2010s from DOC to DOCG, can be produced either from the Pecorino or Passerina grapes, while red Offida must be at least 85% Montepulciano. Offida Pecorino, in particular, has benefited from the ambitions of a new generation of wine producers determined to unleash its potential by lowering yields. Curiously the parallel DOC Terre di Offida is reserved for white wines only.
Rosso Conero
Italian red wine doc based on montepulciano grapes whose full potential is yet to be realized.
Rosso Piceno
Italian red wine consisting of 35–85% montepulciano and a maximum of 50% sangiovese, while Conero Sangiovese is a wine containing at least 85% of the latter.
