Last week we hosted a tasting of the stunning region of Tuscany and the wines that come from these softly undulating hillsides. Tuscany is home to some of Italy’s most recognisable and famous wine regions such as Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino, as well as being the spiritual home of Italy’s most widely planted grape variety; Sangiovese. Whilst good quality white wine can be, and is, made, it is generally in small quantities and Tuscany is very much red wine country with the very best wines able to hold their own with the very best in the world.
Historically speaking, Tuscany has always had a connection with wine having been influenced heavily by both the Greeks and then the Romans. Known as the Etruscan people in ancient times, they were known for their lavish lifestyles and ostentatious dinner parties. However, the reason we know Tuscany so well historically was due to the important of Florence during medieval Italy, the largest city in the region and widely regarded as the birthplace of the Renaissance. It was also a capital of European trade and documents dating back to the 14th century suggest that as much as 300,000hl (30 million) litres entered into Florence every year. Like practically every European nation, a combination of Oidium and Phylloxera annihilated the wine industry for a few decades in the late 19th and 20th centuries before replanting and the introduction of appellation laws started to rebuild the region into what we now know today.
The geography of Tuscany is one of the reasons that so many different styles of wines can be made using mainly Sangiovese as the base. Only 8% of the entire region is classified as ‘flat’, and a massive 68% is classified as ‘hilly’. A combination of the increased levels of sunlight and more dramatic diurnal ranges on the slopes are believed to be a winning combination when it comes to producing high quality Sangiovese, allowing for the full maturation of the fruit without losing any of the appealing aromatic qualities of the grape. As a result, most of the better vineyards are planted somewhere between 150-500m above sea level and the region is divided into a huge 48 DOC and DOCG appellations, most of which are relatively unknown on the marketplace.
Other grapes do exist, notably French varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc which rose to prominence in the 1960s when the absurb regional laws required the addition of Trebbiano to red wine to soften the tannins, whilst forbidding the inclusion of foreign varietals. Many top producers who wanted to continue with 100% Sangiovese declassified their wines to ‘Vino de Tavola’ or Table Wine as a result, and saw the rise of the ‘Super Tuscans’ amongst other producers. Italy has sensibly revised its appellation laws and the requirement for the inclusion of white varietals was scrapped, with IGT Toscana being created for those wanting to experiment outside of the more classical styles. The only white wine of note from Tuscany is Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG, producing a relatively neutral, medium-bodied style of wine for early drinking.
However, in order to discover Tuscany as best we can, we’ve gone for 6 different red wines covering the key regions:
Frescobaldi Campo ai Sassi 2014 – Rosso di Montalcino DOC: ‘Rosso di’ in Italian wine law signifies a red wine from the region mentioned within the name, usually a declassified version of a more serious style: In this case, it’s the lighter, earlier drinking version of Brunello di Montalcino DOCG. This has traditionally been in response to the lengthy ageing requirements of Brunello di Montalcino, allowing for early cash flow whilst the more serious and expensive wines are being produced. The result is a light, aromatic and less tannic style of Sangiovese made for early drinking.
The Frescobaldi family are one of the largest and most important producers in Tuscany, with over 1000 hectares of land to their name and unsurprisingly produce a huge amount of differing styles across the region. Their Rosso di Montalcino is rarely celebrated but serves as an excellent introduction to a lighter, more delicate style of Sangiovese. 100% Sangiovese is picked and fermented to 13.5% ABV before being matured in both barriques and large Slovenian casks for 12 months. A further 4 months in bottle allows for a better integration of structure and flavour, although this is a wine for relatively early consumption.
Fontodi Chianti Classico 2013 – Chianti Classico DOCG: Chianti is one of the most recognisable names in the wine industry, with hundreds of thousands of bottles being consumed in Italian restaurants around the world. The region itself claims to be the oldest demarcated region in the world, with rough borders drawn up in 1716 which were then expanded dramatically in the 1930s to try and take advantage of the Chianti name and now includes 7 sub-zones. Chianti Classico is a smaller zone within this region (7000 hectares vs the 15,000 of Chianti as a whole), with stricter rules and regulations relating to how wine can be produced. 80% of the wine has to be made from Sangiovese although astonishingly, up to 49 other red varieties can be blended into the wines providing the total amount is no more than 20%.
Fontodi are one of my favourite producers period, and definitely my favourite within Chianti. They have a broad range of wines hailing from 70 hectares of land, mostly around the sub-region of Panzano. Probably best known for their superlative Flaccianello della Pieve, their best value wine must be their outstanding Chianti Classico made from 100% Sangiovese and aged for 18 months in French oak. If I had to showcase a benchmark Chianti Classico to anyone, it would be this with its aromas of ripe cherries, sandalwood and wild herbs. Zippy acidity and grainy, slightly grippy tannins; textbook stuff and absolutely delicious!
Monteraponi Chianti Classico Riserva “Baron Ugo” 2010 – Chianti Classico DOCG: One of the most confusing aspects of wine labelling from a consumer perspective is the differing use of terms such as “Reserva” and “Riserva” on labels. Strictly regulated in Spain, marginally important in Italy and completely useless in most New World countries, it’s a struggle to understand exactly what’s going on. Chianti is with the rest of Italy on this one, meaning that in order to classify for Riserva status the grapes have to be marginally riper and must be aged in oak for a minimum of 12 months prior to release. However, as these wines aren’t declared before the harvest it is largely meaningless as producers can decide to classify their wines on an ad hoc basis. Like a lot of these marginal labelling requirements, it’s more down to the producer than anything else, with certain producers taking the ‘Riserva’ to heart and using it to produce their very best wines.
One such is Monteraponi. An organic producer with over 200 hectares of land under their control, often at very high elevations, they’re making wonderful classically styled Chianti wines. Eschewing modern techniques, they ferment and age their wines in older, larger barrels from Hungary, Austria and Burgundy as well as large concrete tanks. Their ‘Baron Ugo’ bottling has been aged for over 36 months in this manner (Slovenian oak and concrete), and is a traditional field blend of 90% Sangiovese and 10% Canaiolo and Colorino. The result is a serious, structured wine meant for ageing although at almost 7 years old, the sour-cherry and herbal flavours are already expressing themselves beautifully. So much so, in fact, that this wine won our “Wine of the Night” award with 5/10 votes!
Tenuta Caparzo Vigna la Casa 2004 – Brunello di Montalcino DOCG: Brunello has the shortest history of all the serious red wines of Italy, although that doesn’t say much as the name was first coined in 1865! For 57 years thereafter, only 4 vintages were ever made with Brunello used as a labelling term, adding an air of mysticism to the wine and greatly improving its value due to rarity. In modern day production, we know it as a DOCG region around the town of Montalcino with requirements designed to produce long-lived, serious wines from the Brunello clone of Sangiovese (Sangiovese Grosso). These requirements have been relaxed since their introduction in 1980 and a great many styles can be produced as a result. Roughly speaking, wines produced from grapes grown at the higher elevations to the north of the region tend to be more structured and aromatic, whilst the southern region of Brunello di Montalcino producers richer, fuller bodied wines due to the higher temperatures and clay soils.
Tenuta Caparzo are one of the most significant producers in the region, with over 180 hectares of land dedicated to the production of vines. ‘Vigna la Casa’ is a single vineyard wine, produced from 5 hectares of land in the northern region of Brunello. It’s aged for a minimum of 2 years in oak as per appellation laws for Riserva wines, although certain vintages can spend a significantly longer period of time in cask. The result is a long-lived, seriously structured and powerful wine with aromas of dried cherries, smoked meat, leather and olives. Still quite young but approachable and a great way to conclude our Sangiovese journey!
Felsina Maestro Raro 2013 – IGT Toscana: IGT (PGI) appellations were introduced to Italy in 1992 in response to producers falling outside of the traditional regions, whether due to wine-making or choice of grape variety. This has been warmly greeted in Tuscany where many of the producers were unwilling to conform the rules and regulations there, including the producers of so called “Super Tuscans”, a coin termed by the British and American wine press to group wines produced as either a blend or 100% of an international varietal, typically Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot.
Felsina are based in Chianti Classico but often use IGT Toscana for many of their wines, including the Maestro Raro bottling of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Most of the 94 hectares of their vineyards are towards the southern areas of Chianti where Sangiovese takes on a fuller bodied profile and Cabernet Sauvignon excels, having been first planted in these vineyards in 1987. The wine is aged in French oak for between 18 and 20 months, and another 10 months or so in the bottle prior to release. A medium-bodied, herbal and very distinctive Cabernet Sauvignon is the result, strongly perfumed and quite crunchy on the palate. Still very young and definitely will require a long decant prior to service!
Poggio al Tesoro Sondraia 2012 – DOC Bolgheri: DOC Bolgheri is located within the coastal Maremma region of Tuscany, famous for its focus on French varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Unsurprisingly, many of the most famous Super-Tuscans hailed from this part of the region and Sassicaia, the first and most famous, has since been granted its own DOCG within Bolgheri. The success of this wine, along with Ornellaia and others, saw huge investment in the region towards the end of the 1980’s and the area under vine has gone from 250 hectares to over 1000 in the space of the last 30 years. The attraction is the more moderate temperatures of the coastal areas, allowing for earlier ripening and often plusher fruit profiles than those found in Bordeaux, yet not quite as rich as many of the New World sites.
Poggio al Tesoro are a relatively new project in the region, funded by the famous Allegrini family from Veneto. They acquired 70 hectares of land in different areas of the appellation and have focused on producing a variety of French varietals. Sondraia is one of their more serious red wines, heavily built around Cabernet Sauvignon with a small quantity of both Merlot and Cabernet Franc blended in. The wine is then aged for 18 months in 50% new french oak and immediately released. As the region suggests, this is somewhere inbetween Bordeaux and a New World wine, with the green, herbal aspects of Bordeaux but lots of fruit and oak as well, and at 14% alcohol this couldn’t be confused with a cool-climate wine. At the more affordable end of the Super-Tuscan scale (which doesn’t say a lot!) and a great way to finish our tasting of Tuscany.