Sangiovese

Vigna San Marcellino Gran Selezione is both youthfully fresh and ripe and complexly muscular. It contains a healthy dose of the deeply coloured Pugnitello grape, and on the nose liquorice, tarragon and broom mingle with lush plum and subtle roasted aromas that are highly seductive in their complexity. Deep, taut and lively on the palate, loaded with black cherry and rich, velvety tannins. The texture is silky, while subtle chalky notes and a salty minerality give it plenty of energy and lead it into a juicy, refreshing finish. Vigna San Marcellino is a convincing wine with enormous ageing potential every year. SUPERIORE.DE

With this exceptional Chianti Classico Riserva, the Mazzei family celebrates their famous ancestor Ser Lapo, in whose writings the name "Chianti" is mentioned for the first time. The upper part of the label features a faithful reproduction of one of his writings (from 1398) with beautiful calligraphy. "Don't worry about the cost of this wine, even though it was expensive: its quality will make up for it."

In the past, the northern slope of Montalcino was not planted with vines, but was cultivated with cereals, olives and cherries. In this area influenced by the Apennines, the seasons are more pronounced, continental and the north wind significantly lowers the temperature in winter. It is therefore the coldest Brunello region at this time of year, but also the wettest. This northern slope is a gentle hill: a characteristic that is more reminiscent of the Crete Senesi area, right next door, than the two stiffer, steeper and warmer southern slopes of Montalcino.

This red wine in Riserva quality is dedicated to Bettino Ricasoli, who wrote down the grape variety mix of today's Chianti back in 1872. But he was much more than that: twice Prime Minister of the united Italy (1861 and 1866), founder of the daily newspaper "La Nazione", agricultural researcher and "father" of the first Chianti product specification. The creation of this wine interprets his tireless determination to create an independent Chianti style that is both traditional and contemporary to this day.

The Romanesque Pieve di San Marcellino was built in the year 1000. It still stands today – in the middle of the vineyards of Rocca di Montegrossi, seven kilometres south of Gaiole, at the southern tip of the Chianti Classico. The vineyard bears its name. And the vines that surround it are older than most of the appellations that appear on labels today. Marco Ricasoli-Firidolfi is a descendant of Baron Bettino Ricasoli – the "Iron Baron" who defined the formula for Chianti Classico in the 19th century. Not as a marketing idea, but as a genetic link to this soil. The vineyard has been certified organic since 2010 and has been planted with Pugnitello alongside Sangiovese since 2006 – an autochthonous Tuscan grape variety that was almost extinct in the 1980s. Pugnitello deepens the colour, thickens the structure and sharpens the profile of the Sangiovese grape. Hand-picked, separate fermentation of both varieties on wild yeasts in upright wooden tanks, 24 months in Allier barriques and tonneau, bottled unfiltered. Only produced in outstanding vintages – the 2020 is one of them.

San Giusto a Rentennano – the name is of Etruscan origin and carries the centuries within it. The medieval estate is located in the southernmost tip of the Chianti Classico, where the area meets the upper reaches of the Arbia and the hills become wider, quieter and rougher. A Cistercian monastery once stood here – san Giusto alle Monache. In 1204, the Florentines fortified the area as a border post to Siena. The underground vaults from that time are now the storage cellars of the Martini di Cigala. The family has owned the estate since 1914 and Luca, Francesco and Elisabetta now run it with the conviction that has defined the house since the early 1980s: Sangiovese needs no shortcuts. It needs low yields, ripe harvestand time. Organically farmed since 2006, green pruning in July and August by 30 to 50 per cent. 95% Sangiovese, 5% Canaiolo harvested by hand.

Brilliant, rich ruby-garnet colour. Inviting nose with multi-layered notes of ripe plums, blackberries and a hint of fine leather. Juicy, ripe fruit in the attack, opens up with powerful, well-integrated tannins, savoury and long, firm pressure. A real long-liver from the top year 2019. SUPERIORE.DE

High above Sambuca Val di Pesa, just three kilometres south of the famous Tenuta Tignanello, rises the venerable Abbey of San Michele Arcangelo – a bastion of faith since the 10th century, where Giovanni Gualberto, the founder of the Vallombrosan order, once lived and died. Here, where wine of exceptional quality was already appreciated around the year 1000, only the finest Sangiovese grapes thrive on calcareous soils with a clay content at an altitude of 300 metres. The historical importance of this place is documented in hundreds of volumes in the Florentine state archives – centuries of Sangiovese cultivation and rural life, preserved for eternity.

Montosoli. Anyone who knows the name of this hill knows that this is the heart of Montalcino. And right in the centre, on five hectares of Galestro slate, is Vigna La Casa – the vineyard that made history in 1977. Caparzo bottled the first single-vineyard Brunello ever, years before the word "cru" arrived in Tuscany. The name is a reminder of the tenants who once lived here, in the shadow of Palazzo Montosoli. Today, Sangiovese of rare precision grows in its place. The altitude cools what would be hot elsewhere; the slate gives what heavy soils deny: finesse instead of vigour, elegance instead of opulence.

Poggio San Polo Brunello is a selection of the best grapes from the estate's various vineyard sites. It opens very engagingly with dark fruit, including plenty of black cherry and dark plum, optimally rounded off by a fine balsamic herbal spice and notes of white pepper. The palate has an almost perfect texture, a suppleness and silkiness that is refreshed and carried by a well-proportioned, refined Sangiovese acidity. Dark berry flavours, long, deep and with a very remarkable, slightly mineral final. SUPERIORE.DE

Poggio Rosso Gran Selezione has an enormous abundance of fruit that is beautifully layered. A very beautiful interpretation of the Sangiovese grape with a dense core and plenty of padding around it. Rich ruby-garnet colour, very fine texture and structure on the palate, which only reveals itself fully with the necessary time in the glass. It is full of tension and power in its youth, the acidity and the well-built tannins are programmed for development, as it will only develop its full elegance and greatness in a few years. SUPERIORE.DE

Poggio San Polo Brunello is a selection of the best grapes from the estate's various vineyard sites. It opens very engagingly with dark fruit, including plenty of black cherry and dark plum, optimally rounded off by a fine balsamic herbal spice and notes of white pepper. The palate has an almost perfect texture, a suppleness and silkiness that is refreshed and carried by a well-proportioned, refined Sangiovese acidity. Dark berry flavours, long, deep and with a very remarkable, slightly mineral final. SUPERIORE.DE

Brilliant ruby red colour. Lively nose of small, primary fruity red berries, subtle use of wood and impressive race and complexity for the price. Precise and taut on the palate, showing its origins boldly and decisively. Then a harmoniously balanced mix of tobacco, leather, cedar and, of course, cherry and plum. The finely balanced tannins carry this powerful and impressive Riserva into a long final. Impressive! SUPERIORE.DE

In the past, the northern slope of Montalcino was not planted with vines, but was cultivated with cereals, olives and cherries. In this area influenced by the Apennines, the seasons are more pronounced, continental and the north wind significantly lowers the temperature in winter. It is therefore the coldest Brunello region at this time of year, but also the wettest. This northern slope is a gentle hill: a characteristic that is more reminiscent of the Crete Senesi area, right next door, than the two stiffer, steeper and warmer southern slopes of Montalcino.

The rosé version of the Vin Santo, the Occhio di Pernice (Eye of the Partridge), is created using the red Sangiovese grape variety. Dark and copper-coloured in the glass. Fascinating bouquet of smoke, honey, caramel and dried apricots. Exotic, full-bodied on the palate with a wonderful balance of freshness and lively acidity. Clean, almost dry finish with a racy aftertaste of dried fruit and spices. Exciting and stimulating! SUPERIORE.DE

The Fontalloro is a single-varietal Sangiovese that is matured for up to 20 months in new and two-year-old barriques.brilliant ruby colour with a light garnet rim, mineral, woody-fruity aroma of cherry, cedar, blueberry and hazelnut. With aeration, the flavours become increasingly complex and the terroir influence very clear. Compact and very present on the palate with fine-grained tannins and classic proportions. Very high ageing potential and one of the best Sangiovese in central Tuscany every year. SUPERIORE.DE

It was Luigi Veronelli, the Italian wine revolutionary of the 60s and 70s, who convinced Francesco Giuntini that exceptional single vineyards deserve their own voice. Of all the old Poderi from the Mezzadria period, Bucerchiale has always been the best – a south-west facing amphitheatre in the cooler heights of Rufina, where Tuscany approaches the last foothills of the Apennines. Francesco took the plunge in 1979. While the law still stipulated Trebbiano in every Chianti and the wine world favoured quantity, he produced defiant resistance from pure Sangiovese. A 100 per cent Sangiovese from a single vineyard – a revolutionary act at the time that marked the beginning of the Tuscan Renaissance. In 2022, Vigneto Bucerchiale celebrates its 43rd year and embodies a perfect vision. Spontaneous fermentation in steel tanks at 30-32°C with 30 days of maceration allows every nuance of the terroir to unfold before the wine matures 50 per cent in French oak barrels of 25 hl and 50 per cent in barriques – only 15 per cent of which is new.

When Lamole di Lamole acquired this two-hectare cru in 2017, they didn't just take over vines – they took over a legacy. The Sangiovese vines, planted in 1994, grow here in the archaic form of the "Alberello Lamolese", the bush training that generations of winegrowers have wrested from the harsh altitude and which they never wanted to give up. This natural terrace lies between 540 and 580 metres, exposed to the south, buffeted by the wind and flooded with the purest light. The old dry stone walls made of ochre-coloured Macigno Toscano absorb the sun's heat during the day and give it back to the vines at night – a dialogue between stone and plant that has been going on for centuries. As early as 1800, the geographer Emanuele Repetti noted: "Buon vino di Lamole, lodata campagna" – good wine from Lamole, praised landscape. In 2018, the village was declared a "Patrimonio Storico d'Italia". The 2020 – only the third vintage from this vineyard – shows what Gran Selezione can mean. The grapes undergo optical selection, ferment in 50-hectolitre conical barrels with "macerazione differita", mature first in the same containers, then in 30-hectolitre oak barrels. The result? A wine that the winemakers themselves describe as lyrical and beguiling.

This impressive Sangiovese comes from the single vineyard "Vitticciana", which was specially created for a pure Sangiovese wine by the "Godfather of Carmignano" Ugo Contini Bonacossi due to its perfect orientation. It is only produced in the best years, when it presents itself as a multi-layered wine with fine fruit and fine-grained tannins. After a few years of ageing in the bottle, it can easily hold its own with some of the best Brunello di Montalcino. SUPERIORE.DE

There are vintages that you can already feel in the vineyard. 2021 was one of them: April frosts reduced the harvest volumes by up to a third; what remained ripened slowly and completely under a long, hot, dry summer. No rain in September, no rush during the harvest – a luxury that this vintage afforded and that is rare in Montalcino. For Giancarlo Pacenti and his northern vineyards of Pelagrilli, this meant ideal conditions for a Brunello of classic elegance.