Fattoria Kappa

Wine-crazy photographer drives through Italy, sees a hill near Grosseto and dreams of his own winery. Back in Vienna, he meets his friend, a business journalist, who was just unhappy about the stock market and asks him if he knows someone who would like to invest in a winery in Tuscany. Stephan Klasmann didn't think twice about "actually me", because it would be great to have a retirement home close to the sea one day, which might even bring in something. That was in 1999, when red wines from Tuscany, especially from the Maremma, were booming.

Career changers make a dream come true. All set? Not at all. Because the economist began to calculate. He asked some winegrowers who were friends of his. And soon it was clear that the hill was beautifully situated, but difficult to cultivate. No cantina, no water, so investments were far too high. In addition, the region near the nature reserve by the sea near Grosseto was still completely unknown at that time. Only today, almost twenty years later, a few wineries are successful here. At that time, it was the region around Bolgheri that was joined by Sassicaia, Ornellaia, Michele Satta & Co. had become famous.

So they drove through the Maremma and were immediately delighted with the wines from the cooler sites around Bolgheri. They met the oenologist Andrea di Maio, who had worked at one of the best wineries in the Chianti area, Isole e Olena, and at Antinori's winery in Bolgheri, Guado al Tasso - and therefore knows the Bolgheri area inside out. In 2004 a few small vineyards were leased, as the crow flies less than four kilometres from the sea, with an ideal location and a constant sea breeze that aerates the rows. The soil is varied: sandy-clayey, but also clay and weathered, iron-rich red gravel. In 2005 the first wine was created, vinified quasi as a subtenant in a friendly cantina. It was presented in 2007 and immediately became a gastronomic hit with its very own style of drinking.

Gradually, it was also possible to acquire some sites and from the 2007 vintage onwards, the Fattoria moved to its own winery near Castellina Marittima. The photographer left, Stephan Klasmann and Andrea di Maio took over his shares. However, he is still on board as an advisor and taster for the cuvée composition.

The dropout cliché became a serious winery in 2010 at the latest, when the opportunity arose to enter into a long-term lease with an agricultural estate in the north of Bolgheri and the original 4 hectares became a stately 14 hectares. And at an altitude of almost 400 m above sea level, in a region with strong day-night temperature changes, which is excellent for the development of a juicy fruit in the wine. Here the soils are even more barren, stony, weathered, mineral, partly interspersed with slate and shell limestone, which provides an elegant, finer structure.

The vineyards are cultivated in a natural way with a lot of manual work, yield only about 4500 kg per ha. Manual harvest into small boxes, then second manual selection at the vibrating table. 20% of the grapes are not destemmed, but fermented with the stalks. The grapes are trodden barefoot to extract the juice as gently as possible. Fermentation is carried out spontaneously without pure yeast and without temperature control in 1,000 litre vats. Depending on the vintage and variety, the maceration period is 2-4 weeks, after which Lambda is matured for 12 months in used 500l Tonnaux and 8 months in steel tanks. The Kappa is allowed to mature for 18 months in wood - 15% of the barrels are new every year - and then rests in cement tanks for a few months. All wines are filled without swing and filtration.

Currently in production are Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Sangiovese and a little Petit Verdot. In the future there will also be small quantities of white wine, but Vermentino and some Viognier will be produced in a vineyard of their own. One can be curious. SUPERIORE.DE