I Giusti & Zanza

"Originally we only wanted to make a few bottles for ourselves and our friends ..." This is how many conversations begin with lateral entrants in the Italian wine scene. Paolo Giusti planned and constructed bridges. But it is often precisely these lateral beginners who develop a very special love and attention for the country they have acquired. Not many wineries of the "Costa Tuscany"As this wine-growing region is called in the hills south of Pisa and Lucca, it also succeeds internationally. Besides the well-known producers Ampeleia and Duemani already represented by us I Giusti & Zanza has received numerous awards at home and abroad.

In 1995 the Scopicci farm, where wine was produced at the beginning of the 19th century, was lovingly renovated and the first wines were produced from the old vineyards. Gradually, new vineyards were planted on the gentle hills that rise from the left bank of the Arno just before its mouth. Probably due to the former course of the river Arno, there is a lot of mixed alluvial land, which turns into gravel, sand and clay, crossed by limestone, but also shell limestone. Depending on the area, vineyards were planted with 7,000 to 10,000 vines per hectare and Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Alicante and a little bit of Petit Verdot were planted to the existing Sangiovese sites. Red wine is dominant, a little Semillon and Trebbiano Toscano complete the palette for the only white wine of the estate. Today the vines are between 20 and 50 years old.

The vineyards are situated at about 100m above sea level, the Tyrrhenian Sea is only a few kilometres away as the crow flies and provides a temperate Mediterranean climate, lots of light and constant wind. Similar conditions as in the famous Bolgheri area, only 30km away. A few years ago Paolo Giusti took over the shares of his partner Fabio Zanza and is now responsible for the 17 hectares of vineyards with his team alone. Organic or partly biodynamic cultivation requires a lot of manual work for the narrow vine rows. The grapes are extremely small, on average after a strict preselection only about 600 grams per vine are harvested.

The best grapes are selected by hand at the vibrator and then macerated for 18-24 days. They are then gently fermented again by hand, pushed under and spontaneously fermented. Then they mature in 300 and 500 l tonneaux (medium toasted) depending on variety and vintage up to 24 months and then again at least half a year on the bottle. Since they are only lightly filtered once, a sediment can form on the bottom of the bottle, which is completely normal and a quality feature of this type of vinification.

The importance of Paolo Giusti's country is also reflected in his commitment to the association "Grandi Cru della Costa Toscana"where he would like to encourage about 50 good producers to exchange ideas and achieve higher quality while respecting the unique terroir, microclimate and tradition. "With a deep passion for wine culture".

The artistic labels, as well as the names of the wines are on Gaetano Donizetti's Opera Buffa "L’elisir d’amore" (The Love Potion), in which a charlatan named Dulcamara, who pretends to be a doctor, sells a love potion to poor farmer Nemorino to persuade the adored rich landowner not to marry Sergeant Belcore. But this love potion is only a bottle of red wine. The sweet touch of love and the bitter jealousy paired with cheerfulness and happy end through the wine were here the apt inspiration. Perhaps at some point the sweet wine will follow, which would then probably have to be called Adina. SUPERIORE.DE