Giodo

"Everyone who has anything to do with wine in Italy knows this salt-and-pepper moustache," a wine critic recently wrote. The friendly smile and the always alert sparkling eyes of course. After all, Carlo Ferrini is one of the most famous oenologists in Italy. As a consultant he is in charge of numerous renowned wineries from South Tyrol to Sicily, such as Casanova di Neri, Brancaia, Castello del Romitorio, Fonterutoli, Nittardi, Mazzei, Petrolo, Poliziano, Ricasoli, Talenti, Pietradolce, Tasca d'Almerita, Tenuta delle Terre Nere or Zisola, to name but a few. But the love of the native Florentine is for the grapes of his homeland, which earned him the nickname Mr. Sangiovese.

"When you work for decades in the vineyards and cellars of your customers, at some point the desire grows for your own vineyard, where you can do everything the way you want to", smiles the long-standing technical director of the Consorzio Chianti Classico, and adds "and that doesn't mean I want to press the best wine in the world, but wine that tastes best to me". Ferrini seeks elegance. No wonder then that he planted his first vineyards in Montalcino in 2002.

Already during his agronomic studies in Florence, and of course afterwards as a consultant, Carlo Ferrini was concerned with the soils, the rootstock vines and the best Sangiovese clones. His Podere Giodo, so named in homage to his parents Giovanna and Donatello, is located in the south of Montalcino between the village of Sant'Angelo in Colle and the monastery of Sant'Antimo, behind which rises Monte Amiata. And although there are many vineyards of the most renowned Brunello producers, part of the landscape here is still as it was fifty years ago, before the great boom. Oak woods, a few wheat fields and undergrowth, you could call it archaic maquis.

Exactly in such an untreated spot, a bumpy gravel road leads steeply uphill. To a dilapidated stone house that is being renovated and a fascinating semi-circle of cypresses that one would rather expect to find in a palazzo. Behind it today are 2.5 hectares of best Brunello sites, because the fallow land with south-eastern exposure, with medium-heavy, stony soils was virtually a rough diamond that one only had to work and shape into a vineyard. After a few years, so much more was added. Land lying fallow again. Even a hundred meters higher, at about 400 m above sea level, even more stony.

Eight different Sangiovese clones, which Ferrini appreciated from his scientific research and from his decades of experience as small and loose berries with low vigour, were gradually planted in "cordone speronato" cultivation. Today the area is about 6.5 hectares. The older vineyards supply the grapes for the elegant Brunello di Montalcino, the grapes of the younger plants are used for the Rosso Toscana IGT, which is somewhat more delicate but also finely balanced, fruity but elegant, and is accompanied by great drinking pleasure. Ferrini obtains its elegance through the strictest selection of the berries, spontaneous fermentation with its own yeasts and ageing in cement and 700-litre barrels, because: "The wood should only accompany the ageing, you should not feel it".

Another wish is coming true especially for the mid-sixties, as his daughter Bianca, who became a world-class water polo player in addition to her agricultural studies, completed her additional marketing studies in the USA and returned to support her father in building up Podere Giodo. Because there is still a lot to do. In addition to renovating the old buildings, a basement is currently being completed, and Carlo Ferrini's late second love also requires a lot of work. She is called Nerello Mascalese and grows at 900 m above sea level on Etna in centennial Albarello trees. But that will be a different story. Coming here soon.  SUPERIORE.DE