Tuscany: Chianti and Beyond (Part 2)

Tenuta San Guido in Bolghieri, home to Sassicaia

by Erica MacKenzie

As I talked about last time, Chianti may be the most famous name from Tuscany (from a US perspective anyway) but there is much more to the region. And we just can’t have a conversation about the amazing wines from the area without discussing Brunello di Montalcino. What is it about this wine that intrigues us? For starters, it is made with a natural clone of Sangiovese known as Sangiovese Grosso which produces a thicker skinned berry and as the name suggests it is capable of bigger, more robust, and age-worthy wines. Brunello di Montalcino DOCG wines can only be made from fruit grown within Montalcino (it overlaps Chianti Senesi) and must be planted with Sangiovese Grosso (locally known as…you guessed it… Brunello). The wine must go through vigorous aging before we, the consumers, can taste it; the standard Brunello requires 5 years of aging after harvest with a minimum of 2 years in cask followed by a minimum of 4 months in bottle. The Riserva has even stricter aging standards. Traditionally, this wine is aged in Slavonian oak, but more modern approaches have moved towards French oak. Try a Brunello whenever you can!

We also see this powerhouse clone in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, where it is called Prugnolo Gentile. However, unlike Brunello, Vino Nobile is a blend and must be made from a minimum of 70% Prugnolo Gentile and a maximum of 30% of other Tuscan varieties. No international grapes such as Cabernet allowed here! Only 5% of the grapes in the blend can be white. The wine is aged for a minimum of 2 years, with at least 1 year in wood. Riserva wines are aged for a minimum of 3 years. When you visit you’ll find the town of Montepulciano to be absolutely charming. Montalcino is stately with the feeling that the entire town is a wine shop; Montepulciano is lively and vibrant.

So much red! Are there white wines in Tuscany? Of course, but the production is comparatively small. There is one well-known Tuscan white termed "fit for a King", the lauded Vernaccia di San Gimignano. The primary grape is conveniently in the wine’s name itself (Vernaccia is the grape) and is mentioned as early as 1276 in Dante's Divine Comedy. Despite its history, Vernaccia di San Gimignano is less popular than Tuscany's attention-grabbing red wines. It must be made from 90% of the varietal and can include small amounts of Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling or other approved non-aromatic white grapes. As with all Tuscan wines Vernaccia is aged from 4-12 months depending on whether the wine maker is making a simple wine or a Riserva. This wine can be sublime or bland. I love single vineyard productions best; the wines from Montenidoli show this grape at its most majestic with a floral bouquet of daisy and chamomile, notes of melon and lemon with expressive yet balanced acidity. This is a version of Vernaccia I will always come back to.

I would also encourage you to search out the other, lesser-known Sangiovese-based wines of Tuscany such as Carmignano and Morellino di Scansano. Like Vino Nobile, these other regional wines allow for 15-20% blended grapes, with specifics outlined per classification. These blending partners range from indigenous varieties such as Colorino, Canaiolo Nero, Mammolo, Pugnitello, Marzemino and the seldom used Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia as well as international grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Merlot. Incidentally, when we discuss these non-indigenous grapes within the Tuscan landscape it’s a bit of a grey area since Cabernet Sauvignon has been grown in Tuscany since the late 1600’s when Cosimo III de’ Medici brought cuttings back to his vineyards. We now know this wine as Carmignano, which since 1718 has traditionally been a blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon. Canaiolo was and still is common to the blend and at this time Cabernet Franc is also allowed. Carmignano’s zone is small, approximately 270 acres and directly southwest of Florence. This is an important wine for the insight it gives us in the differences in expression between French and Italian Cabernets, as well as its historical significance, and I feel we should call Carmignano the original Super Tuscan.

Which brings us to our modern Super Tuscans, emerging from the coastal Maremma region in the 1970s but with experimentation beginning as early as 1948. This was initially a wine meant only for Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta and his family at Tenuta San Guido from their property along the Tuscan coastline near Bolgheri. This wine made from two of the grape varieties common to Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, led to a groundbreaking wine we know as Sassicaia (Italian for “stony field”). The Marchese's son Nicolò and nephew Piero Antinori convinced him to release his wine commercially, starting with the 1968 vintage which was released in 1971. The wine was initially met with little critical interest, so the family decided to consult with enologist Giacomo Tachis to increase production and quality. By 1977 Incisa della Rocchetta had moved his wines into French oak barriques. This was an ingenious move which improved both quality and aging, and others soon took notice and began to produce similar wines. Marchese Antinori’s Tignanello was released in the early 70’s with Piero Antinori at the helm and by 1981 Marchese Ludovico Antinori’s Ornellaia had come onto the scene with a nearby estate in Bolgheri. During this time, the wines were initially labeled Vino di Tavola as they didn’t fit into the current DOC/DOCG classification system. Eventually the wines would be classified as IGT, but by 1983 Bolgheri had received its own DOC (Sassicaia DOC followed in 1994). What was my first Super Tuscan experience? It was a tasting glass of Tignanello 1994, I remember being absolutely wowed by this wine and hope to retaste it. During my study in Florence, Maremma, the 500 square kilometer coastal stretch of southern Tuscany, was still considered a wild frontier. This former marshland may have been drained in the 1930's but it was still considered a mosquito ridden backwater to many. However, wine makers in the 1990's saw potential and moved in. At this time Bolgheri already made three great wines from this soil. The current possibilities are endless and it's already becoming an area of experimentation due to its labeling flexibility. I think regions like this are where the future of Tuscan wine is heading. I'd love my next trip to include tasting my way through the "Golden Coast" to see what Bolgheri, Suvereto, Vali di Cornia and Morellino di Scansano have to offer…I'm already planning my adventure. Ciao, Ciao!