WINES
Giulio Gambelli always told me: “wine is made in the vineyard”. Indeed, that has always been true for us. He also introduced me to the “three P’s” rule that should be applied in any cellar: purity, purity and purity. These are the essential ingredients of our wine, born organic long before the official certification became a widespread badge of honour.
Running a small company is a luxury that allows me to take care of every detail throughout all the phases of winemaking. I don’t like having too many wines, possibly made by selecting the grapes, some of which end up being less healthy and ripe. This is why I chose to produce only one Brunello and one Red, exclusively made with grapes that are perfectly ready for the job. The grapes I don’t like are simply discarded. My next dream is to make a cru, a Brunello obtained from grapes coming exclusively form the Bosco vineyard, my favourite one, planted in 1972.
“A laughing wine showed me the way. I listen to the wine’s golden advice, wine can sometimes be a staircase made of dreams. April, the night and the laughing wine joined in chorus to sing their psalm of love.”
Antonio Machado (1875 – 1939)
”WHERE THERE IS NO WINE THERE IS NOT LOVE; NEITHER ANY OTHER LEASURE ENJOYED BY MORTALS
Euripides, The Bacchae (480 BC – about 406 BC)
Where everything comes to life
OUR VINEYEARDS
The COLLE vineyards – Casa, Matrichese and Bosco – were planted in 1972 and span across three hectares of land, facing north-east at an eleveation of about 480 metres asl.
Casa and Matrichese were replanted in 1985, after the notorious frost that also destroyed centuries-old olive trees throughout Italy. On the other hand, the Bosco vineyard has managed to overcome that year’s extremely cold temperatures, protected by the vigorous surrounding vegetation.
The disintegration of a sandstone massif is the main component of this area, along with a scarce presence of clay. Limestone and alberese insertions make for the skeletal grain found in most of these vineyards. The soil composition is reflected in all of the wines coming from here, endowed with distinctive minerality and elegance.
The CASTELNUOVO vineyards – Ponte, Pozzi and Ciliegio – were planted in 1998 and cover five hectares of land, facing south-east at an elevation of about 230 metres asl.
The clay component is king in here. Heavy clays are somewhat mitigated by the presence of tuff, a peculiar feature of the Mount Amiata massif, while most of the skeletal grain consists of alluvial deposits, which are consistently encountered in the lower part of the land and tend to decrease in the upper portion of the ridge. The wines that come from this area are very muscular, powerful and concentrated.
Details
THAT MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
OUR VATS
Nowadays, making wine in a completely natural way requires constant temperature control, as global warming has indisputably increased the sugar content of grapes. A suitable temperature is an essential prerequisite for yeasts to trigger the fermentation process, a process that will take quite a long time before they run out of sugars to be transformed. Ideally, it should take place in an environment as little stressful as possible. For this reason, I only use stainless steel vats equipped with a thermo-conditioned outer layer. These vats act very gently on the must, allowing us not to exceed 28° even at the peak of alcoholic fermentation.
OUR BARRELS
My choice is to make exclusive use of large barrels of fine Slavonian Oak, made by the best artisan coopers with carefully selected woods, rigorously folded on fire and slightly toasted. We have both round and oval barells with a capacity of 30 up to 50 hectoliters, in which the wine can safely age for a long time and still be able to express the peculiar characteristics of each vintage, without being overwhelmed by the scent of wood.
OUR CORKS
An excellent quality cork is really worth the money. I am lucky enough to avail myself of experienced craftsmen who make exclusive use of corks of at least 13 years of age, whose density is above the average. They select their crus in highly suitable areas, almost exclusively upon south-facing hills. The processing is still done manually, cutting in squares to make the most of the wood’s properties. The final quality control system is analytical and very scrupulous. The print is strictly fire branded.