More Tuscan Wines

CA' MARCANDA

Some years ago the famous Piemontese wine mogul, Angelo Gaja, ventured into "foreign" turf in expanding his wine empire.

He purchased a couple of vineyards in the far-away region of Barolo.  

Having spent money elsewhere in Piemonte, Gaja set his sights on Toscana and purchased a Montalcino estate neighboring that of his favorite Brunello producer.   And Gaja also moved into the neighborhood of the "aia's" near Bolgheri on the Tuscan coast.  The "aia's" would be "Sassicaia" and "Ornellaia."  

I first visited the region shortly after Gaja started to construct a winery.  Not much there at the time.

But, my, how things have changed!

I ventured out to see the estate on a bright, clear spring morning.   "Now I know where all the money we've spent on Barbaresco have gone!" I mentioned to Signor Gaja. 

"No," he said, "really, my wallet is not full of money...I spent a lot to build the Ca' Marcanda facility.   You have helped and are responsible for maybe a corner of the winery!"

Here's a view from atop some of the facility...a portion of the cellar is "under ground."

Art work is displayed all around the winery.


Here's some wood that's not being used for barrels.

This is my kind of "art work."

 

 

Gaja and his architect, Giovanni Bo, built what looks like a mass./mess of train tracks.   I don't know if grappa was involved in drawing up this "design," but a bottle of such a distillate would explain a lot.


Fire extinguishers on the lawn were also perplexing.


Here's another sculpture.


This was, for me, the sort of "art work" which makes the most sense.

 

There are three wines being produced presently.

The entry level wine is called "Promis," because they see a lot of promise in the wine from this region.  It's typically 55% Merlot, 35% Syrah and 10% of some curious grape called "Sangiovese."   We tasted the 2004 on my visit and the wine is was very nice.  So's the 2005, just released...It displays red fruits and a bit of cinnamon.  Promis is not a heavy or profound red wine.  In Italy it's 24.  Here Promis is supposed to sell for about $52.  We have a few bottles in the shop and have shaved the price to encourage customers to try it.

 

The "middle" tier red is called "Magari," a term Italians use when saying "Maybe" or "we hope so."  Gaja's Magari is half Merlot and one-quarter of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.  This wine is a major step up and very close in quality to their top-of-the-line "Ca' Marcanda" red.   The wine opens nicely with a bit of aeration and displays some brown spice tones.  Medium-bodied.  Elegant.   We usually have a few bottles in the bin.

 

The Ca' Marcanda wine is a much smaller production, so "scarcity tax" comers into play.  This wine is half Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc.  The wine spends about 18 months in barriques and then gets a year of bottle aging.  It's a lovely wine but sells in the U.S. for a premium, of course.  Not quite as costly,  though, as Sassicaia.

Currently in stock:  2003 CA' MARCANDA "Ca' Marcanda"  (list $155)  SALE $139.99
2004 CA' MARCANDA "Magari"  (List $65) SALE  $55.99
2005 CA' MARCANDA "Promis"  (List $52)  SALE  $44.99

 

 

AZIENDA AGRICOLA PODERE SOPRA LA RIPA

The Maremma region of Tuscany is quite large and it's becoming an increasingly important source of good wine.

The "Ripa" estate is owned by Michele Ventura and he's, as far as we can determine, an "ace" winemaker.

Located in the town of Sovana, you're about an hour's drive south of Montalcino and just east of Scansano and Grosseto.   If you know where Pitigliano is located, you're nearly at Sovana.

The La Ripa estate (not to be confused with the Chianti Classico property of the "La Ripa" name) is a relatively young property.  Up until 1999 it was more devoted to raising cattle or poultry...today the grapevine and winery have propelled this place into a position of minor prominence.

Despite having hired a famous winemaker to offer enological advice, the Ripa Toscano Rosso shows more the vineyard rather than a winemaker's fingerprints.  This is most refreshing in this era when so many wines have lost their 'originality' and taste as though they could come from anywhere in the New World.  

This wine "tastes like Tuscany."  It should, since it's Sangiovese-based and blended with Ciliegiolo and a bit of Alicante.  Ciliegiolo is a variety that's long been cultivated in Umbria and Tuscany.  Some claim the grape originated in Spain, but it's been grown in Italy for, at least, 150 years.  It's a minor component of some Chianti wines, but it gains a bit of prominence in the Maremma area.  

We have the 2004 Ripa Toscana Rosso (they make a more costly, barrique-aged wine called "EA").  This wine sees only a bit of time in wood.  In fact, 70% of the blend is not wood-aged at all (what a concept, huh?  Imagine making wine that tastes like the fruit it's made of!  You'll never achieve a 90+ point score making a dry wine without a forest-full of oak).  We like the resulting wine: it offers red fruit notes of the Sangiovese combined with cherryish Ciliegiolo.  This is a great alternative to Chianti or Chianti Classico.

A small and honest importer brings us this wine and, as a result, it arrives at a very modest price.

Currently in stock:  2004 RIPA "TOSCANA ROSSO" Sold Out

SELVABIANCA (IL COLOMBAIO DI SANTA CHIARA)

I'm a bit surprised to learn the main enterprise of the family which owns this property is that of "agriturismo."  That means they mostly rent rooms to travelers vacationing in Tuscany.

The estate is about two kilometers from the walled city of San Gimignano and  we're delighted with their 2006 Vernaccia.  Bob says it's about the best example of Vernaccia di San Gimignano he can remember.  Of course, Bob forgets what wine display he's stocking if he's interrupted by a customer.  

But I can safely say this is a really good example of Vernaccia.  No oak and the wine is not high in alcohol like a good many California Chardonnays.  The aromas are reminiscent of pears and apples with a touch of a white flower character.  It's dry on the palate and mildly acidic.  You can pair this with seafood or a light pasta.

Currently in stock:  2006 SELVABIANCA Vernaccia di San Gimignano $14.99

 

LE BOCCE

We have tasted various vintages of wines from the Le Bocce estate over the years and the wines are usually of good quality.

The wine is a 'classic' style...it's not beefed-up with Cabernet, Merlot or Syrah, nor is it a wine showing much in the way of wood.  

Typically Le Bocce Chianti is a rather standard blend, with Sangiovese predominating along with a bit of Canaiolo and a few percent of Malvasia and Trebbiano.  If they're "watering" down this wine with white wine, you would hardly know it!  

The aromas are deep and show dark cherry notes and a mildly dusty note.  On the palate, this is medium-bodied, with but a mild bit of tannin.  That, of course, smooths out when paired with savory foods.

 

 

The wine is matured in large, traditional botti.

"We're not in the business of selling vanilla.  We sell Sangiovese here."


This 2005 is good now, especially if you can give it an hour in a decanter.  We noticed our first bottle of this really blossomed over the course of dinner in Tuscany at the home of some friends.

Currently in stock: 2005 LE BOCCE CHIANTI CLASSICO  $12.99
(case discounts, too)

 

 

MANTELLASSI

This is  a leading estate in the history of the Maremma wine region in south-western Tuscany.

Ezio Mantellassi began his personal crusade for the wine from this part of Tuscan, an obscure outpost, certainly, back in the late 1950s.  The family had made wine for decades, having moved to the region back in the late 1800s, but selling it was an entirely different issue.  Nobody wanted this wine.

Mantellassi had given the name of the wine as "Morellino" and he had more success selling his products to Swiss and German merchants than he did in convincing the locals to buy the wine.  Of course, today this is ironic, since producers of fine Chianti, Vino Nobile and Brunello now are owners of vineyards and wineries in the Maremma area!  

It's a good drive from Florence to the Maremma.  You'll put about 200 kilometers on your car.  Even if you don't have kids in the car to sing out "Are we there yet?!?!," you'll be wondering the same thing.  

A local importer brings in some of Mantellassi's wine.  A simple Sangiovese featuring a photo of some guys you'll see in virtually every little village in Italy.  I don't care whether you're in Piemonte or Toscana, you'll see a bench someplace which has a group of old guys sitting on it.  They may be discussing their latest meal or the wine they tasted the other day, the latest soccer match or how the government is really mucking up the world.  I can assure you they are not debating the numerical point scores of Robert Parker or The Wine Spectator.  Life's too short for crap like that.

 

The wine called "Maritma" comes from the 2007 vintage.  And what a delicious and satisfying bottle this is, especially when you consider it set you back seven dollars and forty-nine cents.  Medium ruby in color, the fruit fragrances are of dark cherries.  No oak.  I find it a shade smoother than our simple Chianti wines, but your mileage may vary depending upon what foods it's paired with.  

Currently in stock: 2007 "MARITMA" SANGIOVESE  $7.99

 

VILLA BANFI

The Mariani family has owned the Banfi company for more than 80 years.  It's named for an aunt of the founder's back in 1919!  Today the family continues to import Riunite Lambrusco, which must have accounted for the firm's massive fortunes in the 1970s.  They continue to import wines from Chile, including a little winery called Concha y Toro.  

Back in the late 1970s they purchased some 7,100 acres of land in southern Tuscany.  Talk about moving mountains!  These guys literally did.  I remember some of the "locals" loudly complained about this, but the Mariani's thought they knew what they were doing and, hindsight being 20/20, it appears as though they did!

We visited their brand new cellar in the early or mid-1980s and found an amazing facility with very few people needed to operate the place!  The first wines were good quality, but not world-beaters.  Today their line-up features some very good wines, especially at the upper end of the scale.  Even their "everyday" wines are okay.

Working to isolate various clones of "Brunello" (Sangiovese), they found about 160 of them.  From these selected about 15 of the best to plant on their extensive acreage.  If you've read a bit of my views on Brunello, you'll know I think it's a wine which is rarely successful in smaller vintages.  Most producers should be ashamed to bottle some of the dreary stuff they offer in lighter years.  Yet Banfi's wine has been remarkably good in those so-called "smaller" vintages.  

I am amused by those who are in search of "Only 1997" vintage Brunello wines.  Listen, Banfi's 1993, 1995 and 1996 vintages are all magnificent wines.  If you like "internationally-styled" (read: aged in a lot of new oak cooperage) wines, then Banfi's Brunello wines are going to be well-received at your dinner table.  

They make three Brunello wines.  


The basic bottling is terrific.  We enjoy it served with a grilled steak.  You don't have to drink Cabernet Sauvignon all the time, you know!  It is so good, it is easily on par with top Napa Cabernets.  

They offer a "Riserva" wine, though it is given extended aging in wood and released after the regular. It's called Poggio all'Oro because you need to bring a small pot of gold to buy a bottle.





Finally, there's a new wine called "Poggio alle Mura," a wine that features their six best clones of Brunello and bottled without filtration.  The 1997 represented the maiden voyage of this new wine.  Lots of blackberries, coffee, vanillin and oak notes are to be found here.  Very showy wine!  It's more of an "internationally-styled" wine than typical Tuscan red from Montalcino.  

The Chianti in one liter, straw-covered bottles no longer has the Banfi name on it.  They probably figure people won't take their $50 bottles seriously if they have Chianti in a fiasco bottle.  The wine is not bad, though...a good, fruity little red that's perfect not out of a Riedel crystal wine glass, but a water tumbler or jelly jar.  

 

Currently in stock:  CHIANTI in "Fiasco" (750ml, straw-covered bottle)  SALE $10.99
1999 BRUNELLO DI MONTALCINO $59.99

FATTORIA SELVAPIANA

This is perhaps the leading estate in the small Chianti district known as "Rufina."  

The region is north and a bit east of Florence and produces some very good wines.  Selvapiana was, at one time, one of several summer get-away places for the bishops of Firenze.  The property was purchased in 1827 by Michele Giuntini Selvapiana and today is run by Silvia and Federico Giuntini Masseti.  
Franco Bernabei is their consulting winemaker.  There are about 45 hectares of vineyards, so production tallies to about 200,000 bottles annually.

We had been big fans of the basic Chianti Rufina, but the most recent vintage didn't quite match up to the quality/price ratio of previous vintages.  We can special order it for you, if you like.  It's about $14.  

 

Currently in stock: Sold Out...
Available by special order...




CASTELLO DI AMA

This is a famous estate located near Gaiole in Chianti.

It has long been famous for a Merlot called L'Apparita and priced at stratospheric levels.  I remember tasting it for the first time many years ago and finding it to be extraordinary.  

But despite their producing Pinot Nero and Chardonnay, along with Merlot, it's Chianti that we've come here for.

The wines have always been premium-priced.  Single vineyard Chianti wines had been around $50 a bottle some years ago.  Going from the modest 1994 vintage to the 1995s, the price tripled to about $150 a bottle.  I sent proprietor Lorenza Sebaste a note asking if the importer's calculator was broken or if Tuscan winemakers were more crazy than Napa Valley vintners.   I still think they're crazy asking ridiculously high prices for their wines.  She sent a nice response saying how costly it is to make good wine.  Thank goodness she's not working for an oil company!

A 1999 Chianti Classico, the normal bottling, is a nice example of Chianti if you frame it in the right setting.  I'm thinking a nice dish of veal or roasted pork, for example.  This is a medium-bodied wine and with a modest amount of tannin.  You can drink this now and it ought to cellar well for several more years.

Currently in stock:  1999 Castello di Ama Chianti Classico $35.99

PIAZZANO

The town of Empoli is probably unknown to most American wine-drinkers.  I suspect few Italians know it as a wine-producing area, though the town is certainly famous.
That's because when spelling a word with the letter "e," an Italian will say "e as in Empoli."  

So now you know.

Piazzano is located on the outskirts of Empoli, a few minutes' ride south of Vinci.  Otello Bettarini built a small astronomical observatory there in the late 1940s.  Today you can observe the vines growing, particularly Sangiovese.  There are about 33 hectares of vineyards at Piazzano and the place is still run by Bettarinis.   Rolando and Mrs. Rolando.

The region is subject to the marine-influenced climate.  Bettarini told us that one year, 1989 to be exact, they found their vines covered with sea salt as the wind had blown inland with some vigor that year!

We were impressed by the terrain of their vineyards and their apparent dedication to quality.  

We saw well-manicured vines, cropped sensibly in order to obtain good quality grapes.  We did not see huge masses of fruit weighing down the vines.




They make a delicious Sangiovese which comes under the name of Ventoso, as the wind tends to whip over hill and dale, especially in November.  Rolando says the wine also has a drop of Canaiolo, Colorino, Ciliegiolo, Malvasia Nera and NO Cabernet!  It's not matured in French oak barrels, either, so if you're looking for something which tastes like every other Super-Tuscan, this ain't it.

The Piazzano Team.

 

They actually have a small tasting and sales room at the winery.

 

They planted some Syrah recently and this shows much promise...dark and spicy!

 

Though we saw some French oak barriques, we were impressed that Piazzano's wines still retain their identity was "Tuscan" and well as their Sangiovese "typicity."

 

They make some Vin Santo, too...very fine, indeed.

 

Rolando is making good wines in a zone which hasn't been especially prestigious.
As a result, the wines tend to be "good values" as so many consumers only know "Chianti Classico" as a premium wine.  (This is good for smart shoppers who drink what's in the glass and not what's on the label!)

 

Tuscan bread and a bottle of good Chianti!

 

We accepted Rolando's invitation to stay for lunch...I think they were all so shocked to have visitors from California come to see the place.  Most of their customers are "locals".
Pasta Toscana!


A Tuscan stew with veggies and vino!.  

 

Vin Santo from Piazzano is, indeed, very good.  Especially with Tuscan "biscotti" such as "Cantucci."
The Vin Santo, by the way, is made of Malvasia, Trebbiano and an obscure variety which seems to be somewhat common in this region, San Colombano.  The grapes are harvested in mid-September and dried until late January/early February.  The wine is matured for about 2 years in small wood barrels, typically chestnut and acacia cooperage.


Ventoso is intended for immediate drinking, not long-term cellaring.  The 2004 vintage was a good one, the fruit maturing evenly and to a good level of sugar without being too strong.    It's a lovely, cherryish Sangiovese which tastes like Tuscan Sangiovese.  The importer doesn't keep this in stock regularly, so we're currently sold out....

The Rio Camerata Chianti is routinely very fine and it gives the more costly wines from the Chianti Classico region a serious challenge.  

We also like their delicious Vin Santo...some half bottles are currently in stock.

Currently in stock:  PIAZZANO 2004 "Rio Camerata" Chianti (List $15)  Sold Out
PIAZZANO Vin Santo (List $35) SALE $29.99 (375ml)



The next winemaker at Piazzano.

 

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Last modified: April 22, 2008