| SACROMONTE 2000, I.G.T Toscana,
Castello di Potentino.
Wine of the week. By Franco Ziliani. Beloved Tuscanites, helpless lovers of Sangiovese, those of you deluded by the bizarre and incomprehensible twists and turns that so many wines made from our favourite grape have taken in recent years – here is good news for you. If you are searching for a Sangiovese – an elegant, succulent wine, extremely pleasurable to the palette, a wine not killed or vulgarized by an excessive use of French wood or those incongruous mixes with the same old “improving” or grandiose varieties of international origin – here is definitely something for you. . It is produced by a domaine, or perhaps one should say a particular winery, practically unknown and not listed by countless guides, situated near a small village called Seggiano, in the province of Grosseto. An area - included, along with Cinigiano, Civitella Paganico, Roccalbegna, Arcidosso, Campagnatico and Castel del Piano, in the Montecucco D.O.C (a denomination with a potential yet to be realised) - up until now known only for extra virgin olive oil made from the Olivastra Seggianese and its geographical position 20kms from Montalcino at the base of the Monte Amiata.. The fine Sangiovese I wish to draw to your attention was discovered through unusual, chance circumstances connected with the arrival of an e-mail written in an endearing Italian by the wine maker announcing the delivery of some sample bottles for tasting and making some observations on its production. This was followed by another e-mail from an important group “Classica” of Montepulciano, an affiliation of Avignonesi, noting their interest in the distribution of this wine.. Tasting “SACROMONTE”, an `I.G.T Toscana 2000 and exchanging a few more e-mails with the producer, an English woman called Charlotte Horton, not only did I decide to write about it, but to combine it with a another visit to Castello di Potentino, the name of the estate, in order to find out how, in the devil’s name, already in its first year of production, this wine could have ended up being so good, and so splendidly in tune with my tastes in Tuscan wine.. I must say that even before setting foot in the castle I have already received a very positive feeling about it. This is because of the decision of the owners, (English) to concentrate for the moment, on creating only one wine, “SACROMONTE” - note well, in quantities not hypervirtual but real, 12,000 bottles, - and because of the pure “madness” and quirkiness of planting, next to Sangiovese and a touch of Alicante (as many have done in the Maremma and Morellino di Scansano areas – another Tuscan wine that I love), a small section of that magnificent vine – Pinot Nero, a variety which makes my heart beat faster and suffer pangs of anguish, especially when planted in “terroir” that has nothing to do with it. . Perhaps on paper pure “madness” but I expressed my concern to Charlotte Horton and was given an encouraging reply…that the Pinot was destined for a “blend in our future aged wine. We are in a small basin valley (a little paradise) below the Monte Amiata, one of the highest mountains in Tuscany, at a height of 380m. We have a special microclimate – very protected – but cold air descends from the mountains slopes every evening. Conditions theoretically perfect for Pinot Nero, perhaps the most suitable in Tuscany, and for a wine that will be a very distinct expression of our earth, of our land. Particular and fine and clean like mountain air.” Digressions on the wings of Pindar! Dreams of a Pinot Noir produced in the heights of Tuscany! (as perhaps may be born with the help of Niccolo d’Afflitto at Pomino, if the Marchesi Frescobaldi tried to vinify it in its purity), come to mind. However, this wine “SACROMONTE”, 100% Sangiovese is obtained from vineyards trained on the ‘cordone speronato semplice’ system with a plantation of 5,000 plants per hectare; the terrain is of a various nature – volcanic, but mixed with carbonic-quartzose sandstone, marly limestone and schistose clay. It also presents us with an interesting case because of its vinification that consists of fermentation in conic vats of French Allier oak (capacity of 5000 litres) for a period of two weeks, followed by ageing in the same vats and refining in bottle for at least three months. . So, no barrique!, no recourse to the standard practices that homogenize and flatten out the character of too many Tuscan wines, but as Charlotte Horton pleasantly notes “it is a soft approach, delicate, so that all the subtleties of the Sangiovese, a reserved type who needs to be treated gently, can express themselves.”. In anticipation of the visit to Castello di Potentino and the discovery of the other secrets of this cellar, located in a castle whose first documents date back to 1042, owned over the centuries by various noble families – the Tolomei, the Bonsignori, the Salimbeni - and that boasts Saint Catherine of Siena as a former guest, I can only declare my utter satisfaction at the existence of wines like this, which reconcile the authentic pleasure of a Sangiovese with its pedigree and which maintain, in the face of modern winery techniques, a rustic vein, ungilded, unplastified, full of lively inspiration and sanguinity.. Presented, not in a Bordolese but in a Borgonotte, “SACROMONTE” 2000, dating from that year - which in Tuscany was very hot and produced, particularly in the warmer areas, like Bolgeri, large areas of Chianti Classico and Montalcino wines excessively mature, cooked, super concentrated, that will inevitably lack finesse - introduces itself very well already with its colour, a beautiful luminous ruby-violet, full of vitality and persists once the glass is offered to the nose where it reveals itself, warm and substantial, under a floreal and earthy smell, evocative of gladioli, iris, and violets, a scented bouquet of aromatic herbs (rosemary, thyme and bay) embellished with traces of spice. All very direct, ample and tight but fresh, fragrant, without hints of overcooked fruit, of jam, without intrusions of those predictable notes of coffee and chocolate that would clip the wings of the delicacy, grace and ‘allegria’ of a Sangiovese that is ripe and ready but not over ripened. Continuing to open up on the palette, the wine exhibits warmth, distinction; it is very clean and dry, succulent and fleshy without muscular ostentation (natural or enological body-building neither way counts for much), slender and in shape so as to make it extremely pleasurable and magnificently easy to drink. Although very ‘swallowable’ we are not dealing with a light, inconsequential wine but a fine wine endowed with a fine cortege of tannins, and a touch of abrasion and belligerence, perfectly in keeping with that fresh and calibrated acidity which constitutes the backbone, the core of this wine, intimately and undeniably Tuscan. It is a frank wine, direct, without frivolity, laudably considered not to “épater les dégustateurs”, not to astonish the orders of official wine tasters, who for the most part, and I will happily bet on this, will not be very struck by this wine, but to delight and gratify those who ask for truth and sincerity from a wine, who ask for the ability to express and exalt the ‘terroir’ of its origin with the sensibility of the producer and above all to make you want to drink it, as happened to the very person who is writing this. To drink it not with the astounding, much emulated dishes of Artusi, Escoffier or other great cooks, but the good simple flavours of everyday cooking – pasta with meat sauces, poultry, roulades and grills! If you serve it with ‘pappardelle’ and hare, wild boar stew or a juicy Florentine steak! - this excellent Sangiovese with its fine form will make great strides. Try it and see… From www.winereport.com |