Travel

Tuscany: searching for a way
Drinks plus №1 2008, Circle Update February-March 2008

“Tradition is not a recipe. It doesn’t mean that people should keep doing the same thing”, contemplates winemaker Paolo De Marchi in response to a question that touches upon the fundamental values of many of his Tuscan colleagues.

The issue is a sensitive one for estates working in areas like Chianti Classico where wine production is based on centuries of tradition. So what should be viewed as tradition and how do you reconcile this with modern life? Where to look for a base in which the empirical knowledge of previous generations is not a burden, but a driving force for way forward? In contrast, winemakers in new wine zones have the opposite problem. How to avoid mistakes in choosing grape varieties and techniques which should stand them in good stead for the future?

Tuscany is arguably the most exciting Italian region to research the topic. Here historic areas whose wines were praised back in the medieval times share borders with young, swiftly developing wine territories which emerged only a few decades, or even years ago. Mentality and approach are certainly different between the two.

Let’s return to Paolo De Marchi. His Isole e Olena estate is found in Chianti Classico and is considered one of the flagships in the area. As a specialized wine estate Isole e Olena was founded in the mid-1950s, although traditional farming of vineyards had been practiced there for centuries. De Marchi remembers well the mode of life of the previous generation. A tiny Olena hamlet was a typical Tuscan rural community where farmers were sharecroppers. Olive oil was a more important agricultural product than wine because of its higher nutritional value.

Times started to change in the mid-60s when the sharecropping system became obsolete. A new quality movement was emerging among Tuscan winemakers. Paolo De Marchi headed a family estate in 1976, and the estate witnessed bold experiments and modernization in the next decade. The traditional four-variety formula of Chianti Classico wine was no longer valid for quality production as it had been badly discredited during industrial commercial production of the pre- and postwar era. The decision to switch production from light, young wine to one structured and age-worthy led De Marchi to abandon white grapes and to change vinification techniques. In 1980 he made a new 100% Sangiovese wine called Cepparello confronting the existing rules which didn’t allow pure Sangiovese wines to be classified as Chianti Classico. In 1987 he created Collezione de Marchi, a range with grapes foreign to Tuscany such as Chardonnay, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.

De Marchi, though, doesn’t consider himself a revolutionary. Changes in his estate were necessary for the search for what he calls “wine of origin”. Origin is a complex notion for him and includes soils, climate, genotypes of grape varieties, a winemaker and certain knowledge.

And what about tradition? “Tradition is change that has been successfully adapted to local circumstances”, he says. From the situational point in Chianti Classico, he seems to be right. A new style of Chianti Classico wines that was crafted in Isole e Olena and a number of other progressive estates in the ‘80s has become a general standard for the area today. Even famous Super Tuscan Cepparello is no longer viewed as a rebellious wine, but as a classic marriage of Sangiovese grapes and Chianti Classico terroir.

Isole e Olena and Castello di Ama, another well known Chianti Classico winery, have many things in common. Marco Pallanti who made his first vintage in the latter in 1982 says that his work started with replanting vineyards, changing vinification methods (before all grapes for Chianti Classico wine were fermented together), experimenting with new white varieties and the introduction of atypical Merlot and Pinot Noir. By the early ‘90s Pallanti came to understand subtle differences between various plots, and the winery was successfully producing several single vineyard Chianti Classico wines. The next turning point was in 1996 when Castello di Ama started production of the eponymous Chianti Classico which according to Pallanti was “the best expression of our terroirs”.

“I believe in the link between the bottle and the soils in which grapes are grown”, he states. “Each soil can give a different kind of wine. If you don’t understand where the wine was born, it’s impossible to understand the wine. You only have an aesthetic concept on which the wines of the New World are based”.

ИOITULOVEЯ — a backward written word revolution which illuminates with its red neon light an old cellar for aging wines is not a declaration of winemaking beliefs, but one of the art installations. Castello di Ama is renowned for them just as much as for the wines.

Examples of this modern approach, when a wine’s style and quality are consequential to new realization of the territory’s potential are easy to find in other traditional Tuscan wine areas. Poliziano founded in 1961 is among the quality leaders in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Owner-winemaker Federico Carletti says that his work comprises a combination of bold ideas, creativity and cutting-edge technology. The same approach is applied by Giacomo Neri from Casanova di Neri in Brunello di Montalcino. Constant improvement in quality and fine tuning of the winemaking techniques have resulted in a high demand for his wines on the international markets.

Giovanni Ricasoli-Firidolfi from one of the oldest Tuscan aristocratic dynasties is, on the other hand, a representative of a different category of winemakers. He is the owner of a thousand-year-old castle Castello di Cacchiano. Winemaking tradition in his family goes back to the 12th century. Bettino Ricasoli, creator of the famous Chianti formula 150 years ago, is one of his predecessors. Though vineyards and wine have always been a core part of the estate, the first wine under the Castello di Cacchiano name was bottled in 1974. Giovanni Ricasoli-Firidolfi took over the management of the estate from his mother in 1998. This change of generations didn’t bring a radical change in the wine. On the contrary, Giovanni thinks that traditions and typicity of wine must be respected, although modern ideas can be introduced to help improve quality.

The estate’s renewal under his management began with the replanting of vineyards and increasing the density of vines per hectare. Old and poor quality genotypes of Sangiovese were replaced by improved ones. Parts of the vineyard were given over to Merlot. However, it is not used for production of Chianti Classico and Chianti Classico Riserva, the two main wines of the area. Here Ricasoli-Firidolfi stays traditional and believes that only local varieties — Sangiovese and Canaiolo should be used to preserve the typicity of the wines. Consultant Stefano Chioccioli widely acclaimed for his modernist approach in Tua Rita on the Tuscan coast was recently invited. At the moment people in Castello di Cacchiano say that he applies respectful, but not overly traditional methods of work in the estate. Time will tell whether, with the arrival of this avant-garde consultant, the style of the wines will change.

Fattoria dei Barbi is another estate with firm traditional beliefs. The winery is situated in the Brunello di Montalcino zone, and the Cinelli Colombini family proudly calls itself land owners in Montalcino since 1352. Stefano Cinelli Colombini, who manages the estate today, says that the philosophy there is to study and understand modern technology. It can be applied only to complement tradition, but not to change a wine’s typicity.

The Contucci estate in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is perhaps the most convincing example of a respectful attitude towards historic winemaking practices. The Contucci family has continuously lived in Montepulciano from the 11th century and have been making wine since the Renaissance. The ancient cellar built in the 13th century under the family palazzo in the centre of Montepulciano is still being used to age wine today. Alamanno Contucci has made a conscious decision in favour of indigenous varieties as he believes that “it is important for us to be linked to our history”. For the same reason, French barriques are not used. The estate produces typical wines of the area — Rosso and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Whilst lovers of modern style may find them old-fashioned, their sheer drinkability and graceful evolution (confirmed by a tasting of Contucci Vino Nobile Riserva 1987) make the wines as well as the estate worthy of a respect.

While winemakers in historic Tuscan zones of Chianti Classico, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and even Brunello di Montalcino must decide how to adapt tradition to modernity, their colleagues on the coast live with other realities. Wine in Costa della Toscana was made by the Etruscans, but the lack of more recent acclaim makes the wineries look for new traditions today. Some areas such as Val di Cornia are still searching for the right way. Others, like Bolgheri can present a more unified approach. The spirit of experimentation continues to dominate in all parts of the coast and may also reveal itself through designer wineries (look at Angelo Gaja’s Ca’Marcanda in Bolgheri!) and in the cutting-edge equipment.

This is the situation that one finds in Tuscany today. Winemakers in all production zones are concerned with questions of future development. The choice of the right way will not depend on which camp — traditional or modern — the estates belong to. Deep and thoughtful understanding of past and current practices is much more important. It is essential that the precious link between wine of high quality and its origin is placed at the top of the winemaking agenda. Only then may Tuscan winemakers confidently embrace the future.

(This article was written after a trip to Tuscany with a group of FIJEV journalists in autumn 2007. My special thanks to Filippo Magnani for the flawless organization of the tour. The article first appeared in the Ukrainian Drinks+ magazine.)