Baudains: How Tuscany created Europe’s first DOCs

Ripe, dark fruit aromas accompany great depth of flavour, fine natural tannins, and aromatic complexity on the long finish. Mazzei were one of the first producers to espouse the new Chianti Classico Gran Selezione category when it was introduced in 2014. Of the three examples they now produce, this one – from the historic vineyards of the Castello – is the most representative of the combination of power and elegance typical of the Castellina UGA. One of the top Gran Selezione of the vintage.

Fontodi’s Vigna del Sorbo is one of the classic sites of the Conca d’Oro, which produces wines with the body and phenolic ripeness associated with Panzano, but which also retain a vein of freshness thanks to the southwest-facing aspect. This 2021 has a typically earthy nose, a compact, concentrated palate, and a very satisfyingly grippy finish with a return of ripe dark fruit. The tannins need a little time to loosen up, but this is a thoroughbred.

A wine with precise violet and iris scents with hints of blackberry at the back, and a long, juicy palate with a minerally finish. Paolo Cianferoni is the model of the grower-producer, with the intimate knowledge of and attachment to the terroir that comes with living the vineyard. He is no slouch in the cellar either, and is not afraid of challenging oenological conventions. His Chianti Classico ‘annata’ ferments with its own yeasts and ages not in oak but in cement vats. Pure drinking pleasure.

Precise berry fruit aromas and a reactive palate with fine-weave tannins, full of energy. Riecine is renowned for the cult of perfectionism which has been handed down through a succession of owners. The trait comes to the fore in challenging vintages such as 2023, when continual rain through May and June caused widespread disease, and the month of August saw days of baking heat. Riecine responded with a wine of elegance. Impeccable.

The 2021 vintage has ripe cherry on the nose, typical Greve softness on the palate, and a long and complex fruit and floral finish with a lightly spicy nuance. For its Riserva, Querciabella uses fruit from the slopes above its cellars at Ruffoli, together with a quota from the high, sandy soils of Lamole and another from a plot in Gaiole. The lots ferment and age separately, to be assembled according to the vintage to produce a Riserva in which the fruit, the tannins, the acidity and the alcohol are all in complementary balance. A very refined Riserva.

On the nose there is wild berry fruit and delicate spices, with a sensation of warm, damp earth in the background. The palate is long, tight and direct, with huge depth of flavour and great savoury impact on the finish. Dedicated to Conte Ugo Contini Bonacossi, who was responsible for the reorganisation of the Tenuta in the 1960s that gave shape to the modern estate, this monovarietal Sangiovese comes from a vineyard planted by the Conte himself and produced for the first time in 2013. Still very compact, this is a wine with a radiant future.

One of the oldest estates in Carmignano, Ambra has been in the same family since 1870. The vineyards currently extend over 24ha in some of the top sites of the DOCG, including the southeast-facing slopes of Montalbiolo, which is the source of this Riserva. Owner-winemaker Giuseppe Rigoli reduces the Cabernet in favour of Canaiolo as the main complementary variety, to create a wine with a delicious red cherry and rosehip character, extra-fine tannins, and a complex aromatic finish. Super precision and great personality.

The low yielding 2021 vintage gave a wine of great concentration, with a saturated purple-ruby shade and a distinctly phenolic nose with notes of peat and newsprint in front of the ripe fruit. The palate is dense and compact, with tannins built to take the wine into future decades and a vigorous, grippy finish. Released after a minimum of three years, Villa di Capezzana technically qualifies as a Riserva but the policy has always been to maintain the original label, as Carmignano tout court. Made from an 80/20 Sangiovese/Cabernet Sauvignon blend, this is a serious, slightly austere wine which needs time.

The 2021 is a deep, inky-ruby shade and has aromas of sweet fruit, carob and white pepper. On the palate it is dense and full, with some oak tannins and and a long, concentrated finish. Founded in 1875, Pratesi is another of the oldest estates in the denomination. From 10ha of high density, organic vineyards, it makes the full range of IGT and DOCG wines, including this limited production Riserva. The house style sees the use of Merlot in the blend and a high percentage of new oak to make rich, fruit-driven wines with a very contemporary appeal. Drinking now, but worth keeping.

From the hot and dry 2022 vintage, this has a warm and earthy aromas with hints of pepper and charcoal, and a palate with a glossy entry and a long finish with sensations of blackcurrant fruit and liquorice. Tenute Le Farnete was acquired in 1990 by the Pierazzuoli family, who also own the neighbouring Cantagallo estate where they produce a range of wines in the Montalbano DOCG. This Carmignano comes from 11ha of vines on alberese soils. The winery slogan is ‘one bottle per plant’ and the low yields and extreme bunch selection give concentrated wines with a distinctive terroir character. A great result from a difficult vintage.

The first vintage of a wine of this name was 1925, the year before the Contini Bonacossi family bought the Tenuta. Tasting it in its centenary year, in February 2025, was a remarkable experience. My stream-of consciousness-notes went like this: ‘Label intact, very good level, good cork, pale peach shade, nose perfectly integral, without a shadow of oxidation, sweet orange peel, wood ash, cinnamon, wild strawberry, aniseed... intense, bone dry, savoury, mouthwatering, green tea, sweet liquorice, fascinating note of pomegranate. Faded away like a ghost from the past, but the memory remains.’

This wine has a head-spinning intensity of sour berry, violet and Mediterranean herb aromas, which carry through onto a vibrant palate that combines depth of flavour with a texture of extreme refinement. Caberlot is a presumed natural crossing of Cabernet Franc and Merlot that was discovered by the ampelographer and agronomist Remigio Bordini in the hills of the Colli Euganei. It was brought to the Carnasciale estate in the Valdarno by the German owner Wolf Rogosky at the beginning of the 1980s. The first vintage, from 3ha of super-high density vines planted exclusively to the variety, came out in 1988. Bottled only in magnums, the current production is around 3,000 units. An iconic wine with a price to match.

Very pale in the glass and it opens slowly but very precisely on the nose, with pure varietal aromas of mulberry and violets. The palate is juicy and fluid, with an airy texture and a tangy finish. Luca Sanjust’s grandfather first planted the Bòggina vineyard in 1947. The plot currently is the source of different selections of Sangiovese, each identified by a letter. Bòggina ‘A’ is made in terracotta amphora, where it ferments with its own yeasts in contact with the skins for eight months and then returns to the same vessels to age for another five months. The first editions of the wine Petrolo made in this way were a little uncertain, but recent vintages have hit the spot, harnessing the potential of amphora to make deliciously immediate, soft and fragrant wines. The 2023 is delicious.

Ripe red cherry aromas introduce a finely balanced palate with grape tannins that are soft and dry, and the finish long and savoury. Federico Fazzuoli was familiar to Italian audiences as the presenter of a long running series of agricultural programmes on national television. When he gave up his TV career, he returned to the farm which had been in his family since the mid-19th century to start producing organic oil and wine. The 8ha property is located on the right bank of the Arno, at the foot of the Pratomagno cited by Cosimo in his Bando, and is planted to native varieties in traditional, wide-spaced training systems. His Sortito is a monovarietal Sangiovese from old vines vinified without added sulphites, which ages exclusively in cement vats. Expertly executed in a traditional style.

The nose is more floral-spicy than fruit focused, with a savoury phenolic edge. On the palate there is lovely balance, with slightly grainy natural tannins, tangy underlying acidity, and a warm finish with a return of the sweet spices. The Borro estate was bought by Ferruccio Ferragamo of the famous fashion house in 1993, and in the years that followed he created a model winery with 87ha of organic vineyards and state of the art cellars. The estate is now managed by his son Salvatore, who together with consultant oenologist Stefano Chioccoli, has introduced a number of innovations into the production including this Sangiovese vinified in unglazed amphora, with 11 months of post-fermentation ageing on the skins. Outside the canons of conventional vinification of Sangiovese; this is a wine with a lot of personality.

It has the bright red fruit and violet aromas typical of the Valdarno, and a palate with a juicy progression, finely tuned tannins, and a zippy Sangiovese finish. This brand new winery was founded with the acquisition of the property in 2018, and came out with its first wines in 2021. The owners, the Luppino family, produced olive oil in Calabria before they moved to Tuscany. The name ‘Ejamu’ in Calabrian dialect means ‘let’s start again’. The estate is at Loro Ciuffenna, on the higher slopes on the right bank of the Arno. Rabizza is the name of the vineyard planted with old-vine Sangiovese, the source of this selection. A very promising debut.