#Storiedivino tastings: New vintage releases from Italy

Italy has taken the COVID-19 lockdown seriously. There is no sharing of pizza, no aperitivo hour, no wine tastings. However, over the past few weeks, while almost all of us in the world have been staying safely at home, spring has awakened the vines. A smattering of snow and risk of frost on the flattest vineyards of Central-North Italy during the first days of April had winemakers worried, but bud break is now progressing very well due to mild temperatures and dry weather.

In sync with the season, wine producers are looking resolutely towards the future. With both Prowein and Vinitaly being cancelled this year, producers saved many samples of new vintages intended to be shared at these international wine fairs. But they are sharing in other ways.

A selection of top Italian producers – from Trentino-Alto Adige to Sicily – have joined forces to introduce not only their new vintages, but also their ideas and plans for the future, via social media. The title they have given to this initiative is #storiedivino.

Virtual wine fair

Through incentives such as this, wine lovers across the globe have been able to enjoy a ‘virtual wine fair’ throughout Italy, engaging in direct social media encounters. The most interesting virtual meetings, in my opinion, have been delivered from the vineyards; not easy from a technical point of view, yet offering a great and welcomed perspective for oenophiles who may be locked down at home.

From the top of his Colledilà cru, Barone Francesco Ricasoli took viewers along a virtual journey across part of his 240ha of vineyards in the stunning Chianti Classico region. In Florence, you’re hard-pressed to come across a good trattoria that doesn’t stock Ricasoli Chianti Classico, a true flagship of Tuscany. Nevertheless, the estate today boasts far more than just commercial appeal; it is widely recognised for its organic conversion, precision viticulture (as detailed by the baron) and critical studies on indigenous limestone and schist soils.

Live videos from the vineyards were also shared by young producer Bianca Ferrini of Giodo Brunello di Montalcino. Her father, Carlo Ferrini, is one of the most talented winemakers in Italy, a master of tamed tannins and elegant wines. After many years of treading vineyards, Ferrini’s dream to own land of his own finally came when he purchased 6ha of vines in Montalcino – a considerable extent in the noble world of Brunello – between Sant’Angelo in Colle and Sant’Antimo.

Ferrini, said to have Sangiovese in his blood, has also invested in vineyards on Mount Etna in Sicily and virtually recently presented the resulting Alberelli di Giodo wines.

Some producers, such as Ginevra Venerosi Pesciolini, chose to broadcast from their cellars. Her estate, Tenuta di Ghizzano, lies within a 350ha biosystem, of which 20ha are planted to vineyards and the same to olive groves, on gently contoured hills, 300m above sea level, in the Colline Pisane southeast of Pisa. ‘We are some 30km from the Tyrrhenian Sea, which is crucial for our vineyards in terms of sunshine influence and microclimate, providing balanced ripening,’ she explained.

Carlo Franchetti presented his Trinoro estate in Val d’Orcia in Tuscany live on Instagram. He carefully described the hills and flatter plots of the vineyards, explaining the differences between the estate’s three labels of 100% Cabernet Franc: the elegant Magnacosta, the fruitier and more approachable Tenaglia and the powerful Camagi.

Anselmo Guerrieri Gonzaga, with his wife Ilaria, talked about his extraordinary estate, Tenuta San Leonardo, situated beneath the Dolomites in Trentino-Alto Adige, and about his beloved Bordeaux blend San Leonardo, which he described as ‘a wine with the sinews of a swimmer.

Live tastings

Meanwhile, Lamberto Frescobaldi spoke from his office in Palazzo Frescobaldi in Florence about Tenuta Luce in Montalcino. The estate’s 88ha of beautifully manicured vineyards, lying at 350-420m in Montalcino ‘sheltered by the Amiata mountain and influenced by the sea breezes’, according to Frescobaldi. This project was born in collaboration with US producer Robert Mondavi in 1993. It focuses on Sangiovese and Merlot because ‘the former doesn’t play his best on clay’. With the 2017 vintage, the Frescobaldi family are writing the 25th chapter of this masterpiece.

While tasting the 2016 vintage of Luce live, viewers asked: ‘Is it not too young to be drunk now?’ The marquis answered: ‘Yes and no. Play with it during the lockdown.’

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