Poggio Valente: Creation of a Tuscan Sangiovese cru

Le Pupille has been a leading name in the Maremma area of southern Tuscany since the mid-1980s, when Elisabetta Geppetti and her then-husband took over her family’s estate. The consultant enologist at the time was Giacomo Tachis (recipient of Decanter’s Hall of Fame award in 2011), a family friend.

Architect of a not-insignificant number of Super Tuscans, including Sassicaia, Tignanello and Solaia, Tachis encouraged Elisabetta to harness the popularity of these internationally-styled wines, and so Saffredi was born with the 1987 vintage. Fattoria Le Pupille soon found itself in front of a global audience.

The winery’s new-found international profile, as well as its devotion to the local Morellino di Scansano wines, led to Elisabetta being appointed as the first president of the Morellino di Scansano consorzio upon its foundation in 1992, making Elisabetta Italy’s first female president of a wine consortium. She was re-elected from 2011 to 2013.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for Poggio Valente

Poggio Valente

In 1996, Elisabetta purchased the four-hectare Poggio Valente vineyard in Peretta, between Scansano and Magliano. Facing southeast on sandy soils over quartz, sandstone and marl at around 280-300 metres above sea level, and planted with Sangiovese, it overlooks the nearby west-northwest-facing Saffredi vineyard.

The original section of Poggio Valente was replanted in 2000, and two new adjacent plots were subsequently planted in 2006, enlarging Poggio Valente to nine hectares in total.

Elisabetta’s son, Ettore Rizzi – today the estate’s winemaker – explained that the older vines in the original section have smaller, looser bunches, while those in the newer plots are ‘almost Sangiovese Grosso’ in character – the Sangiovese clone traditionally used for powerful, long-aged wines.

An enologist’s touch

The first vintage of Poggio Valente, 1997, was made just after the end of Giacomo Tachis’ long tenure consulting at the estate. Tachis was succeeded by another great enologist, Riccardo Cottarella, under whose guidance the Poggio Valente project got underway; however he only stayed for three years, from 1996 to 1998.

And so it was Le Pupille’s third great enologist, Cristian Le Sommer, who was primarily responsible for shaping the first phase of the Poggio Valente project. A former technical director at Bordeaux first-growth Château Latour, Le Sommer worked with Le Pupille from 1998 to 2011.

Judging by the wines, his preference was for concentration and richness in the wines, largely achieved by heavily reducing yields and favouring 100% barrique ageing, while preserving all of Sangiovese’s innate energy.

Luca d’Attoma succeeded Le Sommer – the last in a star-studded lineup of consultants working with the Maremma estate. He and Elisabetta decided that Poggio Valente would be better served as a varietal Sangiovese.

Up to this point, it had always incorporated about 15% of Merlot, grown in a small plot adjacent to the Poggio Valente vineyard. D’Attoma swapped Le Sommer’s barriques for tonneaux, creating a more elegant profile with his signature precision and aromatic flair which better suited the new 100% Sangiovese expression.

Despite being one of Morellino di Scansano’s biggest advocates, Elisabetta made the decision to label Poggio Valente as Toscana IGT from the 2014 vintage. She explained that this decision was due to the lack of international recognition for the appellation (despite all her efforts), and it clearly demonstrates the ambition she held for this Tuscan cru Sangiovese.

Succession

D’Attomas’s last vintage at Le Pupille was 2018. That year Elisabetta decided the time was right to introduce her son Ettore, who studied viticulture and enology at the university of Pisa, to the business full time.

The 2019 vintage was Ettore’s first as agricultural and cellar manager, however he worked alongside D’Attoma in 2018 and calls Poggio Valente 2018 ‘a wine of transition.’

While Poggio Valente has always been vinified in stainless steel, today Ettore is today also using cocciopesto amphorae when the vintage demands it – perhaps a legacy of D’Attoma. Cocciopesto – known to the Romans as opus signium – is an interesting material. Denser and less porous than terracotta its use has been rising in recent years.

Asked whether they would consider fermentation in cement, Elisabetta replied: ‘Unfortunately we don’t have cement tanks…not yet.’

A fitting response from somebody who always has one eye on the future.

25 years of a cru Sangiovese: Poggio Valente

The wines are listed oldest to youngest

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