Marchesi Frescobaldi owns Tenuta Calimaia, Tuscany
Tenuta Calimaia vineyards.
(Image credit: Marchesi Frescobaldi)

There are historic links between the area and the Frescobaldi family, which will make Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG wines at Tenuta Calimaia.

Frescobaldi originally acquired the estate last year, when it was known as Corte alla Flora, and has now relaunched it within the group’s portfolio of Tuscan wineries.

Tenuta Calimaia vineyards in Montepulciano

Tenuta Calimaia vineyards. Photo
(Image credit: Marchesi Frescobaldi)

Montepulciano’s beauty ‘is literally breath-taking’, said Lamberto Frescobaldi, president of Marchesi Frescobaldi.

‘Here, in 1390, our ancestor Lionardo di Niccolò Frescobaldi served as Mayor, and today it is our desire to renew our family’s commitment to a world-famous winegrowing and cultural area with such historically deep and still vital roots.’

Located 300 metres above sea level in the village of Cervognano, Tenuta Calimaia now has 70 hectares of vineyard and is predominantly planted to Prugnolo Gentile, a local cultivar of Sangiovese, according to a spokesperson. There is also some Merlot and Syrah.

Tenuta Calimaia 2019

Photo
(Image credit: Marchesi Frescobaldi)

Frescobaldi recently completed its second harvest at the estate, in a 2022 vintage that the group said is set to yield some superb wines in parts of Tuscany but also provided heat and drought-related challenges.

‘We will all long remember the lengthy absence of any rainfall that impacted Europe during spring and summer, with temperatures well above average in May and June,’ Lamberto Frescobaldi, commenting on the harvest in general across Tuscany.

Emergency irrigation was required in some areas, but Frescobaldi added, ‘Beneficial rains in mid-August turned out to be the crucial key to a superb-quality 2022 grape crop.’

At Calimaia, the group said sand-veined illite clay soils allow vine roots to penetrate deeply and cope with water stress.

It said the year confirmed the particular qualities of Prugnolo Gentile in the area. A ‘very careful, hands-on fermentation allows the extraction of elegant, velvet-smooth tannins’, it added.

CastelGiocondo in Montalcino

CastelGiocondo in Montalcino has seen a ‘five-star harvest’. Photo
(Image credit: Marchesi Frescobaldi)

Across the group’s other Tuscan properties, Frescobaldi said CastelGiocondo in Montalcino has seen ‘a five-star harvest, yielding powerful, richly-tannined wines that will benefit from slow, lengthy maturations in oak’.

Still, ‘the 2022 Brunello [di Montalcino] will be produced in limited quantities’, it said.

Bolgheri 2019: Vintage report and top wines

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2019 and Riserva 2018 wines rated

Frescobaldi wine: 30th generation winemaking

Chris Mercer
Chris Mercer

Chris Mercer is a Bristol-based freelance editor and journalist who spent nearly four years as digital editor of Decanter.com, having previously been Decanter’s news editor across online and print.

He has written about, and reported on, the wine and food sectors for more than 10 years for both consumer and trade media.

Chris first became interested in the wine world while living in Languedoc-Roussillon after completing a journalism Masters in the UK. These days, his love of wine commonly tests his budgeting skills.

Beyond wine, Chris also has an MSc in food policy and has a particular interest in sustainability issues. He has also been a food judge at the UK’s Great Taste Awards.