It’s a tightrope walk facing the Tuscan wine makers and marketers who wish to break free of this ancient region’s eight centuries of wine making traditions and techniques. Do they make every effort to ‘modernise’ their wines in a bid to make more fashionable, contemporary wines based around riper fruit and smaller oak? Or do they simply do just as their fathers have always done, making in many cases wines they’d prefer not to drink and even less to sell? To add to the conundrum, while the world is now clamouring for rich, spotless red wines with the concentrated flavours of French varieties and smart new oak, Tuscany’s red wines have always been different. It has a heritage of leaner, tighter and more astringent wines from sangiovese for whom oak maturation has usually meant long-term storage in large, tired old vats more likely to spoil than to stimulate. Of course Australian winemakers faced much the same sort of issue when Max Schubert introduced the concept of maturation in small, new oak in the early 1950s, but they never had to carry more than 700 years of winemaking tradition upon their shoulders. So, how much tradition and identity are the Tuscan winemakers at today’s cutting edge really prepared to compromise in order to make wines which they and the global market are prepared to drink? Sometimes you get the feeling they’re almost going too far. The Mazzei family, historic makers of Chianti at Fonterutoli since 1435, have released a new flagship red label. This sumptuous and astringent blend of sangiovese and around 10% cabernet sauvignon has received extended maturation in small French cooperage, 40% of which was brand new. It’s a delicious drink, but one whose links to its heritage of five centuries are tenuous at best. Nearby, Roberto and Maja Guldener, a couple of wine-crazed Swiss, established the internationally respected brand of Terrabianca. Made by much renowned Italian winemaker Vittorio Fiore, these are pure, modern wines, whose brightly-accented and translucent dark fruit flavours are perfectly framed by tight, fine tannins. Again, these wines have little to do with Tuscany’s past. And even less to do with its present, since the Guldeners deliberately minimise any obvious connection between their wines and their origins in Chianti. Even the black rooster, the famed trademark of the Chianti Classico area, fails to appear on the bottles of Vigna della Croce and Scassino, two wines which easily meet the DOGC requirements to wear such a crest. Further west, in the heart of Brunello country, a new DOC of Sant ‘Antimo has been initiated for the town of Montalcino, which in 1995 became the first town in all Italy now entirely lacking an appellation of ‘Vino di Tavola’, or table wine. So, with the stroke of a pen, all the wines from this area, made from an imported mix of French varieties like cabernet sauvignon, merlot, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay, have new-found credibility and status. Hey Presto! But at what price Italian winemaking tradition and identity? With only the passion that a group of immigrants could ever feel, it has taken an Anglo-American combination of romance, money and talent to create an icon in Tuscany which actually glorifies Chianti’s viticultural and winemaking traditions. The only concession made to modernization at the tiny property of Riecine is that its signature red wine, La Gioia, is matured in small French oak cooperage, albeit with only a small percentage of new casks. Against the trends of many leading makers today, British founder John Dunkley, current principal owners Gary and Lindsey Baumann (both American) and gifted British winemaker/manager Sean O’Callaghan are all about romancing Chianti’s own heritage and pushing it as far as they can take it. Fonterutoli’s New Flavours Steeped in history, the Castello di Fonterutoli is a very serious winemaking operation located in, around and underneath the tiny hilltop Tuscan village of the same name. About as picturesque as you can imagine, Fonterutoli’s origins date back to Etruscan times, while its first recorded evidence of winemaking dates back to the 13th century. Two distinctly modern wines head the price-list at Fonterutoli. ‘Siepi’ a plush, lush and truly contemporary super-Tuscan is made from equal parts of merlot and sangiovese and, like most other Super-Tuscans is presented as ‘Tino da Tavolo di Toscana’ or ‘Tuscan table wine’. The revved-up but traditionally presented sangiovese-cabernet previously introduced is named ‘Castello di Fonterutoli’ (1995 vintage 18.0, drink 2003-2007, $65 retail, approx.) and receives full DOGC recognition with its Chianti Classico Riserva label. Franceso Mazzei looks after Fonterutoli’s sales and marketing, while brother Filippo heads production. ‘Like most of us, we made weak, thin wine in the 1960s and 1970s’, he says. ‘It was hard to sell, so we’re prepared to move. But sangiovese is always our main priority; it’s our identity,’ he says, recognising that merlot and cabernet sauvignon will always figure in his family’s plans. Fonterutoli’s several vineyards encompass several hundred metres in altitude and are harvested around two weeks apart, so the winery has a diverse pool of sangiovese to choose and blend from. ‘While much comes from the personality and identity of the winery, I believe our vineyards contribute 80% of our quality’, says Francesco Mazzei. For those to whom the Castello is a little too ‘new world’ in style, there’s excellent news in the savoury and piercingly flavoured sangiovese sold as the Fonterutoli Chianti Classico 1996 (17.6, drink 1998-2001, $28 retail, approx.). With its sour cherry fruit, fine-grained astringency and tangy finish, this fragrant, spicy young red is a typically modern Tuscan red wine. It’s what the area does best, without compromising a sceric of its heritage, even if it had eight months in small oak. On the other hand, half of the intensely flavoured and highly spiced Badiola Chianti 1996 (16.0, drink 1998-2001, $19 retail, approx.) was oaked, actually in American cooperage. With it comes to oak, the Mazzeis are prepared to start with a blank sheet. ‘We should use traditional oak in new ways’, says Franceso. ‘Large old casks are neutral at best and negative at worst, so we should change them over every ten years. The result is in the glass. Sure, our wines are different to those of the past, but they’re better. They’re not like Bordeaux, Californian cabernet or Australian wine because they’ve kept their local personality.’ Gueldener Blazes His Own Trail Such was the strength of Roberto Gueldener’s conviction towards the wines he wanted to cultivate that Terrabianca’s wines are as much a statement of style as they are of the Chianti region. Gueldener concedes he would have directed his energies into another industry had celebrated winemaker Vittorio Fiore not joined his team to direct its technical operations. Today, having moved into one of Italy’s most modern and technologically advanced wineries, Fiore and Gueldener’s degree of control over their processes and direction of style would put many new world wineries to shame. Considering it too all-embracing in what it represents, the Gueldeners view the ‘Chianti Classico’ tag with a barely-concealed degree of suspicion. Given that 99% of Terrabianca’s wine is exported, they’re happy to operate largely outside the system and the inherent local politics which accompany it. Terrabianca’s signature wine is a blend of 70% sangiovese with 30% cabernet sauvignon known as ‘Campaccio’. Matured in 300-litre oak casks for around twelve months, the 1993 vintage (18.4, drink 2001-2005+), is a taught and finely balanced wine whose plush, ripe expression of dark fruits is married with firm, tight-knit tannins. Modern stuff and made for the long haul, it reflects the Gueldener’s preference for individual style and quality over and above the shackles which a strictly regional identity might have imposed. Even the Vigna della Croce 1993 (17.8, drink 1998-2001+), a Chianti Classico Riserva, is an up-to-the-minute expression of the best Tuscany can imbue in its wine. Focused, refined and clear, it is supple and elegant, a wine whose sour fruit flavours and dusty chocolate cask-derived flavours finish long and savoury; as far a cry as could ever be heard from the skinny, under-fruited and poorly treated Chiantis of yesteryear. Similarly, the Scassino 1995 (16.7, drink 1997-2002) is another innovative impression of Chianti Classico whose attractive delivery of intense, sweet plum and cherry fruit is accompanied by high-toned acids and light oak. Montalcino’s Leap Of Faith Not to be outdone by the attraction of in-vogue wines displayed by some of Chianti’s best labels, Montalcino’s makers are modifying their choice of grapes, use of oak and approach to appellation to keep up with the trendsetters. Since 1960 the region’s traditional landmark wine, Brunello di Montalcino, has traditionally been oak-matured for a minimum of 42 months, but in 1990 this was reduced to 36. From the 1995 vintage, this requirement has been reduced again to 24 months, provided the wine then receives 24 months of further maturation in the bottle (up from the previous minimum of 12). Riserva wines must still receive 36 months in oak, with a subsequent 24 in bottle prior to release. Not unsurprisingly, the results are better than ever before. Castelgiocondo, one of the three stars of the Frescobaldi family’s nine high-class Tuscan brands, was one of the first four estates to produce and bottle Brunello di Montalcino at the end of last century and remains the largest estate growing this famous wine. While its three traditional variants upon the Brunello theme – the Rosso di Montalcino (Campo ai Sassi), Brunello di Montalcino (Castelgiocondo) and the Castelgiocondo Riserva – are all based 100% on sangiovese, the estate’s sexiest label by far is the Lamaione, a straight varietal merlot which flaunts its ethereal fragrance and pumped-up strength. Likely to be eligible for the new DOC Sant Antimo which removes entirely any Vino di Tavola from the Montalcino region, the Lamaione’s easy acceptance into the DOC structure confirms yet again just how swiftly the Italian wine industry is responding to the challenges set by California, Australia and Chile. A Truly Tuscan Romance Riecine is one of Chianti’s most high-profile small makers. Sourcing from only nine hectares of low-yielding vines, this traditional sangiovese specialist releases one of the most vibrant and fruit-driven of all Chianti Classicos, a powerful and statuesque Chianti Classico Riserva and from exceptional years makes a blatantly new world inspired barrique-matured sangiovese known as La Gioia. The two Chiantis are traditionally matured in large old Slovenian oak casks, although a small proportion of the Riserva receives a spell in old small oak. Riecine and its ilk are tiny and to be treasured. Its 1994 Chianti Classico Riserva (18.6, drink 2002-2006, $50 approx.) is a superbly fine-grained regional wine with tight-knit cherry fruit, while the 1995 La Gioia (18.7, drink 2007+, $60, approx.) is almost Australian in style, brimming with creamy cedary and toasty oak, deep dark fruits and structured around firm, ripe tannins. Winemaker Sean O’Callaghan expects its fruit, presently subdued after 17 months in small oak, at least two-thirds of which was new, to come forward and dominate the wine’s personality. While Terrabianca and Castelgiocondo pursue a modern course and Fonterutoli takes a bet each way, Riecine’s wine should be given to all makers of ordinary Chianti as a clear, inspirational message of what they might be able to approach, if not achieve themselves. Respectful of them but not entirely anchored to past tradition, Tuscany’s best wine makers have clearly chosen a different path destined to create new traditions. How great a region Tuscany could ultimately become if the majority of others follow their lead is anyone’s guess.
