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Italy Producers
Name: Italy
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On the south-facing slopes of Montalcino’s warm southern sector, it can get very hot. But on the high slopes where Poggio di Sotto’s vineyards are planted (vertiginous views if you ever visit) it can also get very cold at night, with the hulking presence of Monte Amiata and the nearby River Orcia drawing sea breezes down the valley. Such contrast between day and night temperatures is increasingly viewed as an essential ingredient in truly great wines.
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The late Giuseppe Quintarelli was a traditionalist but that pales into insignificance beside his search for truth and excellence in his wines. whether the early drinking white, though the incredible depth and complexity of his Amarones, he crafted and indeed love his wines as the sons he never had. His four daughters are now custodians of his extraordinary legacy, but his genes are as much in his wines as in them. He raised his wines through a painstaking regime in the small and old fashioned cellar and was always loth to part with them.
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It`s been a while since we visited the dapper Marco Bacci or his estates in Castelnuovo Berardenga, Montalcino and the Maremma. In fact, it`s 9 years, which means two things. first, that Marco has an even more youthful look about him in our photo than he does in reality and second, that the wines have moved on considerably. Although we saw great promise back then, by 2006 Renieri had only been in Marco`s possession for 5 years, and so it was very much a work in progress. Today, what were then new plantings are reaching maturity.
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Although they have their family roots in Barbaresco, the Roagnas also operate in Barolo to great effect, managing both terroirs rather brilliantly. The first Barbaresco vineyard - Pajè - was purchased in the fifties and the company has grown steadily since then. The farming is uncertified but strictly organic, with low inputs and the use of techniques like cover crops between the rows of vines. The use of sulphur dioxide is very low and fermentation and the very long macerations take place in large, old casks.
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`One of the most emotionally transcendental experiences I have ever had` - Wine Advocate, how about now? `Roberto Voerzio`s Barolos are some of the richest, deepest and most texturally beautiful wines readers will come across`. When it comes to this estate, there`s no shortage of superlatives. If Scavino and Clerico are jewels in the crown of Barolo, then surely Roberto Voerzio is the Koh-i-Noor. Roberto is a true grower, cultivating the vines on his ten hectares of La Morra organically and pretty much individually. -
When it comes to Chianti, there`s no estate we love more than Rocca di Montegrossi. Parts of Tuscany can look quite manicured, but there`s a romantic wildness here; the vineyards and olive groves are beautifully tended, but the soils are rocky and the forest encroaches. The estate is in the heart of the original Chianti Classico zone, in the commune of Gaiole, equidistant between Florence, Siena and Arezzo - owner Marco Ricasoli-Firidolfi likes to describe his wines as `Gaiol-ish` in character. -
In the early 1980s, Romano Dal Forno had a lot on his plate. he was struggling to make a living from his family winery, while looking after three young children. He knew the wines he was making were good, but he couldn’t shake the feeling they were missing something. Fate intervened when one Bepi Quintarelli took him under his wing, and shared everything he knew about winemaking. ‘I listened to everything he had to tell me and tried my level best to understand what he was doing’. These were lessons well learnt.
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Based in the southern Marche, the family seat of the noble Saladini Pilastri family is near the town of Ascoli Piceno. It is situated in over 300 hectares of land, though less than half of this is down to vines. The limestone hills also host large olive groves as well as forest and scrub. This hot and dry landscape is ideal for the practice of organic viticulture and that is exactly the farming method employed here for ages. The family has been custodians of the land in this part of Italy for over a thousand years and has a deep respect for the environment where they and others live.
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Francesco Leanza bought Podere Salicutti in 1990.This is a simple statement that does not begin to convey the state of ruin in which he found the property. The only thing intact was the potential. There were a couple of old contadini (peasant farmers) living in the house - no heating, hot water or cooking, just an open fire. The olive groves were in disarray and a lot of vineyard needed planting and sorting out. In 1997 he moved in and looked forward to becoming a winegrower, in fact Montalcino`s first organic winegrower. He still lives in that house and he still lives very simply.
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Wow. It is very rare to find so focussed a family operation, especially when that focus is so determinedly on absolute quality. Their winegrowing regime points two ways. They are very modern in the vineyard, reducing yield to very low levels by harsh pruning and manicuring the few remaing bunches so that the grapes at harvest are perfect. Then again in the cellar they are ultra traditional with extended barrel aging and relaxed wine making so they make tiny quantities of intense, elegant wine with layers of flavour but no sign of extraction.
