2022 Montevertine Rosso di Toscana, Tuscany, Italy

ABOUT THIS WINE

The 2022 Montevertine Rosso di Toscana is a benchmark expression of Tuscan Sangiovese, blended with small amounts of indigenous Canaiolo and Colorino, classified as an IGT. Hailing from the high-altitude vineyards of Radda in Chianti, its stony, marl and alberese soils, combined with significant diurnal shifts, contribute to the wine's inherent elegance and fresh profile. Montevertine, under the Manetti family, is renowned for its steadfast dedication to traditional winemaking, employing native yeasts in cement vats and extended aging in large Slavonian oak botti to preserve the purity of fruit and terroir. Despite a warm 2022 growing season in Tuscany, timely late-season rains and Montevertine's skilled vineyard management yielded a wine of remarkable balance, concentration, and vibrant freshness. This ensures the 2022 vintage remains a taut, authentic, and compelling representation of Radda's unique Sangiovese.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

A new round of releases from the legendary Montevertine estate, high in the hills above Radda-in-Chianti, is always a cause for celebration. Montevertine as we know it today began back in 1967, when Milanese steel magnate Sergio Manetti acquired the property as a summer home. Within a few years, and with the help of a beloved local named Bruno Bini who was born and raised at Montevertine, he planted vines and began producing wine from the farm’s enviably situated high-altitude hillsides, reaping virtually instantaneous acclaim. From the outset, Sergio was an ardent proponent of Sangiovese, and felt that the then-required presence of Trebbiano only compromised Chianti’s ability to express a sense of place—especially in such a refined terroir as Radda. When regulations finally changed to allow Chianti Classico to be Trebbiano-free, Montevertine had long since abandoned the DOCG, and the wines have thus been classified as “Rosso di Toscana” since 1981—although, ironically, they are (and always have been) among the most pure expressions of true Chianti to be found. Sergio passed away in 2000, and his son Martino has held the reins since his death, changing virtually nothing about the steadfastly low-tech, traditional processes from which the wines are created. Vineyards are worked entirely without chemicals; grapes are always hand-harvested; fermentations are spontaneous; no stainless steel exists at the estate—only cement and old wood; sulfur is applied conservatively and only at racking; and neither nor filtration have ever been employed. These are wines that wear their low-intervention origins not as a badge but in a matter-of-fact manner; wines this pure, this expressive—of course they are produced without unwelcome manipulation. It is truly rare to find wines of this level of complexity and refinement that also lacks any sense of striving, and every bottle of wine issued from the Montevertine estate is a testament to the beauty of Sangiovese at its zenith