2020 Montevertine "Le Pergole Torte", Toscana IGT, Tuscany, Italy

ABOUT THIS WINE

Le Pergole Torte - the prestige wine of Montevertine is only produced in outstanding vintages. This ultimate wine is aged in large Slavonian oak barrels for 18 months and then racked into small French oak (Allier) barrels for the final six month stage of its elevage. It is produced primarily from a two hectare vineyard planted in 1968 exclusively to Sangiovese vines with a north-northeast exposure.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

The story of the legendary Montevertine Estate in Radda-in-Chianti begins in 1967, when Milanese industrialist Sergio Manetti purchased the property and immediately planted two hectares of vines. Assisted by his close childhood friend Giulio Gambelli and a local named Bruno Bini (who was born on the property), Manetti produced his first vintage in 1971, with the humble intention of making wine to share with his family and friends. It turns out the trio had a real knack for their craft, and word swiftly spread in the area about the quality of wine Montevertine was creating from their excellently situated high-altitude vineyards. Manetti and Gambelli were ardent proponents of Sangiovese from the outset, and strongly opposed the appellation requirement that Chianti Classico include a portion of Trebbiano—a requirement they felt compromised the expression of place, particularly in such a refined terroir as Radda. When regulations later changed to allow Chianti Classico to be Trebbiano-free, Montevertine had long since abandoned the designation, and the wines have been classified as “Rosso di Toscana” since 1981—although, ironically, they are (and always have been) among the most visceral expressions of Chianti Classico in existence.

Every bottle issued forth from Montevertine’s cellar is a testament to the beauty which Sangiovese at its best can achieve. However, one wine stands as not only the estate’s pinnacle, but as one of Italy’s greatest wines: Le Pergole Torte. Le Pergole Torte, which translates loosely to “the crooked pergolas,” was the first vineyard Sergio planted in the late sixties, situated at around 425 meters of altitude, and through the late eighties Le Pergole Torte was a single-vineyard bottling. Since 1990, it has comprised the estate’s best parcels—still primarily from the northeast-facing Le Pergole Torte, rounded out by 35-year-old vines in Montevertine and 20-year-old vines in il Sodaccio—but it is first and foremost a nakedly mineral, staggeringly complex expression of pure Sangiovese grown in Radda’s high-altitude alberese sandstone soils. It is rarely richer than the flagship Montevertine Rosso, but Le Pergole Torte is unfailingly more profound, and the 2017 vintage—which we will receive in February—combines lusciousness of fruit with a muscular underlying structure in riveting fashion.