2020 Montevertine Rosso di Toscana, Tuscany, Italy

ABOUT THIS WINE

Vines for the flagship Rosso come from a variety of parcels: primarily from the Montevertine plot itself (2.5 hectares of south-southeast-exposed vines planted in 1982) just below the house itself, but also from nearby Villanova and Il Pesa, along with choicer parcels from the Selvole and Il Casino vineyards mentioned above. Just as with “Pian del Ciampolo,” fermentation takes place naturally in enormous cement vats, but this spends a second year in cask before being bottled.

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.