I spent a couple of fascinating days in the Montecucco zone of southern Tuscany. This is not tourist Tuscany. There are no big hotels or lavish "wine estates", and certainly no palm trees -- it's way too cold anyway. Inland from the Maremma and just south of the Montalcino DOC area, this is a lightly populated part of an often overtrampled region, as different from the Florence area as you can imagine. The geographic centrepiece of Montecucco is Monte Amiata, nearly 1800 metres high and an enormous influence on the weather of the zone. Indeed, you could consider all of Montecucco as the Monte Amiata uplands.
Although you can see the Tyrrenian Sea from some parts of Montecucco, this is most definitely a cool climate zone. Yes, it is warm and sunny during the summer, which means good ripening of grapes. But it cools off tremendously at night, which is good for the perfume and fruitiness of the wine. In winter it's freezing, which is good if you run a biologico winery. More pests killed, you see.
The wines that I tasted were especially clean and precise in their attack, indicative of both good winemaking and an excellent terroir (which includes the climate).
I liked the area a great deal in this my first visit. Rustic, unspoiled by the special ugliness that is the Italian version of modernity, there are beautiful hilltop borghi (fortified villages) everywhere you look -- unfortunately, most of them inhabited by old people, since the young have to leave for big cities to find work that pays. The agriculture is mixed and gives none of that impression of monoculture that you get either in the posher Chianti zone or in Puglia, where the Roman latifundia seem to have persisted into the present.
There will be more about Montecucco in future posts, because it is so near yet so far in terms of Tuscany. Before posting a few pictures, though, I want to mention a couple of key points of great interest to winelovers.
1. In this highland zone, you are at the limit of Sangiovese. Above 550 or so metres, it doesn't flourish. Other, earlier maturing grapes do better, Merlot being a typical example.
2. According to several people I talked with, this area was the source of many of the subvarieties of Sangiovese that are well known today, including Brunello. You can see Montalcino quite easily from certain parts of Montecucco, since there you're at the boundary of the Montalcino DOC and the province of Siena. So close yet so far.
In the continuation are a few photos of the landscape and the people I had the good fortune to encounter.
Sunny Italy, Montecucco style
Roses at Schiaccionaia vineyard. Roses have long been used like the canary in the coalmine, an early warning system for pests. Essential at a biologico winery like this one.
Marcella Turziani, both sommelier and winemaker at Schiaccionaia. Also an excellent cook.
Dagoberto Rolla, husband of Marcella
Carlo Filippeschi and vineyard -- Piandibugnano winery at Seggiano. Carlo is one of three partners in this new azienda, which nevertheless has some very old vines.
Just planted -- Sangiovese in estremo. Painstakingly selected clones of old vines at the top limit of Sangiovese's altitude range. Piandibugnano.
Below: the house of Graham Greene's niece, the other wine producer of Seggiano.
Come on, you are in Montecucco and you don't tell me anything? I'm half an hour away.
I know both wineries you mentioned. One of the three parteners in Piandibugnano venture is Giorgio Bucelli, one of the most known wine sale reps in this part of Tuscany, and he represents my wines too. The Schiaccionaia is also one of the new entries that are more interesting in the area, and the wines are also sold by my sales reps.
I suggest that you visit two other excellent wineries located in Poggi del Sasso. One is the Castello di Collemassari, one of the most beautiful places you can visit, and the other is Salustri, who is probably the one that started it all (along with tenuta di Montecucco, which also worth a visit). The latter where with us in New York last month fdor our Maremma promotion and I can tell you that US people liked the wines, a lot!
Posted by: gianpaolo | December 15, 2007 at 11:59 AM
My bad!
I was on a tight schedule, GP, sorry. The folks at Schiaccionaia, who are fabulous people, said they knew your father too, years ago! It is truly a small world.
What a great area it is, and I think the wines are pretty great too.
Another time, eh? I'll be knocking on the door of Poggio Argentiera.
Posted by: Terry Hughes | December 15, 2007 at 02:19 PM
Dear Terry,
thanks very much for your words.
It's too much for me to be mentioned as a "winemaker". I am only an organic producer, inspired with a grand passion for what I do. And I am willing to do my work every day always better. It was a great pleasure to have you and KEN here and talk about wines, food and past experiences ... (Citibank).I hope everything was OK at Shearaton Hotel in Rome and that my friend Giampiero Di Iorio was useful and kind with you.
SALUTI VINOSI dalla SchiaccionaiA
Posted by: marcellaturziani | December 17, 2007 at 03:55 AM