Le Farnete, Carmignano 2022

This is a true classic from the smallest of Tuscany's DOCG zones and is one that will reward your curiosity many times over. It is a mandatory blend of 80% Sangiovese and 20% Cabernet that shows power and finesse, depth and elegance in a way that you don't get anywhere else in Tuscany! 

This is the estate wine that delivers huge flavours of black bramble fruit, with macerated cherries, compote and notes of culinary spices and tea leaves. It is a powerful and delicious wine that will accompany an enormously varied range of food from wild boar (found locally of course) to sashimi and marinated duck. It's also an absolute delight with mature cheeses and charcuterie, if you're wondering...

The peculiar legal descriptive blend of the DOCG (both Sangiovese and Cabernet) gives the wine a unique historic character, combining the familiar aromas of Tuscany's Sangiovese with the firmer, Bordeaux-like structure from the Cabernet. This was first decreed in 1716 and it's quite possible that the "French Grape" that was mentioned was actually Cabernet Franc, as Cabernet Sauvignon had not yet had the same exposure in winemaking communities. Either way, this has allowed for the continued production of seriously high quality wines in this manner for over three centuries: more consistent than almost any other region in the world! 

Brothers Dario and Enrico Pierazzuoli make this wonderful wine using the best grapes that they have, with vines that have an average age of 27 years. The wine is fermented traditionally in concrete vessels and then aged in huge 25 hectolitre barrels to give some oak nuance, but mostly to allow for some oxygenation of the wine, softening tannins and developing its lush texture and deep flavours.

This is one of the founding wines of Tuscany. If you like Brunello, Vino Nobile or Chianti Classico, then you simply have to try this wine! It's a real beauty and an instant-friend-maker all in one bottle.

When I was growing up I was often told  that all sunshine makes a desert. Though I know it's true, I often felt that it was proffered to quickly: that my observation that "their grass looks greener over there" deserved a little bit of a look. Certainly more than my parents were willing to give. Whether it was the standard of living and social cohesion found in Scandinavian countries, or simply better weather in France, I was often put back in my box and told that we were absolutely fine where we were. As an adult, I have come to reappraise this old Arabic saying and have been able to see, again, though it is true, that there are indeed some places on earth that manage to maintain nature's balance, while giving just a little bit more in areas that I care for. Namely, Italy and specifically Tuscany.

Social cohesion, taxation balance, standard of living within a generally buoyant economy may not be policy out-workings that are championed here in Italy, but for natural beauty, climate, suitability for all kinds of agriculture and the propagation of the grape vine, Tuscany and its wonderful hills really is one of the most blessed places in the world.

You might argue that Tuscans have known this for centuries and that this has made them arrogant and has pushed the prices of all their goods (wine included) far beyond what is fair; but I will offer that there are still nuggets to be found: not every winery is an historic palace-owning sinecure, or a vast, corporate juice-machine. Nor are all of the rest of the Tuscan wineries niche extremists charging case prices per bottle. There are still those who may be in lesser-known regions who make wines from the grapes that they grow in a style appropriate to their place of origin.

I have a great chum in Chianti Classico and one day he introduced to one of his friends, Dario Pierazzuoli. "Where is the winery based?" I asked, "North Tuscany, but don't worry, it's really very good; I won't recommend you bad wines" answered my friend, putting me slightly on edge with a sense that I might be get from buying a second-hand car... But then I met this chap and tasted his wines.

There were instantly two things I was struck by: 1. He is incredibly witty; like a panel-show comedian that makes all the other guests look second-rate; he's quick, appropriate and warm, and genuinely interested in whoever he is with, making you feel comfortable, relaxed and valued. An extraordinary quality that he really wears on his sleeve. 2. The wines - which are wonderfully clean, vibrant and become progressively complex one after the next - were incredibly cheap. I was actually stuck for words and wasn't entirely sure what reaction was best: I'm well-adept at managing over-priced wineries and fairly good at managing poor quality wineries too. But this was new ground as the wines are delicious, balanced and off the beaten track, offering exceptional value for money.

And it is literally new ground for many of us, as the two wineries that the family own are in a part of Tuscany that is often overlooked. The wines come from two DOCGs at the very north boundaries of Chianti, between Florence and Empoli to the west and south, on the way to Pisa and Livorno. There is a run of sleepy villages that are on the edge of everything: relevance, train lines, borders, regions, thoroughfares and mountain ranges. Vitolini, Ginestra, Fibbiana; Spicchio, Lazzeretto, Vinci. (As in, Leonardo's hometown, which is nearly empty barring a very lovely, simplistic museum.) These places seem remote and stuck in the pages of bygone tomes of historic tales, overshadowed by the endless charms and modern capabilities of industrialised cities and busy-ness of Florence, Pisa and Sienna. Maybe for them, the sunshine of Tuscany has indeed made a desert. Or maybe not... The region in which Dario lives, on the south face of the hill of Montalbano, from which it takes its name, is a place full of possibility. 

Chianti and its seven subzones were established into an overall Chianti region defining the borders for where its grapes can be grown and the manner in which it must be made in 1716 by Cosimo di Medici the third. On the same Bando he created the appellations of Carmignano, Pomino and Val d'Arno. The precursor for the appellation system we know today.

Carmignano is the smallest DOCG in Tuscany and sits to the north of the hill of Montalbano. It's absolute heaven. Away from the tourists and many of the money-chasing investors who only chased Chianti Classico producing sites, Carmignano is a wonderful zone and a truly brilliant style of wine. By its own law, it became the blueprint for most Supertuscans some three hundred and fifty years later! That is its recipe: 80% Sangiovese and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. If only the Supertuscan producers had thought a little harder... well, it's a moot point because Carmignano is a small enough area and the it's quite possible that though respected as a style, internationally-minded producers in the 1660s and 70s wanted their own land to produce their version of the style. And that is, eventually the way that the story panned out. But the beginning is Carmignano!

As it is situated on the north-facing slopes of the hill, the appellation's success depends on a series of smaller undulating slopes which, as they rise, face south before again falling to face north, forming a sequence of mini hills as they do so, descending right the way down to the village of Carmignano (there's a train station there - it's about 20 minutes to Florence), which is where all of the wineries in the small 110-hectare region are based. The ridges of hills look like the back of a dinosaur as they go up and down, descending quickly from about 400 metres above sea level to about 50 metres, which provides the possibility to retain freshness in the grapes at the top, and rich ripeness at the bottom - in other words, a perfect tapestry of sites for outstanding balance.

So, it really is a fascinating subzone of Tuscany, that I love, as you can probably tell.

Dario and Enrico, will point out that although their neighbours in Capezzana have done all of the spade-work in promoting the name of the appellation, the style that they (Capezzana) have promoted is very much in the international mould. The Pierazzuoli brothers on the other hand have chosen a terroir-focused approach that allows for different wines in the range to show different facets that the appellation can produce, with freshness and balance far more associated with classic Tuscany than new oak and concentrated grape juice. 

The wines from Le Farnete regularly perform at the top of the tree in competitions and have amassed huge accolades from around the globe. But they still haven't cracked the commercial avenues favoured by critics, so the clamour for their wines has never really happened and this keeps the prices right where I want them! 

Really, this is a piece of Italian, and wine, history that I hope you love as much as we do.