From £14.99, €15.35, $20, 1,857 yen, AU$29.99
‘Energy’ may sound odd, or pretentious, in a tasting note but once you have tasted this wine, or almost any recent vintage of a wine made by Italian consultant Alberto Antonini, including this Uruguayan of the week, I think you will know what I mean.
For me, ‘energy’ is a metaphor to describe a combination of qualities that include freshness, drinkability, moreishness and fine texture – a wine that has lively fruit flavours but, most importantly, the ability to revive a flagging heart or palate.
Antonini himself often ascribes this quality not only to the health of the vineyards (above right) but also to the use of concrete fermentation vessels. He has completely changed his use of oak over recent years and now tends to eschew the use of small, flavour-giving barrels entirely on all his top wines, though he may age them in big old oak vessels, as he does with the Poggiotondo 2014 Chianti Superiore.
The fruit for this wine comes from their own organically certified vineyards (certified 2014) in Cerreto Guidi, about 30 km (20 miles) west of Florence, grown on soils of marine origin that are rich in limestone fossils (seashells), ‘which have a strong impact on the wine’s flavour’, according to Antonini. The blend is predominantly Sangiovese (pictured below) plus 3-5% Colorino and Canaiolo. It is fermented in concrete tanks with ambient yeasts over a period of 12 days at 28 ºC (82 ºF) and then aged in 54-hectolitre untoasted wooden casks for 12 months.
In my tasting note in this week’s At Liberty in Tuscany article, I described it as having a ‘nicely rocky/dusty quality to the pure, fresh dark fruit’ and described it as ‘deliciously succulent with spicy, sweet dark cherry and wild hedgerow fruit but just a little savoury too. Beautifully balanced and harmonious. Both smooth and tangy and finishes so fresh.’ I also challenged anyone not to find the wine ‘totally drinkable and irresistible to the end of the bottle’. Not only that, it is good value, great to drink now and will also develop well over the next few years.
While Antonini works as a consultant in many of the world’s wine regions, he is Tuscan by birth and Poggiotondo is his family estate, so it is here that he can do whatever he chooses and, I believe, fully express his approach to viticulture and winemaking. When I asked for more details about the Poggiotondo 2014 Chianti Superiore, he sent me the following comments:
‘A few years ago we decided to move back to traditional vineyard management, we stopped using synthetic chemicals (herbicides, chemical fertilisers, systemic spraying agents, etc) in order to regenerate the soil and have it alive and to encourage the vines to develop their own antibodies. We are experiencing healthier vines, better fruit quality, character and a very likely longevity of centuries for the vineyards themselves. Most of the soils managed conventionally are dead, and dead soils grow dead fruit which is responsible for dead wines.
‘Our winemaking is coherent with the principles we apply in the vineyards: we are replacing stainless-steel tanks with concrete tanks [pictured with Antonini below] for fermentation and we age the wines in large untoasted oak casks as well as in concrete tanks; we aren’t using any commercial products like yeasts, nutrients, enzymes, cleaning agents, etc – only hot water and some sulphur. We like having a winery where there is plenty of life where all the microbiology coming from the vineyards can find a nice home to live and do their job.
‘Our mission is making terroir-driven wines and in order to achieve that we try to avoid what we consider the enemies of authenticity that are responsible for homogenising the wine flavours: over-maturation of the grapes, over-extraction from the skins during fermentation, oak flavours.’
This approach is seen not only in the Chianti Superiore but also in the single-vineyard Poggiotondo, Vigna delle Conchiglie Riserva 2013 Chianti, which is made in much smaller volumes so less widely available and more expensive (UK RRP £49.99) but has that same energy along with beautifully fragrant fruit and silky refinement. It is 100% Sangiovese and was fermented in old 500-litre oak fermenters, then aged for 20 months in untoasted 16.5-hectolitre oak casks. The current 2011 vintage of the Vigna delle Conchiglie has become more savoury after time in the bottle, the tannins are still pleasingly firm and the wine is wonderfully fresh.
I’d also recommend another wine that Antonini is making for a group of growers around his home town of Cerreto Guidi: Buontalenti 2015 Chianti is a little lighter – and a little less expensive (UK RRP £12.99) – than the Chianti Superiore and not made from organic vineyards but still manages to capture the fruity vitality and drinkability this winemaker achieves so consistently across many of his wines, while avoiding the homogeneity he so dislikes.
Poggiotondo’s distributors around the world are listed on this pdf. Wine-searcher shows stockists in the UK (more below), the US (Old Bridge Cellars, Napa), Belgium, Japan and Australia. UK importer Liberty Wines have provided the following detailed information about stockists in the UK for all three wines mentioned above. Please note that the Poggiotondo Cerro del Masso is a different wine from the Chianti Superiore.
Poggiotondo 2014 Chianti Superiore
Winedirect www.winedirect.co.uk (offering a lower price of £13.50 if you buy six bottles)
Slurp www.slurp.co.uk
Fine Wine Company www.thefinewinecompany.co.uk
Valvona & Crolla www.valvonacrolla.co.uk
Delilah Fine Foods www.delilahfinefoods.co.uk
Shenfield Wine Company
The Old Bridge Wine Shop www.oldbridgewine.co.uk
Brook & Vine https://www.brookandvine.co.uk (£12.89 per bottle as part of a case of six, which can be mixed)
Poggiotondo, Vigna delle Conchiglie 2011 Chianti Riserva
Slurp www.slurp.co.uk
Fine Wine Company www.thefinewinecompany.co.uk
Valvona & Crolla www.valvonacrolla.co.uk
Delilah Fine Foods www.delilahfinefoods.co.uk
Shenfield Wine Company
The Old Bridge Wine Shop www.oldbridgewine.co.uk
Buontalenti 2015 Chianti
Bayley and Sage http://www.bayley-sage.co.uk
Vinology http://www.vinology.co.uk
Thornham Deli http://thornhamdeli.co.uk
Helmsley Wines http://www.helmsleywines.co.uk
Slurp www.slurp.co.uk
Fine Wine Company www.thefinewinecompany.co.uk
Valvona & Crolla www.valvonacrolla.co.uk
Delilah Fine Foods www.delilahfinefoods.co.uk
Shenfield Wine Company
The Old Bridge Wine Shop www.oldbridgewine.co.uk