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Tuscany Wine Guide: An Introduction

Is there a piece of Italy more loved than Tuscany? Every time I have visited the region its rolling hills, verdant green in spring, a radiant-gold in the summer, and then a strange silvery grey in autumn, the ploughs having turned the soils to reveal the dried clay beneath, imbue me with a bucolic sense of calm that has rarely been achieved elsewhere. Perhaps this is one reason why Tuscan wines are so popular; perhaps, as we sip at our Chianti - less likely to be poured from a round, straw-covered fiasco these days, but it is not impossible - we are trying to grab a piece of that idyllic pastoral existence, of simple but nevertheless delicious wine and food, perhaps consumed in a rather plain trattoria, on a terrace overlooking the hills of course. I'm not sure exactly where this trattoria might be located, but it always seems to me to be a very long way from the daily inconveniences - mortgage payments, work deadlines and so on - of modern living. It is a little slice of la dolce vita.

Of course, to paint Tuscan wine into this caricatured corner would be unfair; this is just one way the world's love for Tuscan wine can be interpreted. I suspect the reasons why these wines are so admired by many are legion. One reason is of course the high quality; the very best single-vineyard Chianti (like some from around Panzano in Chianti, left), Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano provide sufficient interest to appeal to lovers of Italian wine as much as any Bordeaux or Burgundy might to a Francophile. Another might be the very individual characters of the wines; Italy has a slew of unique varieties and iconic styles that are not replicated elsewhere, while most of the New World focuses on French staples such as Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and their international ilk. The Italians would do well to remember this, and not dilute what makes their wines so great by overly liberal blending with these international varieties, as they have done in the past (illegally) with Brunello, and as many would like to do with other wines (legally, embodying the practice within new legislation), such as Rosso di Montalcino.

This mini-guide, through its exploration of the most famous vineyards of Tuscany, will touch on some of these issues legal and illegal. But before we run we should first walk a little; although the face of Tuscan wine is multi-faceted, led by Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and the super-Tuscans, with many less well known names bringing up the rear, there are constant themes that run throughout. The most obvious is that, although there is a diverse array of both red and white varieties planted in this region, it is Sangiovese which accounts for the vast majority of the Tuscan vineyard. Climate also differs little from one vineyard to the next, although there are certainly considerations regarding proximity to the coast, and altitude, both of which can have cooling effects, that should be borne in mind. Lastly there is terroir, although clearly this is more likely to vary across the region.

And so I begin in this, the first instalment of my mini-guide to the wines of Tuscany, to tease out some of these common themes, before I move on to look at this region's most famous wine regions, as well as some less well known, in the sections linked above right. We begin here with climate, and how it influences local viticultural practices.

Climate

Nowhere in central Italy is really that far from the sea, and thus the climate always tends towards maritime rather than continental, with the extremes of temperature in the summer and winter moderated to some extent by the presence of the surrounding water. Here in Tuscany it is of course the Mediterranean or Tyrrhenian Sea, just thirty or forty miles to the west of most vineyards, that is of greatest relevance. There are only low foothills between many of the vineyards and the water, and they do little to influence the climate locally, whereas to the east the Apennines, the series of mountain ranges which form Italy's backbone, significantly reduces the influence of the Adriatic which lies beyond. Nevertheless this is all relative; whether or not this climate is maritime or continental, or indeed a blend of the two, this is southern Europe. The vineyards of Tuscany lie on a similar latitude to those of Roussillon and Navarra to the west, and so this is certainly not a cool-climate region.

In order to compensate for the occasionally torrid temperatures that wash over Tuscany's vineyards, Sangiovese is often planted on higher altitudes, away from the flatter coastal plains. Although some of Tuscany's most iconic wines, such as Ornellaia and Sassicaia, originate from just this sort of landscape at Bolgheri in Maremma, it is worth noting that the most successful of these wines are made from international varieties, especially Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, not from Sangiovese. This latter variety needs some moderation of its local temperature, hence it tends to perform best when grown further inland on the slopes, at altitudes of 500 to 700 metres. Lower altitudes produce flabbier and less nervously appealing wines. For this same reason, the variety tends to be confined to the northern part of central Italy. Head south, beyond the realms of Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Umbria, and the plantings of this variety peter out, to be replaced first by Montepulciano, and then by more southern types, particularly Negro Amaro, Nero d'Avola and Nerello Mascalese, varieties which perform better in hotter temperatures. Think of Sangiovese here as we think of Pinot Noir in Burgundy, and of these latter varieties as Italy's version of Mourvèdre in Bandol; each works perfectly in the right environ, but one would not want to interchange them.

Unlike many major wine regions, such as the Mosel or Bordeaux, Tuscany's rivers do not play a major part in moderating the climate. The most significant watercourse is perhaps the Arno, which rises on Monte Falterona in the Apennines, flowing west through Florence, beneath the 13th-century Ponte Vecchio, and then through Pisa, before emptying into the Tyrhennian Sea. It is, however, some distance north of the major wine regions covered by this guide (although there are certainly vineyards around Florence and Pisa), and it should also be noted that with such a short course from hill to sea it never has the opportunity to take on the majesty of the Mosel (which drains into the Rhine of course) or the Gironde, both of which terminate in grand estuaries, many miles wide.

Terroir

Every region has its distinctive terroir(s); the Haut-Médoc has its gravel and St Emilion has its limestone and clay, whereas the Nantais has its complex interweaving of granite, gabbro (which incidentally is named for a small town in Tuscany, 10 kilometres south of Pisa, where this rock type predominates) and their metamorphic derivatives (among others). The same is true of Vouvray, Sancerre, the Mosel and so on. So too Tuscany, which is characterised by the distinctively Italian albarese and galestro in Chianti, two soil types which also crop up in the more southerly Montalcino and Montepulciano.

Galestro (above, left) is a soft rock, certainly schistous but not firm, dark and fractured like the schist that characterises the vineyards of Anjou. This is much paler and more friable, containing elements of clay and marl, which is effectively mudstone. It is perhaps more like shale in terms of its easy destruction, but everybody else seems to refer to it as schist, so I will stick with that. This soil type is particularly prominent in the more northern reaches of the Chianti Classico zone, for example around Panzano in Chianti where the conca d'oro, the 'golden shell', a south-facing amphitheatre which is filled with vines and the occasional olive grove, is composed entirely of galestro. It may also be found further afield, particularly in Chianti Rùfina and Montalcino. As such Sangiovese seems well suited to the soil, certainly more so than heavier clay-rich soils on which this variety does not thrive so convincingly.

Meanwhile albarese (above, right) is a calcareous soil which varies in terms of texture from finely granular to one marked by huge limestone boulders. It is less fertile than galestro, but that is of no concern to the vine. What makes both galestro and albarese suitable for viticulture is the excellent drainage they afford, certainly more so than clay, which can be found beyond the boundaries of the Chianti Classico zone, in the lesser Chianti regions as well as around Montalcino and Montepulciano. Both of these famous wine towns have fairly complex terroirs though, also featuring zones of limestone, marl and volcanic soils alongside the occasional seam of galestro. Meanwhile, clay and even areas of gravel can be found in Maremma on the coast, where Bordeaux varieties tend to produce much better results than Sangiovese.

Varieties

To talk of grapes in Tuscany is to talk of Sangiovese; this variety dominates not just this particular region, but by virtue of its spread through Emilia-Romagna, Umbria and Le Marche it accounts for 10% of Italy's entire vineyard area. Despite this localised success, and the ubiquity of Chianti, its most famous of wines, it has never really succeeded outside Italy, not in the way the French internationals, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah or Chardonnay, have managed. Nevertheless, there are plenty willing to try, and the variety can be found planted in Australia, South Africa, Argentina and California, and one or two other locations, no doubt.

Sangiovese's presence in Tuscany extends back to at least the 16th century, although I suspect it has been cultivated here for considerably longer, as suggested by the remarkable number of synonyms by which it is also known. Many grape varieties have a slew of such alternative names, but often they are of little more than academic interest, and yet here the same variety - or at least related clones of the same variety - seems to go by a new name with every new town or new wine region that you encounter. What is Sangiovese throughout Chianti is known as Brunello in Montalcino, Prugnolo Gentile in Montepulciano, Morellino in the coastal region of Scansano, and further afield it becomes Pignolo, Nerino and it is also Corsica's Nielluccio. Different regions feature different clones though, and the larger-berried Sangiovese Grosso varieties (which includes the Brunello and Prugnolo clones) is generally held in higher regard than the smaller-berried Sangiovese Piccolo types, which are much less planted today.

As for the origin of Sangiovese (shown mid-véraison, above left), these remain confused. One thing seems certain and that is, despite Sangiovese's preference for slightly cooler soils and high-altitude sites, it has - in part at least - a southern Italian origin, being a descendent of Calabrese Montenuovo, and it probably originated in Calabria. This southern origin is supported by other analyses which show Sangiovese has close relationships with a host of other moderately obscure southern Italian varieties including Frappato, Gaglioppo, Nerello Mascalese and Susumaniello. The exact identity of Sangiovese's other parent remains, however, a contentious issue. Although some have concluded, following genetic analyses, that the local Tuscan variety Ciliegiolo is the other parent, others have asserted that this strong genetic link between the two varieties reflects Sangiovese's parentage of Ciliegiolo, rather than vice versa. As yet this dispute appears unresolved, although some state that because Sangiovese has had a clear presence in the region for several hundred years before anyone noticed Ciliegiolo, this would suggest Sangiovese is the parent, not the offspring. I don't think that is a valid argument though, as many famous varieties have very obscure and little-known (and therefore often unnoticed) parents, so for me the jury is still out on this one.

Other red varieties play notable roles in Tuscan winemaking, but in truth all have bit parts compared to Sangiovese's dominant performance. There is Canaiolo Nero, a traditional blender in Chianti, and the more deeply coloured Colorino which today may also take on the role. There is the aforementioned Ciliegiolo, the aromatic Lacrima di Morro d'Alba, Malvasia Nera and Mammolo, as well as many others. In view of the dominance of red wines and red varieties there is little point giving great detail on the white varieties here, but they include ubiquitous workhorses such as Trebbiano (Ugni Blanc to the Francophiles) and Vernaccia (shown above, on the right), as well as the more interesting Vermentino, which seems to have been cultivated with success in Maremma, and its friends Grechetto, Albana and Malvasia Bianco.

In part two, I will look at Tuscany's (and perhaps Italy's) most famous wine in more detail, Chianti, with a particular focus on the most favoured zone, Chianti Classico.

• Part 2: Chianti Classico